Frying Pan Arkansas Project of 1962
This plan, originally proposed in 1951, called for water diversion out of the Frying Pan and Roaring Fork Rivers on the Western Slope of Colorado to the Arkansas River, which flowed to a dryer climate in the southeast part of the state. Because the Front Range (Boulder, Denver, Colorado Springs, and Pueblo) had a tremendous population advantage over the Western Slope, most of the state favored the project. Precedent for this maneuver had been set in 1937 with the Colorado-Big Thompson Project, which transferred Western Slope water to farmers in northeast Colorado.
Because he wanted to focus the House’s efforts on the CRSP in the mid-’50s, Aspinall tabled Fry-Ark until 1960. However, when the issue resurfaced, Aspinall’s opinion created controversy in his own district. Many of his constituents disapproved of sending their water to the Front Range. Aspinall, however, pushed the plan through because he realized that as a strong proponent of public water development, it seemed contradictory for him to block reclamation projects that benefited others. The bill passed in August 1962 when Aspinall attained a plan calling for the construction of a 28,000 acre foot (35,000,000 m3) reservoir on the Roaring Fork River near Aspen, which would compensate the Western Slope for its loss of water.
Fry-Ark demonstrated Aspinall’s resolve to proliferate the amount of publicly funded water projects throughout the West, pitting him against the wishes of the majority of his constituents in the early 1960s. He quickly regained favor with them, however, when its precedent eventually brought more dams and reclamation projects back to the Fourth District.
Read more about this topic: Wayne N. Aspinall
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