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24 THE ARKANSAS RIVER FLOOD OF JUNE-8-5 1921. , -- foundries, and other manufacturing plants employing about 18,000 men. The city lies mainly on the flood plnin of the river but extends onto' the bluffs on either side. Originally the river pursued a wind- ing course through the city, but its channel was straightened and levees were built to furnish protection against a flood of 40,000 second-feet, slightly greater than the maximum discharge of the flood of 1894. ' The heavy rains on .Tune 2 and 3 in the region west of Pueblo caused several successive rises in the river. The highest rise and the one that caused the great damage was the second, which oc'curred on the night of June, 3. Dry Creek, which drains an area of 86 square miles just west of Pueblo on the north side of the Arkansas, !was subject to its severest flood the night of .Tune 2. This flood baused the river at Pueblo to rise by 2 a. m. June 3 to a stage 'of 13.7 feet on the State gage just below the Main Street bridge. This tise subsided in a few hours, and as the river channel could safely carry a flood of that stage, little damage was done. The in- tense rains that began on the afternoon of the 3d caused the river to rise rapidly at 5 p. m., and by 8.45 p. m. the levees were overtopped at a stage of 18.1 feet. The river continued to rise until at mid- night the maximum stage of 24.66 feet was reached. This stage was maintained for only a few minutes, and then the river fell almost as quickly as it rose, until about 4 a. m. June 4 it had receded to the top of the levee (18.1 feet). By 2.30 p. m. the river had fallen to a stage of 9.5 feet and by midnight to 9.1 feet. About the time the levees were overtopped they broke nt several plnces near the west end of the city, am! large quantitics of water flowed directly through the hellrt of the business sp,{ion. A third rise reached n stage of 11.1 feet at ,~ a. ID. JUlle 5, but the river quickly subsi.lcll again and relllllinetl at. a stage of V.l fcrt nnlil ~.l!i p. m., when a fourth ,flood, causell by the breaking of the Schaeffer dam on ,Beaver Creek, reached the city. The river reached a stage of 13 feet from 3 to 4 p. m. and then fell to 9.1 feet at 7 p. m. By this time the flood run-oft from the area of heavy rains had passed, and the river continued to recede gradually, except for a temporary rise to S feet at 5.30 p.' m. June 6. When the levees were overtopped an immense volume of water flowed across the old flood plain and through the heart of the busi-, ness section, which lies on both sides of the river. The area inun- dated covered 3 square miles and extended from Sixth and Main streets north of the river to the bluffs south of the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad yards on the south side of the river. ~. . 11 ~_,_ _ .~ l-.ln ~h(\",,, t],p ],pi/J'ht of the high-water mark above