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<br />WOMEN'S ACTIVITIES COMMITTEE
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<br />Mrs. Floyd N. Smith, Arizona, Chairman (Gladys)
<br />Mrs, Frank E. Jenney, California (Nelle)
<br />Mrs, Philip P. Smith, Colorado (Lillian)
<br />Mrs, A, B. West, Nevada
<br />Mrs, Rex A. Tynes, New Mexico (Gladys)
<br />Mrs, Preston L, Jones, Utah
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<br />
<br />LOOKING AHEAD ON THE COLORADO
<br />by
<br />Commissioner Floyd E, Dominy
<br />Bureau of Reclamation
<br />Washington, D. C,
<br />
<br />I am delighted to join with you in this 19th annual meeting of the Colorado
<br />River Water Users' Association. We have watched with interest and apprecia-
<br />tion the growth'of the Association from a handful of members a score of years
<br />ago. Today, you are one of the West's foremost organizations in the field of
<br />water resource development, You are very much noticed, very much listened
<br />to, and highly respected,
<br />
<br />You can be a major force in shaping the future of Colorado River develop-
<br />ment specifically, and in shaping the policies and programs of western water
<br />utilization generally. I do not need to tell anyone in this audience today the
<br />importance of these policies in the future of western growth, We are all aware
<br />that our western economy is predicated to a major degree on the use we make
<br />of our publicly owned natural resources. Water, of course, is the catalyst
<br />and, hence, the most vitally important of these,
<br />
<br />Only a week or so ago, I noted a story in the Washington Star entitled
<br />"The Rising Sun Cities of America," This story from the far away east coast
<br />noted that between 1950 and 1960, Maricopa County, which is the metropolitan
<br />area of Phoenix, doubled its population from 331,770 to 663,510 people. Pima
<br />County, where Tucson is located, increased from 141,216 to 265,660.
<br />
<br />El Paso County, Texas, increased from 194,968 to 314,070, and Berna-
<br />lillo County, New Mexico, of which Albuquerque is the center, increased from
<br />145,673 to 262,199, The same growth story is true of the entire metropolitan
<br />complex of southern California, and right here in southern Nevada, as well.
<br />
<br />The author of the Washington Star article asks what is the attraction of
<br />the desert? To quote him: "The early travelers boasted of its horrors, the
<br />searing winds, summer temperatures up to 120 degrees, rainfall as little as
<br />three inches a year, the dreary expanse of bare mountains, cactus, sage, and
<br />tumbleweed. "
<br />
<br />We westerners, of course, wouldn't agree with this description of the
<br />desert, for it has a beauty all its own. But we would agree, I am sure, with
<br />the following conclusion of the author:
<br />
<br />"Look at it now. Above the irrigation ditches, Geronimo.would find noth-
<br />ing strange. The dry land.is timeless. But below the ditches lie the gardens,
<br />
<br />- 5 -
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<br />~j
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