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had to be made. They listened to a talk given by B. S. LaGrange, who was the water commissioner in District <br />3, which is the Cache la Poudre River basin, on the need for additional irrigation legislation. Those in <br />attendance to the convention then chose him chairman of a committee to write the irrigation bill for <br />presentation to the legislature. <br /> <br />Water Commissioner LaGrange spent most of the 1881 legislative session in Denver and helped in many <br />ways to father this legislation. The previous legislature had refused to provide the irrigators with a State <br />Commissioner of Irrigation and with some legislation for the measurement of the streams. The second bill <br />sought to supply these important elements. It provided for a State hydraulic engineer to measure the irrigable <br />streams. The measure was influenced by the experience of California, where the office of State engineer had <br />been created three years earlier. Colorado’s measure had one feature, however, which was a considerable <br />improvement over the California law; it provided that prior to the taking of testimony in an adjudication suit, <br />the State engineer should measure the capacities of the stream and the ditches, and present his measurements <br />as evidence in the application for a water right. This bill had another new feature; it provided for the creation <br />of three water divisions which were based on the South Platte, Arkansas, and Rio Grande basins. <br /> <br />The statute that was passed by the General Assembly stated the office of State Hydraulic Engineer, "was to be <br />appointed by the governor for a two-year term." The principal task was the making of "careful measurements <br />and calculations of the maximum and minimum flow in cubic feet per second of water in each stream from <br />which water shall be drawn for irrigation." The state engineer also supervised the water commissioners in <br />each water district and supervised equitable distribution. As Elwood Mead later wrote: "To Colorado <br />belongs the credit of having been the first State to enact a code of laws for the public administration of <br />streams, and these laws have directly influenced more people than those of any other commonwealth." <br /> <br />Technology has always played a significant role in the state engineer’s office in aiding river <br />administration. The primary responsibility of the State Hydraulic Engineer was to measure the water in <br />each stream from which water was diverted for irrigation, starting with those most used for irrigation. In <br />1881 the first incumbent, Eugene Stimson, established gauging stations in the Cache la Poudre River and <br />Big Thompson River. He took readings at each station three times a day and provided a copy of his <br />readings to the water commissioners in those water districts. The 1881 legislation also required the <br />owners of irrigation ditches to construct and maintain, under the supervision of the State Engineer, a <br />measuring device for measuring flow. The installation of the measuring devices on the ditches was <br />critical to enable the water commissioners and the ditch riders to allocate accurately the water from the <br />streams and ditches. In addition, the State Engineer was to compute and rate the amount of water that <br />will pass each measuring device at different stages, in cubic feet per second, and provide each water <br />commissioner with a copy of the results. Stimson found it difficult to accomplish all his duties as a staff <br />of one person and did not accomplish all the duties assigned to him during 1881. <br /> <br />At the Cache la Poudre gauging station the stage of water was observed and a telephone line had been <br />extended the entire length of stream. The water commissioner could then direct the regulation of headgates <br />at any time. Water District three or the Cache La Poudre River basin was further advanced than any other <br />river district in the State in the use of technology to administer its water rights. <br /> <br /> The second State Engineer, E. S. Nettleton, was appointed in 1883. When he was appointed State <br />Engineer he brought with him a significant background in irrigation ditch construction. He recognized