| Book Review | The Journal of American History, 91.1

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| Book Review | The Journal of American History, 91.1 | The History Cooperative

Book Review

Silver Fox of the Rockies: Delphus E. Carpenter and Western Water Compacts. By Daniel Tyler. (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2003. xxii, 392 pp. $34.95, ISBN 0-8061-3515-8.) Fuel for Growth: Water and Arizona's Urban Environment. By Douglas E. Kupel. (Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 2003. xxiv, 294 pp. $39.95, ISBN 0-8165-2169-7.)
Both of these books describe cooperative efforts to work out innovative solutions to seemingly intractable problems. And both books focus on change agents—individuals who confronted the status quo and attempted to bring about dramatic change. In Daniel Tyler's book, the change agent is Delphus E. Carpenter, a man who had a profound impact on western water policy and today is largely forgotten—an oversight of history that Tyler seeks to correct. Tyler, an emeritus professor at Colorado State University, has written a balanced account of Carpenter's long and controversial career as perhaps the foremost proponent of western state water compacts. Tyler clearly admires Carpenter's tenacity and commitment to principle but leavens this with frank discussions of Carpenter's weaknesses. Carpenter had a nearly pathological aversion to federal "interference" in western water policy. He advocated interstate water compacts and equitable apportionment as a way of preventing the federal government, especially the U.S. Supreme Court, from deciding how to allocate the West's rivers among the states.	1
Douglas E. Kupel, a historian with the city of Phoenix, views Arizona's municipal water providers and their clientele as change agents. These urban water suppliers have successfully dealt with the daunting task of providing sufficient water for unprecedented population growth in the midst of a desert.	2
Together, these books provide an understanding of the complexities of western water politics from two contrasting perspectives. Carpenter saw the future in terms of the past; for him, irrigation would always be the most important use of water in the West. He was unable to visualize a larger role for the federal government and the need to consider national goals. In contrast, the urban water agencies of Arizona were constantly adapting, barely keeping up with the multiple demands of their constituents.	. . .

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