WSP05537

• File Number: 8443.100
• Description: Narrows Unit - Project Description
• State: CO
• Basin: South Platte
• Water Division: 1
• Date: 1/1/1967
• Title: Report on the Narrows Unit Colorado South Platte Division Missouri River Basin Project part 1
• Water Supply Pro - Doc Type: Report/Study

.

I" c !". ~
.v I....'

General Description

Many irrigators have constructed wells for pumping ground water
for supplemental irrigation. On the basis of data collected in 1961
there were 875 operating wells in the Narrows service area. Additional
wells have been constructed since then, but the number has not been
determined. Under future "with" project conditions, the irrigators
would continue to rely on ground water for meeting part of the total
irrigation requirement.

POPULATION

.

The Narrows Unit service area is contained in four counties--
Morgan, Logan, Washington, and Sedgwick. The total population of
those four counties increased by only six percent between 1940 and
1960. However, there was a substantial shift from rural to urban,
resulting largely from expansion of the unincorporated environs of
Sterling, Fort Morgan, and Brush. The changes in population patterns
for the four counties are summarized in table 4. These changes are
typical of those in the entire Missouri River Basin during the same
period.

Table 4.--Population in Narrows Unit Area

1940 1950 1960
Item Number Percent Number Percent Number Percent
Urban
--sterling 7,411 l5.l 7,534 15.7 10,751 20.5
Fort Morgan 4,884 9.9 5,315 11.1 7,379 14.1
Brush (2,481)* ~) (2'~2l)* (g'~) 3,62l 6.9
Subtotal l2,295 25.0 12, 9 2 . 21,751 41.5
Rural
-parm" 24,962 50.7 21,157 44.2 14,708 28.l
Nonfarm ~ 2403 13,870 29.0 15,~02 30.4
Subtotal 3 ,919 75.0 25,~21 73.2 30, 10 58.5
Total 49,2l4 lOO.O 7, 7 100.0 52,361 100.0

Note: Bureau of the Census data for Morgan, Logan, Washington and
Sedgwick Counties.
* Classified as nonfarm in the 1940 and 1950 census.

.

8