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2.3 Principal Flood Problems Historical accounts of flooding include references to several floods in the study area. Information on past floods, as available in newspaper files and other historical documents, is almost exclusively concerned with the larger aspects of flooding on Fountain or Monument Creeks. Major flooding probably included simultaneous flooding on smaller streams as well. Reference to the smaller streams appears only rarely in early newspaper accounts. Specific information of the intensity, duration, and magnitude of the storms and flood effects are generally lacking. On the basis of available peak discharge data alone, the floods of 1864, 1866, and 1935 would be classified as major in destructive capability. The May 1935 flood is the flood of record for Fountain and Monument Creeks in Colorado Springs. The June 1965 flood on Fountain Creek was primarily caused by Jimmy Camp Creek, which at a point 4.5 miles above the Fountain Creek/Jimmy Camp Creek conflu- ence had an estimated peak discharge of 124,000 cubic feet per second (cfs). The following summaries of floods were taken primarily from a U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) publication (Reference 3) and from the COE files. June 10, 1864. The Colorado Springs Gazette of June 27, 1864, in a series of articles on early happenings refers to the flood of 1864 as follows: There had been several thundershowers and the creeks were somewhat swollen, though not so much as to cause any apprehen- sion. But by 4 o'clock . . . a heavy cloud came up over Cheyenne Mountain and the sky gathered darkness until nearly sundown, when rain and hail began to fall in tremendous torrents. The rain came down, not in drops but in floods, the hail consisted of huge lumps of ice, some of them over 3 inches in diameter1 the whole surface of the country was flooded as though it were a vast lake, and in some of the ravines the water rushed along in torrents 20 or 30 feet deep. The storm continued in full violence until about 9 o'clock. The area of the storm was confined within a radius of 3 or 4 miles. , May 20, 1878. Although the few available precipitation records for 1878 indicate no general storm, a cloudburst near Palmer Lake caused a flood that was reported by the Rocky Mountain News of May 20, 1878, as follows: Monument and Fountain Creeks swept out bridges. El Paso County Losses very heavy, caused by cloudburst in valley near Divide, followed by hail. 9