Next year’s federal census will answer a lot of interesting questions on population in Utah. For example: -Will Provo or Ogden be the state’s second largest city, behind Salt Lake City? -Two of the state’s fastestgrowing cities – Orem and Sandy – are in a neck-in-neck race for fourth glace among cities right now. W ich will be ahead in 1980. Or might Bountiful, another rapidly-growing city, overtake both of them ? -Will Utah County continue to hold its lead over Weber as the No. 2 county in the state? -How close will Utah be to the one-and-a-half-million mark in population? Its total was estimated at 1,316,000 at mid-1978. Ogden traditionally has been Uta ‘s No. 2 city but apparently is in danger of being overtaken by Provo. Chambers of Commerce of the two cities each estimate the current population at 70,000 figures carried in the current issue of Johnson’s World-Wide Chamber of Commerce Directory. Orem was shovim as the state’s fourth city at mid-1978 with 50,000 population and Sandy was fifth with 38,000 followed by Bountiful at 37,500. But Sandy claims to be the state’s fastest-growing city and now sports an estimated population of 52,500. The latest estimate quoted to us for Orem was 52,000 Utah County took the lead over Weber in the 1970 census after the latter had held second spot (behind Salt Lake County) for many decades. Figures for the two counties since 1920 have included: 1920 rfederal census-Weber,y 43.500; Utah County, 40,8iKY 1930 – Weber, 52,200; Utah County, 49,000. 1940 – Weber, 57,100; Utah County, 56,900. 1950 4 Weber, 83,300; Utah County, 81,912. 1980 – Weber, 110,744; Utah County, 106,991. 1970 – Weber, 126,278; Utah County, 137,776. Uta County’s estimated population for mid-July 1978 was 189,000 to Weber’s 141,000, which would indicate the county in Central Utah should have little trouble holding its lead in the 1980 census. Among questions of interest in Utah County will be how the census ranks American Fork, Springville, and Spanish Fork, listed at 12,000, 11,000, and 10,500, res;-ectively, in estimated 1978 mi -year ratings. Forecasting populations is an interesting game and interest in it is expected to rise as the next official census draws nearer. In the moment of truth, when the new figures are released, it will be especially interesting to see ihow well the estimators have fared in projecting populations since 1970. In Search of Nessie One sure sign that summer is just around a corner or two is the annual announcement that the search for the legendary monster of Scotland’s Loch Ness is resuming. In the past, divers, electronic listening devices, underwater cameras and just about every other aid short of ESP has been used without resolving the mystery of Nessie’s existence. This year, Boston’s Academy of Applied Science is bringing in reinforcements that will be in their element: Dolphins. Two have been in training all winter in Florida for the sum-=mer’s search. They will be released into Loch Ness carrying cameras and strobelights attached to special harnesses. There is some concern about their safety – not from the menace of Nessie- but from the lake’s icy waters, which they are not accustomed to. But look at it this way. Maybe the concern should really be about Nessie. An underwater encounter with anything trussed up like those two dolphins will be could be enough to scare the scales off any monster. So They Soy “Thirty years from now we may still be here. You down there, me up here.” – Bob Hope, 75, insisting to a London audience that he is a long way from retiring as a comedian.