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Repayment contract vote was 20-1 in favor "It's practically lmposaIble to get a 95 percent vote for snytbJng under the sun, 80 1 believe thIa reaIJy shows that the Dolores Project Is what the people want," U.S. Congressman Frank E, Evans said after the Tuesday, Feb. 8, 1977, over- whelming victory of 3926-299 victory repayment election here Ir the Dolores Water Conservancy District. Out of a total of 4,155, the vote for the $400 million project was declared twenty to one. It was the biggest. hurdle remaining In the path of the start of construction of the big project. When groundbreaklng ceremonies were held Sept. 24, 1977, the first phase of the actual construction had already begun, under an $850,000 grant from congress to bulld a new road from the Narragulnn~areatoGreM CUt Dike and the site of the McPhee Dam, as well as study and removal of ar- cheolqglcal indian artifacts from the area to be covered by McPhee Reservoir. Already slated for the 1977- 78 fiscal federal budget was $5.7 million for actual start of construction on McPhe Dam. It was the hlghllght of more than 60 years of work and lo~ hying by residents of the Montelores area to bring the project Into being. Approval of the repayment contract means that the people In the district will pay back a percentage of the cost over a period of 50 years thrugh water sales and a levy of half a nyn. The rest will be paid through hydroelectric power generated from Glen Canyon, CUrrecantl, Flaming Gorge, and other projects In the Upper Colorado River Basin. The Dolores Water Con- servancy District, In which most of the Dolores Project Is situated, has Its boundaries on the south In the Ute Moun- tain Reservation, to the north to Include the Town of Dove Creek, to the east the dividing line of the Monte.ums and Mancos Valleys, to Include the Town of Dolores, and to the west the area beyond the dryllinds and the Montezums Valley Irrigated lands. Pro/eef'S wafer info San Juan Water from the Dol.ores Project, taken from the Dolores River, will flow through the Great Cut Dike and eventually drain Into the San Juan. I30th the Dolores and the San Juan eveatuaIly drain in- to the Colorado River, the Dolores southwest of Grand Junctlon and the San Juan In Lake Powell. Dolores water will flow by various tributaries Into the San Juan through Dawson Draw and McElmo Creek In the Montezums Valley area and Montezuma Creek, Dove Creek, Cross Canyon, Cshone Canyon, Cow Canyon, Ruin Canyon, Hovenweep Canyon and Sandstone Canyon In the Dove Creek area. 1'Iavajo Wash Is the only stream In the Towaoc area of the project and Is a tributary of the Mancos River, also a tributary of the San Juan. However, the San Juan also carried the waters from most of the rest of the San Juan BasIn,lnclUdlng the La Plata, AnImas, PIne, Piedra and others, flowing Into Lake Powell south of Mexican Hat, Utah.