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9 21.02[1] MINERAL LAW INSTITUTE 21-4 per Basin is how to build a future on the right to leftovers." 7 Perhaps, however, the more pertinent and fundamental question is really whether the Upper Basin should have to build its future on the right to leftovers, instead of an equal portion of this common resource. The objective of this paper is to explore briefly the salient features of the law of the River and survey the prospects for correcting its most glar- ing inequities. 9 21.02 The Principal Parts of the Law of the River [1] The Colorado River Compact of 1922 The law of the River originated with the signing of the Col- orado River Compacta in 1922. The events which culminated in the Compact make for ahsorhinghistory,9 far too exten- sive to be fully elaborated here. But the broad outlines of the saga at least require mentioning. The annual threat of disas- trous floods, dissatisfaction with Mexican control over their hi-national diversion system, and eagerness for a canal that would serve more land at high elevations led the residents of California's booming Imperial Valley to seek a new all- American canal and effective flood control works. The Recla- mation Service, directed by Arthur Powell Davis (John Wesley Powell's nephew), regarded the Imperial Valley's agi- tation as an opportunity to advance its vision of a compre- hensive development program for the Colorado River, featur- ing an immense flood-control and storage dam on the lower River, probably at Black or Boulder Canyon, all under the paternal guidance of a growing federal agency. Davis con- vinced the Imperial Valley leadership of the advantages of 7 Getches, "Competing Demands for the Colorado River," 56 U. Colo. L. Rev. 413, 420 (1985). ' a It is set forth in full at 70 Cong. Rec. 324 (1928) and at Colo. Rev. Stat. ~ 37-61-101 (1973 & Supp. 1985), among other places. It was the first multi-state com- pact. Frankfurter and Landis remarked that: "Measured by the vastness of the re- gion and the magnitude of the interests regulated, the Colorado Compact repre- sents, thus 'far, the most ambitious illustration of interstate agreements." Frankfurter & Landis, "The Compact Clause of the Constitution-A Study In lnter- state Adjustments," 34 Yale L.J 685, 702 (1925). 9 For a comprehensive and lively study see N. Hundley. Jr.. Water and the West: The Colorado River Compact and the Politics of Water in the American West (Berke- ley, 1975),