Ralph E. Twitchell
Ralph Emerson Twitchell, who went by Ralph E. Twitchell, was an American attorney, historicist, mayor of Santa Fe, New Mexico, and chairman of the Rio Grande Commission, which drafted a treaty between the United States and Mexico leading to the building of the Elephant Butte Dam in his state. Twitchell helped organize the first National Irrigation Congress in 1891. He designed the first Flag of New Mexico in 1915.
Ralph Emerson Twitchell was born in Ann Arbor, Michigan, to David Sawin and Delia Scott Twitchell. He received his Bachelors degree from the University of Kansas and his L.L.B. from the University of Michigan. He first moved to New Mexico Territory in 1882, settling in Las Vegas, New Mexico to work in the law office of Henry L. Waldo.
For forty-three years Twitchell worked in the legal department of the Santa Fe Railroad. He was prosecuting attorney for Santa Fe County and special counsel for the U.S. Department of the Interior dealing with Native American and water-rights cases.
In 1885, he married Margaret Olivia Collins.
He died August 25, 1925, at the age of 68 in Los Angeles, California, leaving his second wife, Estella B. Twitchell, as well as two brothers, Waldo C. Twitchell and W. B. Twitchell.
