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Show BANANAS ON PIKE'S PEAK 209 One thing could be said for the conservationists: they never rested on their oars. Attorneys might brief a case and stand on their legal contentions. Engineers might present technical findings and close their book. Not the conservationists. They came up with new ideas, new arguments, new approaches to problems. Now they were no longer fighting to save Dinosaur Monument, but they wanted to have it made into a National Park. The idea had economic soundness. Tourists flocked to national parks by the millions, and they left behind them millions of dollars. A Dinosaur National Park would enrich the entire Upper Basin. Dams could still be built in other places. Thus, the Upper Basin would gain in two ways. Next, the conservationists brought pain to the faces of the committee by endorsing a plan proposed by Gov- ernor Johnson. It had been Johnson's idea that instead of authorizing the entire crsp, Congress authorize only Glen Canyon Dam, earmarking its power projects to be agreed upon at later dates by the Upper Basin states. This, in Johnson's opinion, would open the way to orderly development of the Upper Basin. Speaking for the conservationists, J. W. Penfold, termed the Johnson plan "beautiful in its simplicity." 25° Glen Canyon Dam would store 26 million acre-feet of water, all that was needed to let the Upper Basin meet its commitments to the Lower Basin, and the dam would produce power in enormous quantities. With it built, all pressures would be off the Upper Basin. The faces of the senators presented interesting studies, but a certain reaction was noticeable in all of them: aggravation. If they did not like to hear again what |
