Delphus Emory Carpenter is known as the “Father of Interstate River Compacts.” His parents, Leroy and Martha Carpenter, were among the first settlers in Greeley with the Union Colony. Carpenter grew up in Greeley and after completing law school at the University of Denver in 1899, he returned to his hometown to practice law, particularly on water-related issues, in Greeley, Ault, Eaton, and Evans. His family background in farming and irrigation prepared him well to develop new ways of dealing with water law.

In 1908, Carpenter won election as state senator in the seventh district, and served one term from 1909 to 1913. As senator, he served on the committee on agriculture and irrigation, and helped pass the Carpenter Reservoir Bill of 1911, which protected the senior rights of reservoir owners against the junior rights of ditch companies.

While in the state senate, Carpenter also served as attorney for the Greeley-Poudre Irrigation District. When the construction of the Laramie-Poudre Diversion Tunnel led to Wyoming v. Colorado, Colorado named Carpenter lead counsel for the state. The lawsuit lasted from 1911 to 1922 in the United States Supreme Court. The drawn-out nature of the case prompted Carpenter to consider other methods besides litigation to deal with interstate water conflicts and lawsuits.

After he completed his term as state senator, Colorado appointed Carpenter interstate streams commissioner. Beginning in 1920, he proposed equitable apportionment of interstate rivers through compact agreements. As a result, the seven states that make up the Colorado River basin (Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming) each named a commissioner to the newly created Colorado River Commission in January 1922. Herbert Hoover, the U.S. Secretary of Commerce, served as the official representative of the federal government. On November 24, 1922, the commission concluded by signing a compact, which was later ratified by the states and Congress as the Colorado River Compact.

Carpenter traveled widely to support and promote the Colorado River Compact, and negotiated other compacts for the La Plata, Arkansas, Laramie, North Platte, Rio Grande, Republican, and South Platte Rivers. He finally retired as compact commissioner for Colorado in 1933 due to poor health and neuritis. He passed away on February 27, 1951.[1. Patricia J. Rettig, “Guide to the Papers of Delph E. Carpenter and Family,” Colorado State University, Water Resources Archive, 2011, http://lib.colostate.edu/archives/findingaids/water/wdec.html; Daniel Tyler, Silver Fox of the Rockies: Delphus E. Carpenter and the Western Water Compacts (University of Oklahoma Press, 2003), 88-122.]