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<br />was slightly above the area's share, with 9.6 and 9.4
<br />percent in 1960 and 1965, respectively.
<br />
<br />
<br />Modern Highways and Railroads Remain the
<br />Backbone of the Transportation Network
<br />in the Missouri River Basin
<br />
<br />The area possesses 22.6 percent of the Nation's
<br />motortrucks used for agriculture, while the other major
<br />uses almost parallel the percentage of population in the
<br />area: personal, 10.1 percent; wholesale and retail trade,
<br />8.9 percent; contract construction, 9.2 percent; and
<br />services, 9.9 percent. The role of the motortruck in
<br />commercial transportation, with some exceptions, is, for
<br />the most part, confined to short or intermediate-length
<br />hauls, playing a dominant role in the initial gathering
<br />and final distribution of goods. They complement,
<br />rather than compete with, rail and barge traffic for bulk
<br />commodity, long-distance shipments. Completion of the
<br />interstate highway system will significantly influence
<br />efficiency of long distance truck movement because it
<br />will permit faster service and larger truck load lots.
<br />Certain commodities probably will continue to move by
<br />other modes of transportation; however, trucking in the
<br />region is continuing to assume a more dominant role in
<br />the movement of most commodities.
<br />
<br />Communications
<br />
<br />The subject of communications is very difficult to
<br />equate with an area's ability to sustain economic
<br />development, especially in the United States where there
<br />are few areas that suffer from a lack of communications
<br />services. Modern commercial communications networks
<br />serve the cultural and business communities alike. In
<br />very recent times, these earlier forms of communications
<br />have been eclipsed by modern telecommunication net-
<br />works, including telegraph, telephone, radio, and tele-
<br />vision, which have been facilitated in transmission by
<br />
<br />44
<br />
<br />coaxial cables, microwave equipment, and satellites.
<br />These latest developments in communications have
<br />literally brought the world instantaneously to the
<br />doorstep of almost every citizen in the Nation.
<br />The region contained 8.3 percent of the population in
<br />1960 and about 8.5 percent of the occupied dwelling
<br />units. About 82 percent of these dwelling units had
<br />telephones, representing about 7.5 percent of the total
<br />number of telephones in the Nation. There were about
<br />48 telephones per 100 persons in the region. Only about
<br />7.3 percent of the occupied dwelling units had no radio,
<br />and 14 percent no television. About 62 percent of the
<br />units had one radio and 30.4 percent two or more
<br />radios. Eighty percent of the units had one television set
<br />and two or more sets were installed in about 5.7 percent
<br />of the occupied dwelling units. The region differed most
<br />substantially from the Nation in only one of these
<br />categories, it had only 4.9 percent of the Nation's
<br />occupied dwelling units with two or more television sets. .
<br />As might be expected from the region's relatively
<br />large share of the Nation's area and relatively low
<br />population density, it had a slightly higher share of the
<br />total number of commercial broadcasting stations, 10.8
<br />percent, compared to its share of the population, 8.3
<br />percent. In 1960, there were about I I percent of the
<br />Nation's AM stations, 5 percent of the FM stations, and
<br />17 percent of the TV stations in the region. The region
<br />had 246 daily newspapers, or 14 percent of the Nation's
<br />total. Of the total net paid circulation of daily news-
<br />papers, the region had 8.6 percent.
<br />
<br />Electric Power
<br />
<br />The Missouri Power Region includes parts of the
<br />Federal Power Commission's power supply areas IS, 16,
<br />17, 26, 29, 30, 31, 32, and 34, and the whole of 27 and
<br />28. Power supply areas (PSA's) represent geographical
<br />areas which are essentially the service areas of groups of
<br />major electric utilities and are the logical units for
<br />determination of present and projected power require-
<br />ments (figure 17).
<br />In 1965, the combined electric energy requirements
<br />of the PSA's comprising the Missouri Power Region
<br />amounted to about 39,000 million kilowatt-hours with a
<br />peak load of some 8.1 million kilowatts. There were
<br />nearly 580 electric systems supplying these power
<br />requirements. They represent every segment of the
<br />power industry: Investor-owned, cooperatives, munici-
<br />pals, public power districts, and the Federal Govern-
<br />ment. The generation capacity and loads of the investor-
<br />owned utilities comprise, by far, the largest segment of
<br />the total, while the hydroelectric power plants of the
<br />Federal Government constitute about 80 percent of the
<br />hydro capacity.
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