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<br />~ E. Carnenter ~ ~ Princinle Q1 Eauitable, Aonortionment <br /> <br />Three things happened to me in 1992 which relate to this essay. <br />First. the University Press of Colorado published my history of the <br />Colorado-Big Thompson Project IC-BT). The title for this book, ~ ~ <br />~ ~ III Tb& West, came directly from Delph Carpenter. The <br />Colorado River, he said, was the only remaining viable source of water <br />supply for expanding agricultural and municipal needs on Colorado's East <br />Slope. Carpenter was a proponent of transmountain diversion, but he was <br />also convinced that the natural environment of the state, that is the <br />geography, soils and river location, limited the amount of water <br />deliverable through the mountains to a maximum of 600,000 acre-feet. He <br />argued this point forcibly and effectively while negotiating the 1922 <br />Colorado River Compact, ultimately persuading Arizona and California <br />that 'Colorado was simply incapable of taking more than 5% of the <br />Colorado River out of the Upper Basin.t By successfully quieting fears <br />of the Lower Basin states (California, Arizona, Nevada) regarding <br />Colorado's potential to dry up the river, Carpenter made possible the <br />constr~ction of the C-BT fifteen years later. He deserved more credit <br />than I gave him when I wrote that book, an error which I hope to rectify <br />with his biography. <br />The second happening, somewhat serendipitous, I mention only <br />because it occurred coincidentally with my interest in telling. <br />Carpenter's story. Russell Hill published a little novel called ~ <br />Boomer. 2 It is the story of Jack, the history professor, in search of a <br />virgin collection of documents from which he hoped to make a name for <br />himself and land a decent job at a major university. Jack heard of a <br />woman in a California nursing home who had been secretary to presidents <br />Wilson, Harding and Coolidge. He went to see her, hoping to get a <br />glimpse of her diaries. She was alone, had no one to visit her and <br />desperately wished to return to Iowa to die. She was also articulate <br />and resourceful. Every time the professor asked about the diaries, she <br />responded vaguely or changed the subject. But she kept his interest by <br />implying that she had been involved in more than just a professional <br />