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<br />10 <br /> <br />city in a month and a booming metropolis in a year. "* By 1880, there were <br />40,000 to 50,000 people in Leadville. In 1970, the population was 4,314.** <br /> <br />Today, in the west, the boom town phenomenon has had a rebirth with the <br />development of energy and power generating facilities. Several communi- <br />ties in the region have experienced problems associated with rapid popu- <br />lation growth due to large scale energy development. The population of <br />Rock Springs, located in Sweetwater County, Wyoming, increased at a rate <br />of 20 percent per year between 1971 and 1974.*** The economic, social, <br />housing, and public sector problems associated with this surge of growth <br />have been widely publicized. The bibliography at the end of the report <br />identifies a number of studies dealing with recent boom towns in the <br />Rocky Mounta in Regi on. <br /> <br />Within Colorado, the Craig area in Moffat County has already experienced <br />rapid population growth due to energy development projects--opening of <br />coal mines and construction of a 780 megawatt coal-fired power plant. In <br />1970, Craig was a quiet,stable town of 4,205 people. Next year (1977) the <br />population is projected to peak at 12,123,**** a 288 percent increase in <br />seven years. In a recent speech the Mayor of Craig, Doyle Jackson, de- <br />scribed what such an increase in population means to a community. <br /> <br />In a community where rapid growth requires all available <br />resources to be directed at basic services, subsequent <br />problems result which are lumped into what is now known <br />as the 'Boom Town Syndrome.' Educational services, rec- <br />reational facilities, and other systems are all attacked <br />and all suffer from the inability to perform adequately <br /> <br />*Car1 Akers, Carl Akers' Colorado,. 1975, p. 36. <br /> <br />**U.S. Bureau of the Census, Current Population Reports, Population Esti- <br />mates and Projections, April 1975, p. 4. <br /> <br />***Bickert, Browne, Coddington & Associates, Inc., "An Analysis of Jim <br />Bridger 4 Power Plant Impacts," prepared for Pacific Power & Light Com- <br />pany, October 1975, p. 8. <br /> <br />****Town of Craig, "Moffat County-Craig Capital Improvement and Development <br />Program," March 27, 1976, p. 14. <br /> <br />., <br />