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<br />2.0 AREA STUDIED <br /> <br />2.1 Scope of Study <br /> <br />This Flood Insurance Study covers the incorporated area of the City <br />of Alamosa, located in the center of Alamosa County, in south-central <br />Colorado. The area of study is shown on the Vicinity Map (Figure 1). <br />The Rio Grande, flowing from the northwest to the southeast, forms <br />the northern city limits of Alamosa. <br /> <br />To identify the flood hazard areas in Alamosa, a detailed study was <br />made of the Rio Grande and its flood plains within and adjacent to <br />the City of Alamosa. Consideration was given to all known future <br />development and proposed construction through January 1982. <br /> <br />2.2 Community Description <br /> <br />Alamosa, the county seat of Alamosa County, is located in the heart <br />of the San Luis Valley and is the crossroad of south-central Colorado. <br />Denver is approximately 219 miles to the north of Alamosa, whereas <br />Santa Fe, New Mexico, is directly south, located approximately 150 <br />miles away from the city. <br /> <br />Alamosa was founded on July 4, 1878, the date the Denver and Rio <br />Grande Western Railroad completed its rail connection from Denver to <br />the community's site on the banks of the Rio Grande. Cottonwood <br />trees lined the river, and consequently the townsite was named <br />Alamosa, which means "cottonwood trees" in Spanish. <br /> <br />Development of the region was closely linked with the expanding Rio <br />Grande railroad system. The original line was completed over the <br />Sangre de Cristo Mountains to Russell in 1877 and reached Alamosa in <br />July 1878. Surveys were extended in all directions from Alamosa in <br />order to tap the rich mineral resources of the region. The next 2 or <br />3 years saw many of these surveys translated into ever-increasing <br />miles of track. The rapid development, first of the mining industry, <br />and then of agriculture in its various phases, made the rail extensions <br />economically feasible. By 1890, the San Luis Valley was covered by <br />railways, with Alamosa at the hub. <br /> <br />In 1913, the Colorado legislature carved a new county out of the <br />northern portions of Conejos and Castilla Counties and called it <br />Alamosa County. The City of Alamosa was designated as county seat of <br />the new county. <br /> <br />The City of Alamosa grew and developed into what is now the trading <br />center of the San Luis Valley. Several thousand freight cars of <br />vegetables and stock leave the San Luis Valley each year. <br /> <br />2 <br />