WSP09523

• File Number: 8407.500
• Description: Platte River Basin - River Basin General Publications - Missouri River
• State: CO
• Basin: South Platte
• Water Division: 1
• Date: 12/1/1971
• Author: Missouri Basin Inter
• Title: Missouri River Basin Comprehensive Framework Study - Volume II - Historical Perspective - History of Study - Existing Resources Development - Appendix
• Water Supply Pro - Doc Type: Report/Study

In general the soils of the basin are satisfactory for
agricultural uses. Most of them are naturally fertile and
some are well supplied with organic matter. Almost all
of the soils will support excellent grass cover and
cropland is found in all areas of the basin. Major land
resource regions comprising geographically associated
land resource areas are shown in figure 3.
Mineral deposits abound in numerous places in the
basin. Metallic minerals are found in the mountainous
and foothill areas of Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, and
in the Black Hills. The most important metals are gold,
iron, molybdenum, and uranium. Nonmetallic minerals,
primarily construction materials, are found throughout
the basin.
The greatest mineral resources of the basin are the
fossil fuels. Oil and natural gas fields are found in
Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, Kansas, and North and
South Dakota. The northern Great Plains are underlain
with billions of tons of sub-bituminous coal and lignite.
This resource has not been significantly developed in the
past because of distance from major markets but it has a
tremendous future potential, primarily in the production
of electrical power.
Primarily because of its mid-continental location, the
basin experiences fluctuations and extremes in weather.
Winters are relatively long and cold over much of the
basin while summers are fair and hot. Spring is cool,
humid, and windy; and autumn is cool, dry, and fair.
Normal average annual precipitation ranges from about
40 inches in parts of the Rocky Mountains and
southeastern parts of the basin to as- low as 6 to 12
inches immediately east of the Rocky Mountains. The
basin regularly experiences above-IOO-degree tempera-
tures in summer and below-zero temperatures in winter
over most of its area. The number of consecutive days
above 320F. for the nonmountainous areas ranges from
about 90 to 180 days each year. Average wind velocities
of 10 miles per hour are prevalent over much of the
basin. Cyclonic and tornadic winds occasionally do
considerable damage, and when accompanied by snow,
the strong winds create blizzard conditions dangerous to
man and livestock in the plains area. Climatic zones
associated with natural vegetation are shown in figure 4.
Eight million inhabitants of the Missouri River Basin
are distributed in three major zones of occupation - the
eastern, middle, and western zones. Each zone represents
a distinctive cultural adjustment to conditions of the
natural environment.
The eastern zone comprises about one-third of the
basin and is characterized by moderately dense settle-
ment, a relatively stable and diversified agriculture, and
an increasingly important urban life which is based in
large part on the manufacture and distribution of
commodities used or produced in the middle or western
zones of the basin. It contains far more people than do
the western and middle zones. Within the eastern zone

4

the population exceeds 12 persons per square mile, and
in some localities 100 or more persons, gradually
diminishing to the west. During the last two decades the
cities have grown consistently while the populations of
most rural districts have declined.
This eastern zone is also the commercial front. Cities
along the lower reaches of the Missouri River are
commercial intermediaries for the rest of the basin. They
stand as junction points between the closely spaced
railroad pattern of the east and the transcontinental lines
of the west.
Throughout most of the eastern zone at least 55
percent of the land is tilled. The farm units are of
moderate size and agriculture is generally a diversit1ed
grain and livestock enterprise. The eastern part of this
zone lies within the Corn Belt and accounts for the
westward bulge of comparatively high population
density into Kansas and Nebraska. Winter wheat merges
with corn to the south and spring wheat to the north.
Most of the zone has fertile soil where agriculture can be
conducted productively.
In the western zone many mining towns declined as
nearby mineral deposits were depleted or abandoned. A
few towns which had their start as mining communities
have continued to grow, partly because of the westward
movement of small industries and partly because of the
impetus of World War II. Denver is an outstanding
example, with an attractive climate and environmental
setting. Separating these various islands of growing
population are sparsely settled mountainous areas, some
forested and some semiarid high plains or plateaus, in
large part publicly owned.
The irrigated portions of the intermountain basins
and their fluvial valleys produce large yields of sugar
beets, vegetables, and forage crops. Generally, the water
supply in streams is used for irrigated agriculture that
provides supplemental feed for livestock raised on
pastures and open range in th.e surrounding plains and in
the mountains. In these areas the sugar beet factory, the
canning plants, grain elevators, and livestock feeding and
loading yards are distinctive features of the scattered
towns and cities.
Between the eastern and western zones lies a vast
middle zone characterized by a relatively sparse and
fluctuating population. In only a few places does the
population exceed 12 persons per square mile. More
often, it is six or less, and sometimes is as low as one
person per two square miles. Settlement of the zone,
which has in general followed the railroad lines, has been
one of movements and countermovements of people
from the early years of the present century (figure 5).
Since its first occupancy, the middle zone has been
primarily dependent on agriculture. While dryland and
irrigated farming is successfully practiced in the area,
livestock raising predominates. The settlers found the
same grasses that had supported the vast herds of buffalo