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f <br />attorneys of Colorado. When I finished law school he gave me a chance to <br />become legal adviser to the Colorado State Chamber of Commerce. I was smart <br />enough to turn it down and go back home to Western Colorado. Since that <br />time working on Colorado River matters has been a work of love for me. <br />At that time in water matters, the States of Utah and New Mexico <br />were far ahead of Colorado and Wyoming. And the resolve came to some of <br />us in those early days (when I was active in the State Senate and before <br />I went to Congress) that Colorado would have to take a more important <br />position on water. In 1937 we resolved our position by establishing the <br />Colorado Water Conservation Board. Then we began to get a real team in <br />the Upper Basin. A team that would pull together throughout the years. <br />We had our differences, of course, be we had a common objective -- water <br />resource development of the tipper Basin. Not because we had opponents <br />in the Lower Basin, and you know how effective they can be, but because <br />of the fact that we had common goals and objectives in the Upper. By <br />1949, when I went to Congress, those of you who were working at that <br />time -- with others -- had already prepared the Upper Colorado River <br />Compact Commission legislation and that was the first piece of legis- <br />lation for the Upper Basin to be passed. This meeting today, Pat, is <br />a direct outcome of that. This Commission meeting of today goes back <br />to those days, and what a great job the Upper Colorado River Compact <br />Commission has done, putting forth the work at the correct time and <br />resolving the differences of the different areas and getting legisla- <br />tion passed. It proved to be far more successful than some of us had <br />dreamed of in the beginning. <br />In 1902 the Bureau of Reclamation began its studies of the Colorado <br />River Basin, right after the Bureau was authorized as an integral part of <br />our Federal Government. In 1946 the first overall study that takes into <br />consideration all the areas of the Colorado River Basin was published <br />under the direction of Secretary Krug and Commissioner Straus. In 1947 <br />the appendix was published. At that time, Bill Plummer, they had ten <br />run -of -the river projects that they were recommending with equal vehe- <br />mence, and they had innumerable participating projects that they were <br />suggesting could be a part of the river operation. <br />The mistake had been made back years before when those in charge <br />made some agreements with our sister States to the south, Texas and <br />New Mexico, and a sister country to the south, Old Mexico. <br />The water engineers figured that there were at least 16,500,000 <br />acre -feet of water produced in the Colorado River Basin in a normal year. <br />The Santa Fe Compact was made on that premise. Of course, that proved <br />to be inaccurate. We were to have surplus water divided for each one <br />of the basins (Upper and Lower) -- the surplus over the annual flow of <br />16,500,000. I won't go into any of the difficulties that have been ours <br />since that time because of the wrong premise. It doesn't do any good. <br />We're not even sure of our position in the Upper Basin today after 30 <br />plus years of operation under the provisions of the Upper Colorado River <br />Basin Compact. <br />3 <br />