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The court noted that this being a dispute between two states. they had jwisdiction to resolve the issue. ConsequentlY. we find ourselves before the U.S. Supreme Court in today's ongoing dispute with Kansas. As development was occurring in, both states on a parallel timeline. irrigation ditches were being constructed not only in Colorado. but also in Kansas. For those of ~u familiar with the Pueblo area. the Bessemer Ditch irrigates the SL Charles Mesa. For those of ~u from the Rocky Ford area. you may be well aware of the Rocky Ford Ditch. Both of · these ditches were developed in early 1870. About 1901, Kansas brought suit against Colorado. It was the first interstate stream suit brought to the United States Supreme Court. The United Sta~ Supreme Court declared they had jwisdiction in the matter. In 1907, the Supreme Court ruled that there was an equitable use of water in Colorado and that Kansas had not proven their claim. There had been construction and completion of ditches in Colorado. However those operations had not diminished Opportunities for Kansas to develop and use its water resources to such an extent as to require Supreme Court jurisdiction. The water users in Kansas didn't particularly agree with that decision and they filed private suits against water users in Colorado in 1910. There was a compromise reached between these parties in 1916. Although the compromise was agreed to among the parties, other groups in Kansas did not agree with it. and they again brought suiL The states tried to work through a process of negotiating a settlement in the 19208. One of the key leaders was a gentleman by the name of Delph Carpenter, whom ~u may have heard of. He also worked on other compacts including the Colorado River Compact and the La-Plata River Compact as well as the South Platte Compact. He worked on the Arkansas River and tried to reach a compromise whereby there would be a certain amown of water for the ditches and existing users would be established in each state. The compromise would have given Kansas an opportunity to build a reservoir for their use on the Pmgatoire River system. That proposed compact was circulated between the states and interested parties and it was not accepted; it was rejected and never went forward, In 1928, Colorado brought suit trying to, in effect. stop Kansas' continued litigation over the river and pointing out to the Court that it had settled this issue before. Around 1928 people started thinking. "Well, there ought to be some way we could solve these problems," and they began to look at a project in Colorado called the Caddoa Project. known now as the John Martin Reservoir and Dam. They knew that a major project at this location could not succeed without federal support. Both states needed to join together in political support of the project. In 1936 they were able to get authorization for construction of the project; however, World War II dela)'ed activities in the project. In 1943, the Supreme Court case that had been filed by Colorado in 1928 was acted on. The Special Master reached some conclusions and attempted to apportion the remaining river flow. However, the Court rejected the Master's conclusions and basically said that the states were encouraged to resolve their differences through negotiation and compact. John Martin Reservoir was practically completed and started filling in about 1943, and in 1945 Congress authorized the states to negotiate a compact. Compact Commissioners were appointed by the governors of each state. The Compact Commission consisted of representatives from the basins of both states and also the federal govemmenL They worked to develop the compact. which took 17 meetings before they finally reached an agreement in 1948, It was ratified in 1949. John Martin Reservoir was completed and fully operational the same year. The new reservoir gave an opportunity to help resolve problems because the states were able to catch the floods and the heavy snowpack flows which were unusable - at the time they ran out of the state. The dam helped add to the efficiency of water use in both Colorado and the Arkansas Basin. ; I would like to set the stage so ~u can have a perception of the time frame and what was going on at the time of the negotiations. It was 1948. and there had been a history of about 50 years of litigation. During that time Colorado and Kansas both had been looking for solutions. They also had participated in several law suits. They had a central goal of protecting the existing users at that particular time. It was also an opportunity to look for a way to utilize the higher flows and other flows that had not been utilized but would soon be available with the completion of John Martin Reservoir. So. they entered into a compact. The primary purpose, which is stated in Article 1, was to settle existing disputes and to prevent causes for future controversy between the states of Colorado and Kansas. This was to equitably divide and apportion between the states of Colorado and Kansas the waters of the Arkansas River and the benefits arising from the construction of John Martin Reservoir. Article II states that the Compact was based first on the physical conditions peculiar to the Arkansas River and its natural drainage, second. on the opinion of the United States Supreme Arkansas River Basin Water Forum 9 "A River of Dreams and Realities"