WSP09076

• File Number: 8443.300
• Description: Narrows Project - Legislation
• State: CO
• Basin: South Platte
• Water Division: 1
• Date: 8/1/1966
• Author: US DoI
• Title: Report on the Narrows Unit Colorado
• Water Supply Pro - Doc Type: Report/Study

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General Description

Many irrigators have constructed wells for pumping ground water
for supplemental irrigation. On the basis of data collected in 1961
there were 875 operating wells in the Narrows service area. Additional
wells have been constructed since then, but the number has not been
determined. Under future "with" project conditions, the irrigators
would continue to rely on ground water for meeting part of the total
irrigation requirement.

POPULATION

The Narrows Unit service area is contained in four counties--
Morgan, Logan, Washington, and Sedgwick. The total population of
those four counties increased by only six percent between 1940 and
1960. However, there was a substantial shift from rural to urban,
resulting largely from expansion of the unincorporated environs of
Sterling, Fort Morgan, and Brush. The changes' in population patterns
for the four counties are summarized in table 4. These changes are
typical of those in the entire Missouri River Basin during the same
period.

Item

Urban
Sterling
Fort Morgan
Brush
Subtotal
Rural
Farm
Nonfarm
Subtotal
Total

Table 4.--PopuJation in Narrows Unit Area

1940
Number Percent

1950
Number Percent

1960
Number Percent

7,411 15.1 7,534 15.7 10,751
4,884 9.9 5,315 11.1 7,379
(2,481)* (5.0) (2,431)* ~) 3,621
12,295 25.0 12,849 2 . 21,751
24,962 50.7 21,157 44.2 14,708
11,957 24.3 13,870 29.0 15,902
36,919 75.0 ~5,~2r 73.2 30 ,610
49,214- 100.0 7, 7 100.0 52,361

20.5
14.1
6.9
41.5

28.1
30.4
5S:5
100.0

Note: Bureau of the Census data for Morgan, Logan, Washington and
Sedgwick Counties.
* Classified as nonfarm in the 1940 and 1950 census.

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