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the need for measuring devices in irrigation ditches and recommended the use of rectangular weirs, <br />which became the most popular measuring device used in Colorado, until the development in 1915- <br />1926 of the Parshall Measuring Flume by Ralph L. Parshall. His work began by determining the <br />capacities of the various ditches, and gauging the streams of the state. He had to determine the daily <br />and annual discharge of the stream systems and the duty of water for irrigating purposes. He invented <br />devices for the accurate measurement of water from canals for the farmers. He was fortunate in that by <br />the time he assumed the office money had been allocated for an assistant engineer. <br /> <br />In 1883 Nettleton made a proposal to the ditch owners of the Cache la Poudre that they furnish the <br />necessary funds to build a permanent gauging station and measuring flume, at, or near, the site of the <br />previous station constructed by Stimson. He also proposed installing a continuous self-recording <br />gauge. This improved structure and recorder would provide the Water Commissioner of the district <br />with trustworthy data that he could use to determine the amount of water available to the water users in <br />his district. <br /> <br />The Cache la Poudre water users promptly responded to the proposition, and assessed themselves, <br />according to the size of their ditches. They raised the money to construct the measuring flume and <br />gauge house at an expense of about $1,650. This flume was erected in the fall of 1883. It was <br />completed in November, ready for use during the following season. <br /> <br />When the self-recording gauge was placed in position in the gage house constructed for it, many <br />measurements of the river were made of the velocity of the current at various stages, so that a stage <br />discharge curve could be developed. At first, a Fteley meter was used for measuring current velocity, <br />but it soon became apparent to Nettleton that this instrument was entirely too delicate for the type <br />waters encountered at this station, the water was filled with drift material of all sorts. He designed a <br />new instrument that was more suitable for making the measurements. He called it the "Colorado" <br />current meter. His main goal for the new meter was to make it self-clearing, the great defect of the <br />Fteley meter being its liability to error when it was clogged with grass or weeds. A secondary object <br />was to reduce the speed of revolution, the high speed of the Fteley instrument necessitated expensive <br />jeweled bearings, and its delicate construction, made it incompatible with the rough work which was <br />required to be done. Three "Colorado" current meters, were initially made and they saw immediate use <br />in the gauging of rivers and ditches. He described the Colorado Current Meter as working on the same <br />principle as a wind gage. It had five cups revolving horizontally on an axle. One Colorado current <br />meter is still in existence and is at the Smithsonian Institute. The Colorado current meter was very <br />similar to the Price meter which was invented W. G. Price in 1885. A modified form of the Price <br />meter was later adopted as the standard meter for the USGS and is used today by the Division of Water <br />Resources. <br /> <br /> <br />Thinking back over time and seeing what the first water commissioners had as information to base <br />their decisions upon when compared to the information system that is available today it is truly <br />amazing the changes that have occurred. <br />