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<br />.3 <br /> <br /> <br />draining the eastern slope of the Rocky Mountains. Table 2 gives <br />drainage areas of the South Platte River at various locations with- <br />in Weld County. <br />The western boundary of the basin is formed by the Continen- <br />tal Divide with elevations up to about 14,200 feet and the Laramie <br />Range with elevations up to about 10,000 feet. At the southwestern <br />corner of the basin, the mountain area known as South Park is <br />located. This area is nearly flat and has an elevation of about <br />10,000 feet. It is surrounded by mountain ranges varying In ele- <br />vation from 12,000 to 14,000 feet. The Tarryall Mountains form <br />the northeast boundary of the South Park area. Elevations in the <br />plains region vary from approximately 7,000 feet along the foot- <br />hll Is to approximately 4,500 feet at the eastern boundary of Weld <br />County. <br /> <br />Development of the Flood Plain <br />The South Platte River flood plain in Weld County Is utilized <br />primarily for agricultural purposes. Except for the areas adjacent <br />to incorporated communities such as Fort Lupton, Wattenburg, Evans, <br />Greeley, etc., existing flood plain development Is mostly farm- <br />~ :..... <br />steads and ranch buildings. Dense development patterns, however, <br />do exist when in the proximity of, especially, the larger incor- <br />porated areas along the river. <br /> <br />Source of Data and Records <br />A relatively large amount of historic stream gage data does <br />exist for the South Platte River in Weld County. The U. S. Geo- <br />logical Survey has operated, at one time or another, five South <br />Platte River stream gages in Weld County. Information from these <br />gages was used in the hydrologic analysis conducted during this <br />study. Table 2 provides information on these stream gages. <br />