9407

• UCREFRP Catalog Number: 9407
• Author: Water Education Foundation.
• Title: 75th Anniversary Colorado River Compact Symposium Proceedings.
• USFW Year: 1997.
• USFW - Doc Type: \
• Copyright Material: NO

*L. WARD BANNISTER,
DENVER CHAMBER OF COMMERCE, 1922:

SYMPOSIUM
PROCEEDINGS
MAY 1997

It may have occurred to some of you that Rita
Sudman has enormous powers of persuasion - so
strong, in fact, that she might even be able to bring
back the dead. I'm living proof. It has been a long
journey to get here. I'm glad to be here. It's an honor
to be here. And I want especially to say to you that I
recognize that you are a very diverse group, that you
have different views about the Colorado Compact
and Delph Carpenter. Some of you probably look at
it as a godsend, others perhaps as a curse.
What I want you to understand, as something of
a caveat to what I have to say to you this morning, is
that with very few exceptions - but there were
exceptions in all of the states - the majority of people

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in 1922 looked at the accomplishment here in
Santa Fe as an enormously successful one, and I want
to urge you to understand that what I say to you is
being said in that context.
I also wanted to say that, having been a participant
with Mr. Carpenter in the negotiations, in many of
the deliberations informally that had to do with the
Compact, thar there were very few comments
exchanged amongst the commissioners or others, for
that matter, that had to do with the Native Ameri-
cans. It was a foregone conclusion on the part of all
of us that the federal government would have to
continue its responsibility to the Native Americans
regardless of whether or not we, the commissioners,
were able to put together a compact. So what I have
to say today does not reflect the great needs and
interests that you all now understand in regard to the
Native American tribes. But again, I ask you to think
in terms of the times that we are dealing with.
Nearly 75 years ago, I joined the representatives of
the seven Colorado River Basin states, their advisors
and Secretary of Commerce Herbert Hoover to
negotiate the Colorado River Compact in this
building. We met then in the lodge's bridal suite.
Compared to the married honeymooners who had
previously consummated their vows in that room, the
commissioners and their entourage had somewhat
different expectations from each other. Instead of
celebrating a marriage already performed in the
public eye, we were hoping to achieve a kind of
prenuptial agreement mitigating against future
conflict.
While possibly less amorous, intimate and
sentimental than the newlyweds, these men were
equally passionate and equally committed to the
consummation of their own goal. As with the
Colorado River itself, I can assure you that
discussions were often swift and direct at points,
sometimes tortuous and meandering, always
potentially dangerous.
All of us had a sense of history in the making as
we sat here. And we hoped fervently that the knot
that we were going to tie in the Palace of the
Governors on Nov. 24, 1922, would be acceptable
to Congress and would allow an agreement between
seven disparate states to endure for many years to
come. All of us believed that the Colorado River
carried sufficient water for the present and future
needs of the seven states and Mexico. Data from the
experts were convincing. We were wrong.
Even with the population growth we had seen in
California, which from 1900 to 1920 had increased