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Show h I f Cortez Absorbs 'Boom Calls It 'Healthy Growth1 Cortez, a bustling cily of about' 2,500 people, has enjoyed a "healthy and prosperous growth" but not a "boom" as the result of the uranium mining activities. The city now Is benefiting from opera-, tlons of but one uranhim mine In 1 Montezuma County and it has been in operation only since last ' October. There ha been uranium activity since 1915, however. During the past several years bank deposits in the busy southwestern Colorado city have Increased substantially because of uranium and some companies op-crate from headquarters in Cortez. According to the Cortez Chamber of Commerce, a recently completed survey shows the population of Cortez and Its trade area to be i In excess of 15,000. Cortez is the 1 county seat of Montezuma County and the largest city In its trade area. Its stores, warehouses and , shops are the economic heart of , a tremendous geographic area. , With the growth came problems, s Only recently county and serrice organizations became concerned with zoning and still but little j definite action has been taken. The city itself is zoned. Hitting the pocketbooks of everyone in the community and its area have been the advances in food and clothing prices, but the rise has not been out of line when considered with other similarly sized communities in the U. S. Rent, however, is up an average of 15 per cent, due largely to oil exploration and drilling in that area. Public officials and residents of Cortez and Its environs hare other and more serious problems, too. For example, the growth in population since 1945 about 1,400 has overtaxed the local hospital, present school system, and some other facilities. However, Cortez is well staffed with professional peo- Ele such as physicians, dentists, iwyers and others. Housing is also a problem but city officials are hopeful that a bpw 110 unit project which will be this spring will ease this (started situation. Dean P. Hanson, manager of the Cortez Chamber of Commerce, comments. "Actually, Cortei Is n-t Joying a very healthy growth, a v prosperity due to many economic ' . factors. Our geographic location In the Colorado Plateau I cer- I tainly advantageous. . .(Uranium) " la darn Important and Cortez boasts , about being in the center of - things." Cortez Is served by a municipal-owned water system which takes water from the Dolores River. Water riehts are adequate to serve about 6,500 persons, and now serves about 3,800. Because the water Is chlorinated and rates high with health authorities, the City Council is anxious to serve more i users. Common laborers in the area receive about $1.00 per hour for their services and there is a plentL ful supply except when seasonal employment in agriculture demands more workers. Semi-skilled labor is bard to find. Common laborers on construction projects receive $1.23 per hous and semiskilled get $1.40 per hour. Skilled workers in the construction field get as much as $1.75 to $2.25 per hour. The Colorado Employment Service office In Cortez has been efficient in supplying labor needs. Contributing to the economy of the district are four large truck lines which operate regular schedules into the city. These freight companies are among the biggest In the Plateau area and offset the disadvantage of their being no railroad to serve the district. Bus transportation is offered to all major points and Frontier Airlines offers four flights daily from the Montezuma County Airport. Community services are as much in line with needs as is presently feasible. Cortez has a public school system rated as excellent, providing a high school and an elementary school which has been erected since the war. Still another. Calkins elementary, has been remodeled and an additional grade school, now under construction, will be completed during the 1954-55 school term. Total enrollment is about 1,150 with 500 in the Montezuma County High School. Athletic teams of the high school compete in the class "A" state program and the school boasts an outstanding band. There is both softball and baseball on the city-owned park facilities during summer months, and Certez has an Old Timers Baseball organisation providing recrea. tion for kids nine through 15 years of age. Presently, public-spirited citizens are busy collecting funds for a municipal swimming pool and engineers are drawing a preliminary plan for it. To lure the fishermen of the state, the State Fish and Game Department provided funds for development of Denny Lake as a fishing area and park two miles east of Cortez. That project was completed in 1954. Serving the town now is a new Sanitation District, which has provided the new sections of Certez with sewer laterals and adequate disposal treatment. This system was completed in 1954. Adding an Invigorating factor for added productivity of labor and recreation is the distinctive climate in the Cortez district. Sum-Imer and winter each have four months, spring and fall are two months. Average precipitation for i Cortez is 13.56 inches, and the , average temperature is 48.8 de- Coolest month of the year is frees. anuary, average temperature of I 27.4 degrees, and the warmest is I July which has an average temp-j erature of 71.7 degrees. I All in all. Cortez and its adja-i cent area is a nice place to live, work and play. |