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<br />FRY~GPAN-ARKJLNSAS PROJECT
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<br />13. Agriculture, however, is the most important industry of the
<br />valley, More than 87 percent of the land area, including timber-
<br />land, is used for grazing, Cultivated lands comprise 10 percent of
<br />the area of which about one-fourth, or 322,000 acres, is irrigated.
<br />The irrigated land exerts an extremely significant influence on the
<br />economy of the valley, It stabilizes the economy of an area many
<br />times greater than that actually irrigated,
<br />14, Many irrigated crops are grown successfully in the Arkansas
<br />Valley when water supplies are adequate. In the higher elevations
<br />hay, tame pasture, and small grains predominate, They are mar-
<br />l~eted chiefly through livestock, The foothills area in Fremont and
<br />Pueblo Counties, in addition to general irrigated crops, produce fruits,
<br />vine, and truck crops, Below Pueblo the principal irrigated crops
<br />are alfalfa, corn, grain sorghum, sugar beets, barley and wheat, truck
<br />crops, and dry beans, Cantaloupes, onions, cucumbers, pickles,
<br />tomatoes, and red beets are highly successful truck crops, Dairying
<br />:and poultry raising are important enterprises near market outlets.
<br />15, The size of irrigated farms varies from small truck farms and
<br />orehards to general-purpose farms of, several hundred acres. In
<br />194<1 the average irrigated farm below Salida consisted of 356 acres of
<br />which 81 acres were irrigated. Irrigated land values range up to $250
<br />an acre depending upon soils and water rights. Gross crop values
<br />-also vary considerably. On the basis of 1939-44 crop prices, the
<br />-average irri&,ated gross crop values ranged' from $30 to $40 an acre
<br />over the cntical 1930-41 period. Specialty crops and seed crops
<br />often provide gross returns many times the average, '
<br />16, Ninety-six percent of the irrigated land in the Arkansas Valley
<br />is identified as classes 1 and 2 according to Bureau of Reclamation
<br />standards, It is of high to medium productive capacity, consists
<br />of silty loam, clay loam, and clay soils, and generally has good sur-
<br />face drainage, Alkalinity and salinity are not serious problems.
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<br />NEED FOR DEVELOPMENT
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<br />''"''"'" 17, The western slope diversion area proper is nationalferest land
<br />not suitable for irrigation, Other areas in the Colorado River Basin
<br />have irrigated and irrigable lands, Present water uses in western
<br />Colorado will undoubtedly expand and new uses may materialize.
<br />The increased uses may result from expansion of irrigation and from
<br />such potential industrial developments as mining, lumbering, wood-
<br />pulp production, and oil-shale refining, Investigations of the Gun-
<br />nison-Arkansas project were based upon the principle that all present
<br />and potential uses of Colorado River water in the natural basin in
<br />Colorado must be protected, Extensive studies by the Bureau and
<br />by committees appointed by the Colorado Water Conservation Board
<br />confirm the existence of a plentiful supply of water in the diversion
<br />area, The studies also substantiate the conclusion that part of that
<br />water can feasibly be diverted without detriment to the diversion
<br />area or to other existing and potential water uses on the western
<br />slope-even though complete future water requirements for all pos-
<br />sible uses cannot be foreseen for all of western Colorado. The rela-
<br />tively small diversions proposed for the initial development-replltced
<br />in time, quantity, and place by a reservoir near Aspen and by judici-
<br />ous operation of the project based on the operating principles herein-
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