FLOOD00898

• County: Statewide
• Title: Floods in Colorado
• Date: 6/1/1948
• Prepared For: State of Colorado
• Prepared By: USGS
• Floodplain - Doc Type: Flood Documentation Report

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FLOODS IN COLORADO,

MAJOR l!'LOOD&,-,-SOUTH PLA'rTE RIVER

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1894 that it is at present. H. L. Potts, engineer of the Denver'
, Water Board, computed the flow over this dam under a head of 5.
feet as about 4,500 second-feet. Taking this 88 the peak flow, the.
mean for the 24-hour period is estim'ated at about 3,500secondcfeet.
At Denver, the Rocky Mountain News, June 1 and 2, 1894, statea
that the South Platte River rose 4 feet on May 31 and W88 fully 10
feet above low water at the Sixteenth Street Bridge in Denver. In
1895 a gaging station was established at the' Fifteenth Street Bridge,.
where conditions were similar to those at the Sixteenth Street Bridge.
From the extension of a rating curve developed subsequently. it is,
estimated that the peak flow for a stage 10 feet above low water was
about 14,000 second-feet. As the river remained near that stage for'
nearly 24 hours, ~he mean for the day was probably about, 13,000,
second-feet. If the river rose 4 feet to a 10-foot stage on May 31,
it had reached a stage of 6 feet on May 30, which indicat~s a dis-,
charge of nearly 8,000 second feet on that date. As Cherry Creek
had its normal small flow, practically all this water came from the,
upper South Platte River.
A dispatch to the Rocky Mountain News, May 31, 1894, stated
that at Brighton, 20 milcs below Denver, the situation was becoming
alarming, and that hundreds of acres of crops in the bottoms were
utterly ruined. Old timers were reported 88 saying that no such
flood on the South Platte River had occurred since 1876. The fol-
lowing day, June 1, It was reported that the river had gradually risen
all day and W88 from 1 foot to 6 feet deep over the lower lands. CleaI
Creek enters the South Platte River between Denver and Brighton,
and as the creek W88 also in flood the flow of the South Platte River'
was doubtless greater at Brighton than at Denver. This increase in,
discharge of the South Platte must have become materially greater
as far north 88 the mouth of St. Vrain Creek, near Platteville, as,
Boulder and St. Vrain Creeks both had heavy floods, The effect of
this increased volume of the South Platte River was noted near'
Brush, Colo., and reported in the Rocky Mountain News, June 3,
1894:

June 8, 1894, stated that for 24 hours on June 2 the flood touched the
caps on the top of the bridge piling. According to a local resident
the. crest. of the flood of 1921 re~ched nearly to the top of the piling,
which still had the same elevatiOn as in 1894. Thus the maximum
stage and presumably the maximum discharge of both floods were
nearly the same. No information is available regarding the flood
below Brush, but it is probable that channel storage flattened it out
increasiugly 88 it proceeded downstream.

Brush, Colo., June 2. The [South] Platte River commenced raising at noon
today and at this [not stated] hour it has raised 8 feet and is still coming up.
* III *. The water was within 1 foot of the bridge at 6 o'clock * * *..
The water from the river is running out over the bottoms and the river is fully
2 miles wide.

A rough comparison of the height of the flood of 1894 and that of
1921 has been made at Fort Morgnn. The Fort Morgan Timesr

1921

The severest flood of record on South Platte River occurred during
June 1921 and was caused by heavy rains widespread throughout the
State, June 2-7. The rainfall extended east of the mountains for
considerable distance, and the plains tributaries 88 well as those in
the mountains contributed to the flow in the South Platte River.
No gaging stations were being maintained at the mouths of the tribu-
.' taries, and it is impossible to determine the discharge entering the
river from tributary streams.
At South Platte, in the canyon section, the flood reached a stage
of about 9 feet and washed out the narrow-gage track of the Colorado
& Southern Railroad in tho canyon. From the mouth of the canyon
to Denver, a distance of 43 milos, farms in the bottom lands wore
inundated by the overflow, which varied in width from M to 1M miles.
Several families were driven from their homes. Bridges were ren-
dered impassable, and several were destroyed. The South Platte
River rose about 7 feet in Denver; the local press ostinlated that,
about 500 houses were inundated and many families forced to seek
higher ground. Three large packing plants and practically all the
lower feeding pens at the Denver Union Stock Yards were flooded.'&,
Ten acreS of railroad yards were flooded to a depth of 1 foot." The
bottom lan~s in the valley below Denver were flooded, the general
overflow bemg 88 much as 4 miles wide near Sterling, Between,
Brighton and Orchard, a distance of 30 miles, the wooden bridges
were impassable; 2 were destroyed, and the approaches to the others
were destroyed for a distance of several hundred yards. At Fort,
M organ the water surface was within a foot of the bridge level near
the Union Pacific Railroad station.
The following table shows the daily discharge of the South Platte
River at the various gaging stations.

Ia Rocky Mountain News, Denver, Colo., June 7, 1921.
17 Idem, June 9, 1921.