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actually been given the right to divert a small quantity of water, but a quantity of water out of the Laramie River into the Cache la Poudre Basin. Wyoming, according to the decision that Chief Justice Van Devanter handed down, could not claim absolute priority across state lines. They would receive only what the court viewed as an equitable apportionment. What Carpenter learned from the Wyoming case is that litigation of this nature would be lengthy and costly - the Wyoming case lasted for 11 years; that basin of origin states could no longer successfully claim that they owned all of their water; that the Reclamation Service would continue to claim jurisdiction over Western waters; that an equitable amount of trans-mountain diversion was acceptable to the court; and that if states failed to negotiate compacts, the court would determine how water on interstate streams was to be appropriated. He also realized that 11 years on the case had just about broken him. The strain was overwhelming. About one-third of his enormous brief had to be written in long-hand because of his partner's work being unreliable and because his stenographer was simply unable to keep up with him. On Dee. 1, 1918, shortly after presenting his brief in Washington, he wrote in his diary: "This brief has made a nervous wreck out of me. I have given it my very life, realizing how desperately vital it is. But I have done my best. My stenographer took ill with the Spanish influenza and I typed the last of the brief myself. I worked it out all alone, no help from anyone." Shortly thereafter he, too, became ill, probably a combination of the flu and exhaustion. He developed a palsy visible in his signature and an achiness in his bones that caused a craving for heat and a burning sensation in his vocal chords that restricted his majestic voice and sometimes prevented speech altogether. But his most demanding task still lay ahead. In August of 1920, while awaiting the outcome of the Wyoming case, a meeting of the governors of the Colorado River states took place in Denver to discuss how the Colorado River Basin might be developed and protected for future generations. It was a very propitious moment for Mr. Carpenter. Now this was a group of states who represented themselves under the rubric of the League of the Southwest - an organization that had been founded in California, largely to respond to the government's stated interest in settling vets from World War I on the lower Colorado River. These people, the League, also were interested in developing the Southwest and the lower Colorado River. They needed measures to deal with severe droughts that had occurred in that area. They wanted the federal government to look at and identify power sites, reservoir sites and other places for works. And they decided to get together in Denver in 1920 to determine exactly how that would come about. So they met with the Reclamation Service, led at that time by the nephew of John Wesley Powell - Arthur Powell Davis. Davis confidently told these delegates in 1920 that the Colorado River Basin contained sufficient water to supply present and future needs of the seven states, and that construction of reservoirs on the lower river would in no way interfere with future development in the Upper Basin. Carpenter simply could not be convinced that government involvement in construction of works would be benign for Colorado, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming. The Rio Grande and the North Platte experiences which I just mentioned, were indelible memories contradict- ing his inherent optimism. The only basis for amicable negotiations, he felt, was an interstate compact with participation by the United States. Because he had been asked by Colorado Governor Shoup to act as legal advisor to the Resolutions Committee at the Denver meeting and to come up with a plan that would protect the origin states and their goal of future development, Carpenter decided to present his plan to that group, hoping that a resolution would ensue. The committee, in fact, accepted his compact idea unanimously, and wrote it into their report which was delivered to the entire League body and approved by all members. It said, in part, "that it is the sense of this confer- ence that the present and future rights of the several states whose territory is in whole or in part included within the drainage area of the Colorado River and the rights of the United States to the use and benefit of the waters of said stream and its tributaries should be settled and determined by compact." What a pregnant historical moment. But nobody, as almost always happens when these kinds of things occur historically, recognized it. Neither one of the Denver newspapers said much - a couple of small articles. Director Davis went to Carpenter and said, "What does this mean?" Carpenter eXplained it to him. Basically everybody went home - not to meet again untilJanuary 1922 in Washington, D.C. This brief has made a THE SilVER FOX nervous wreck out of me. I have given it my very life, realizing how desperately vital it is. SYMPOSIUM PROCEEDINGS MAY 1997 <2>