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<br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br /> <br />14 <br /> <br />which the rights of the states of origin of the [Colorado] river could be <br />protected in their future development without interfering with the early <br />construction of the large reservoirs on the lower river. "28 The urgency for <br />flood control in the Lower Basin was matched by a desire for protection in the <br />Upper Basin. A stalemate had developed amongst League members. <br />Carpenter saw a window of opportunity that inspired him to suggest a solution <br />with which he had already been working as Colorado's interstate streams <br />commissioner on the South Platte and La Plata rivers. As finally accepted by <br />League members, this resolution stated: <br />Resolved, That it is the sense of this conference that the present and <br />future rights of the several States whose territory is in whole or in part <br />included within the drainage area of the Colorado River, and the rights <br />of the United States, to the use and benefit of the waters of said stream <br />and its tributaries, should be settled and determined by compact or <br />agreement between said States and the United States, with consent of <br />Congress, and that the legislatures of said States be requested to <br />authorize the appointment of commissioners for each of said States for <br />the purpose of entering into such compact or agreement for subsequent <br />ratification and approval by the legislatures of each [of] said States and <br />the Congress of the United States.29 <br />Carpenter did not design this plan without previous experience. Since <br />1916 he had been working on an interstate compact plan with Nebraska for <br />the South Platte River. Even before that, "he had repeatedly suggested the <br />treaty method of settlement of interstate water rights only to meet skepticism, <br />indifference, failure of comprehension and open ridicule. "30 After the South <br />Platte River Compact was signed in 1923, Carpenter recalled that "the <br />application of the treaty powers of the states [to interstate streams] was first <br />