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4.2 ARKANSJ'S RIVER BASIN 4.2.1 ARKANSJ~S RIVER ~ Flood of 1864. The firsl flood on the Arkansas River for which detailed information has been found occurred June 11, 1864, as a resutt of lhe general storm over eastem Colorado. The e'arly settlers agree that this flood reached a point near Third and Santa Fe Avenues in Pueblo, and n, as seems probable, the street has been graded down since 1864, the flood o,f that year may have been nearly as high as the flood of 1921. During the flood of 1921 all the streams in lhe valley were very high and overflowed their banks for great distancl!s. ~ Flood of 1867. A flood in May 1807 caused the removal of Fort Lyon to a place 17 miles farther west. The rainfall record at Fort Lyon was as follows: May 24-26, 1.80 inches; May 29,1.00 inch; May 30,1.15 inches; a total of 3.95 inches, as compared w~h a normal rainfall of 2 inches for the entire month. This flood was probably caused chiefly by metting snow, as the Canon City Record of June 2, 1894, quotes historian B.F. Rockafellow, as saying that the me~ing of the snow at the time of the flood of 1867 caused "the streams (in the vicinity of Canon C~y) to become swollen into rushing torrents." The Bent County Democrat, June 15, 1921, quotes John W. Powers, county cieri<, as follows: "I have heard my mol her tell of the great flood of 1867, which must have surpassed the one of this month. At the time to which she referred both the Arkansas and the Purgatoire Wllre at flood slage simuttaneously, w~h the resutt that the Arkansas River in the section where Lamar now stands was a solid body of water from the sand hills on the south side to the first upland on the north side of the river. Flood of~ The next flood of record on the Arkansas River is that of September 16, 11175, which was caused primarily by high water in lhe Purgatoire River and therefore affected the Arkansas River chiefly below the Purgatoire. The Las Animas Leader, September 18, 1875, reported: "At Fort Lyon (4 miles below the mouth of the Purgatoire) the water was 4 feet higher than known before. The bottom land between the bridge and the post trader's (a distance of three-fourths of a mile) was a swift, raging flood." The uppllr river was also in flood as far north as Pueblo, but as the Pueblo press gave little space to ~ lhe flood at that point was evidently not serious. Flood of 1884c Rain and runoff from metting of the heavy snow cover in June 1884 caused a flood on the Arkansas River between the Grand Canyon, just above the Royal Gorge, and Pueblo. The Canon City Record, June 28, 1884, stated that the water was 2 feel deep on the railroad tracks in the Grand Canyon. Flood of 1886. A flood of considerable magn~ude on the lower ArI<ansas River, probably below tlhe mouth of Purgatoire River occurred July 20-25, 1886. This flood did . " Colorado Flood Hydrology Manual 4.24 fRIJFf