WSP04958

• File Number: 8200.300.40
• Description: Colorado River Compact
• Basin: Colorado Mainstem
• Date: 8/1/1997
• Author: Daniel Tyler
• Title: Delpheus Emory Carpenter and the Colorado River Compact of 1922
• Water Supply Pro - Doc Type: Publication

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ABSTRACT

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The role of Delphus E. Carpenter in determining the outcome of
Colorado River Compact negotiations has never been fully revealed. It has
always been accepted that Carpenter and Secretary of Commerce Herbert
Hoover, chairman of the Colorado River Compact Commission, played
leading roles during the discussions in Washington and Santa Fe. But until
recently, it has not been possible to trace the intellectual contributions of
Carpenter to the idea of interstate stream compacts. Fortunately, Carpenter
was a prolific writer. In his papers are copies of correspondence, reports,
diaries and memoranda, not just what he wrote but what he received from
others. When the Colorado Water Conservation Board and the Colorado
Water Resources and Research Institute made it possible to evaluate these
papers, Carpenter's enormous influence came to light.

The following essay is an attempt to identify Carpenter's singular
contributions to the formation, ratification and interpretation of the meaning
of the Colorado River Compact. It is not a history of the Compact. Rather, it is
an attempt to view the making of this document and its interpretation through
the eyes of Carpenter himself. Many people besides Carpenter contributed to
the success of the negotiations, but Carpenter was almost always the purveyor
of ideas, legal explanations and compromise solutions. It is the objective of
this essay to describe his thoughts through the many interchanges he had with
others involved in the process.