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. . . 14 FLOODS IN COLORADO METEOROLOGIC CONDITIONS 15 JUNE 18B4 . By 1884, settlements had been made in all parts of Colorado, and referenc~ ~ the deep snow cover, heavy rain and high discharge of streams m different parts?f the State are more numerous than in 1864. . In the ~uth P~atte RIver Basin the record at the recently estab- h~h-,d gagmg. statton on the Cache la Poudre River shows that the dIscharge durmg 1884 was far above average, indicating run-off from deep ~now cover. Precipitation records at Denver and Fort Collins, both m the South Platte Valley, show that 'precipitation for the period October 1, 1883, to April 30, 1884, was nearly 60 percent above normal.' . The Georgetown Courier, May 1, 1884, reported: Peopl: who have resided in this section for 20 years say that the past winter and sprmg months have been the worst in their recollection. And in its issue of May 15, 1884, the Courier stated: The road to Middle Park over Berthoud Pass [head of Clear Creek] will be opened for travel soon. * * . It will be quite a job, for the snow now li~s in places, to the depth of 30 or 40 feet. ' , In t~e Ark~n~as River .Basin, t~le Canon City Record of May 3, 1884, m deSCrIbIng the trIp of a sIgnal-aervice employee from Pikes Peak to Colorado Springs, says that he "plodded his way through sn~w 20 and 30 feet deep!' It was reported that the snow on the trail was the deepest known since the establishment of the weather station on Pikes Peak in 1873. The Pueblo Commercial Standard of June 28, 1884, stated: The Fountain at Pueblo was wide, swift, and deep on Thursday [June 26] and swept away both the wagon bridges on Fifth Street and the Denver and Rio Grande Ra.ilroad bridge. . Although no reference to the eause of this flood is made its occur- rence coincides within a few days with that of the flood p~ak caused by the rain and melting snow in other basins. At Pueblo east of the foothills, the precipitation from January 1 to April 30, 1884, was 62 percent above normal. . In the Rio Grande Basin numerous references to high water appeared m the Del Norte San Juan Prospector, but no statements were made regarding the actual snow cover. W. D. Carroll of Alamosa states that on Cumbres Pass, a region of heavy snowfall the sno~ cover during t~e winter of 1883-84 reached to the wires 'on the telegraph poles, which were from 20 to 25 feet high. The San Juan Prospector, June 2~, 1884, states that on June 14, 1884, heavy rain fell in the moun tams for 12 to 20 hours. In the Colorado River Basin, references to snow eover are more numerous, The Gunnison Press Review stated that.on May 7,1884, the mining camp Friseo, on the headwaters of the Blue River, was still snowbound. At Kokomo, at a higher altitude in the same basin, it was reported that 80 feet of snow fell during the winter, measure- ments having been made after each storm. Judge John L. Noonan, of Colorado Springs, crossing Independenee Pass at the head of Roar- ing Fork early in July 1884, found drifts 12 to 15 feet deep.l. The Gunnison Press Review on May 9, 1884, referred to the "unprece- deuted snowfall and the late spring," stating that in the valley near Crested Butte the snoW was 2 to 2% feet deep, and in the streets at Gothic it was 5 feet deep. The Gothic Record referred to the "un- heard of snows of the present spring," and stated that the mountains were covered with 10 to 15 feet of snow. At Evans sawmill, the exact location of which is unknown, the snow was 10 to 12 feet deep. From old settlers interviewed in connection with a previous study of the upper Colorado River 11 it was learned that the early snowfall had , . been unusually heavy, and that this was followed in April by a snow which was l}~ feet deep in the valley near Delta. Stockmen were unable to take their cattle to the summer range in the mountains until July. The Colorado Springs Gazette of June 28, 1884, contained the following item from Crested Butte: On the night of June 12 we ha.d a. severe ra.instorm which, on top of the warm wea.ther, converted the mountain strea.ms into torrents of wa.ter and sent them booming down the streams. The San Juan Prospector reported that Rico, in the San Juan region, had suffered greatly from the heavy snows of the past winter, and that 64 feet of snow had fallen at the Sunbright Cabin on Mount Wilson. The only record of precipitation in southwestern Colorado during the winter of 1883-84 was at Fort Lewis, in a valley in the San Juan River Basin, That record showed a total precipitation for the period October 1, 1883, to April 30, 1884,40 percent above normal. No reference has been found to the snow cover in the White and Little Snake River Basins, but settlC1's in both basins have stated that those rivers reached their highest known stage during June 1884 and remained at high stages nearly all summer. MAY 2lJ-JUNE 1, 1894 The storm of May 29-June 1, 1894, whieh caused widespread floods in the South Platte and Arkansas River Basins, is the earliest flood- producing storm for which more than a few rainfall records are avail- ablc. It was associated with a large area of low pressure (29.4 inches) 10 Follansbee, Robert, Upper CoJorndo River and its utilization: U.S. 0001. Survey, Water--Bupp}yPaper 617, p.152,l92ll. !I Iltem.