banner

Page 1 

EPILOGUE

 

Thanks in part to the success of the Montrose Mouse campaign the Dallas Creek Project funding was fully restored.        As we described in Ref. 1, construction of the Ridgway Dam began in February 1980 and was completed in July 1987. The controlled filling of the reservoir began in April, 1987, and was completed in May, 1990.

The Dallas Creek Project was transferred to operation and maintenance status on January 1, 1991, and is managed by the Tri-County Water Conservancy District.

The Ridgway State Park was developed in accordance with a very detailed 1976 recreation project plan by the U. S. Bureau of Reclamation. Federal funding continued for eight years and paid for all recreation development in the park. Today, partners in the project are the U. S. Bureau of Reclamation, the Tri-County Water Conservancy District, which manages water distribution, and Colorado State Parks, which manages the recreation facilities.

The dedication ceremony for the Ridgway State Park was held on June 23, 1990, at the Dutch Charlie area. The keynote speaker at the ceremony was Colorado Governor Roy Romer.

A newly elected Montrose City Council took office in January 1980 and abruptly fired City Manager James Austin who had held that position since January 1971. This decision was challenged by Councilman Bob Strong who resigned from the Council. The Montrose County Chamber of Commerce attacked the manner of the Austin firing.

Never-the-less the decision was final and apparently   The Montrose Mouse as the symbol of the City of Montrose was doomed. In Ref. 4. for the year 1980, Freeman states on p. 163: “The Montrose Mouse has met his match. The defiant mouse may have bucked the bureaucrats and the President on the Dallas Creek Project, but has met defeat at the hands of the City Council”.

It may have been that Austin was so closely associated with the Montrose Mouse that both of them had to go.

 

 Next Page-->