Construction Finance Project Manager Colorado Water Conservation Board
In the literature of the history of the arid American West, names of prominent figures like Frederick Haynes Newell, Arthur De Wint Foote, Hiram Chittenden, William Hammond Hall, and Elwood Mead often appear. These men—engineers all—have rightly been the focus of much research and analysis for the impact that their work had on the development of the region’s water resources. Less known, but of comparable influence, is Edwin Shelton Nettleton: Chief Engineer on the early irrigation works of Greeley Colony, leading consulting engineer, Colorado State Engineer, and Federal investigator on questions of water use in the West. The most extensive previous treatment of Nettleton is a brief biography in Water: Colorado’s Real Gold by Richard Stenzel and Tom Cech. This paper follows the course of Nettleton’s life with particular emphasis on the most influential aspects of his engineering career.
