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<br />At the road crossings of the left bank tributary at elevations of <br />7.050 and 7,200 feet, very extensive debris-flow deposits occur. The <br />drainage area is estimated to be 2 square miles. There are several <br />100 foot long debris-flow levees with 2 to 3 foot diameter boulders on <br />the top surface. The channel is 50 feet wide and the deposits are 10 <br />or more feet above the streambed. Also, at several abrupt channel <br />expansions there are deposits with boulders as large as 10 feet. The <br />boulders are completely lichen covered and there are many 3 to 4 foot <br />diameter trees growing on the debris-flow deposit surfaces suggesting <br />the deposits are 200 or more years old. The recent channel (there are <br />no indications of higher water-flows) is 3 feet wide and less than a <br />foot deep. The stream banks and channel boulders are completely <br />covered with moss or lichen. Recent peak discharge is estimated to be <br />30 cubic feet per second. The lack of flood evidence indicates that <br />flows have not exceeded the erosion threshold discharge of 200 to 300 <br />cubic feet per second in the last hundred years or more. <br />Par about 1/2 mile upstream, to Crystal Park lake, the hillside <br />is extremely steep and probably is the source area for the debris <br />flow. Several possible source areas for the debris flow were <br />considered, but because of the length of intervening time the location <br />could not be pinpointed without closer inspection. <br /> <br />Williams Canyon <br />Williams Canyon drains 2.7 square miles. Prom the Cave of the <br />Winds road switchback downstream, the canyon has been extensively <br />modified; hence paleoflood studies, particularly to identify large <br />floods, were not done. At an elevation of about 6,840 feet, there is <br />is large flood bar or boulder berm (these result from highly <br />concentrated sediment-laden floods, but not a debris flow) that is <br />about 200 feet long and 20 feet wide (indicative of a large flood). <br />The top of the berm is about 10 feet above the streambed and the width <br />is 70 feet; the mean flood depth is about 6 feet. The surface of the <br />berm is covered with boulders 4 to 5 feet in diameter, many 4 to 5 <br />inch diameter scrub oak, and several 12 to 15 diameter spruce trees <br />indicating the berm may have been deposited about 75 to 100 years ago. <br />These deposits represent the largest flood that has occurred in the <br />channel and suggests that the maximum historic peak discharge is about <br />4,200 cubic feet per second. Given that the flow contained a large <br />, <br />amount of sediment, the water discharge may have only been about a <br />half this discharge. <br />At an elevation of about 7,040 feet, there are flood-boulder <br />deposits (boulders up to 3 feet in diameter) in the channel that are <br />about 10 feet above the streambed (mean depth is about 5 feet) and the <br />channnel width is 25 feet. The decayed organic flood debris, several <br />6 to 10 inch diameter spruce trees suggest that this medium flood <br />occurred about 40 to 50 years ago. The peak discharge for this flood <br />is about 1,200 cubic feet per second. <br />Prom this elevation downstream to the switchback in the Cave of <br />the Winds road there is very consistent evidence of recent flows. The <br />channel is about 6 feet wide and the banks are covered with grass and <br />brush. Organic flood debris that is less than about 10 years old on <br /> <br />i. <br />