| OCR Text |
Show 20 WAR FOR THE COLORADO RIVER agency, made some factual statements regarding the crsp that could hardly be taken as compliments to the intelligence of the Bureau planners. Perhaps the most important of these was that immense hydroelectric dams would be built in the midst of the largest coal reserves in the United States, if not in the world. The issue would be aired at great length in the congressional hearing rooms. Describing the crsp area, the Bureau of Mines said: 17 Reserves (coal) here are much larger than those in any other section of comparable size in the world and amount to approximately one-third of all the coal deposits in the United States and one-sixth of those in the entire world. . . These coals can be mined more cheaply than those in most other regions. Oil and gas have been discovered in over forty widely separated fields in the upper basin. The upper basin contains the largest deposits of oil shale in the United States. Another oil-bearing material of great potential im- portance is bituminous sandstone. At the present time it is being used as a road surfacing material. The only known deposits of gilsonite, elaterite, wurt- zilite and ozocerite are in the upper basin. This array of mineral fuels and carbonaceous materials is not approached by any region in any other part of the world. Mentioning that gold, silver, lead, zinc and copper were also produced in quantity, the report continued: The Climax molybdenum district is the largest molyb- denum district in the world. . . By-products produced from molybdenum treatment comprise tungsten, pyrite, tin, monazite and topaz. The plateau area of Colorado, Utah, Arizona and New Mexico is the principal source of uranium and vanadium in the United States. |
