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You know how old I am. How many here shook hands with Secretary <br />Hoover when he was Chairing the Colorado River Compact studies? I am <br />getting old! (Laughter) The only reason I did, was that in the fall <br />of 1921, in Grand Junction, Colorado my distant cousin, John Norviel, <br />was State Engineer for Arizona. He was with the Commission. I remember <br />the incident very well. <br />Today when I say "I " in some of my remarks, that means "we." I <br />repeat -- I'm getting old. Sometimes, when I get euthusiastic, I'm inclined, <br />like some other people who get old, to take more credit than was or is due <br />to them. I was the Chairman. I was fortunate in being the leader in the <br />House, but what we accomplished, as was said by Senator Bennett, was, in <br />my opinion as well, one of the greatest accomplishments of any natural <br />resource development project and legislation in the passage of the <br />Colorado River Storage Act. <br />I remember Uncle Billy Wallace, of Utah. The fact of the case is <br />worked with him in those days so long ago. <br />SENATOR BENNETT: May I say he's my uncle. That's where I got my <br />name. <br />CONGRESSMAN ASPINALL: I had the good fortune of sitting within <br />two seats of Uncle Billy's son at the Consistory here in Salt Lake City <br />last October, if I remember correctly. We renewed acquaintances speaking <br />of "Uncle Billy." And you know, my mind has changed a little bit. I <br />didn't think that John Wallace could be older than I. But, Wallace, he's <br />three years older than I am. <br />SENATOR BENNETT: Four years older than I am. {Laughter} <br />CONGRESSMAN ASPINALL: You folks remember that I was a great <br />stickler for seniority when I was in the United States Congress. <br />Delph Carpenter, of Colorado, was also an acquaintance of mine. <br />He handled the matters for Colorado. He was one of the Santa Fe Compact <br />Commissioners. When I begin to reminisce, if I'm not careful and stick <br />to my notes, I can go off on the deep end awful fast. But, anyhow that's <br />when I became interested in.the welfare of the Colorado River. Up until <br />that time I had handled a shovel as a boy on a fruit ranch and had handled <br />a mower in the upper country mowing hay, and that's about all I knew about <br />_water. But, after this chance meeting with Secretary Hoover and his Com- <br />missioners, I was fortunate enough to go to the Denver College of Law <br />and then I became interested in water, never realizing that perhaps at <br />the right time -- sometime along the road -- what I did at the University <br />of Denver Law School would come in handy in the years ahead. Irrigation <br />law was my speciality. Although I don't claim any fame for being a <br />student, I did lead my class in that particular subject. At that time <br />we had in Denver, and Felix will remember this and maybe some of the <br />rest of you will, a man who was known as L. Ward Bannister. Anybody <br />remember that name? L. Ward Bannister was one of the leading water <br />El <br />2 <br />