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46 FLOODS IN COLOItADO Springs were destroyed. The Boulder County Miner and Farmer, September 8, 1938, reports: All the way from Eldorado Springs down the creek, there is destruction-trees, fences out't fertile soil wa.shed away. large rocks deposited on tilla.ble ground, bridges out, gardeus ruined, and debris of all kinds. THOMPSON RIVER Above a point about 5 miles west of Loveland the Thompson River drains the Front Range, but below that point it leaves the mountains and crosses the plains for a distance of 29 miles to its mouth. Through the lower 13 miles of its mountain course the river has a fall of 55 feet per mile, and across the plains its average fall is 25 feet per mile. Gaging stations on Thompson River Station . Dralnn<<"e area (square m""l Period or record Ncar F.stl':S Par)c.___.____..__..___ Nl-'8.r Drake__ n___n....____'_..__ Dcll)w powpr house. ncar Drake... Mouth or eanyonnear Droko______ Near Atkins I._____...___nho____ Atmollth, near La. SalJe__________ 158 Iune HmO to date. 273 Reptcmber 1917 to December 1926. 277 October 19'28 to dute. 302 1\ll:L1Ch 1927 to September 1930; April 1938 to date. 305 April 1&\8 to September 1892; May 1895 to September lOOt...; April 1002 to Septemher 1911. 818 April to November 1914; March 1927 to date. I Large diversion just above Arkins. During the widespread floods of May and June 1864, the lowlands in the Thompson Volley were submerged, settlers' cabins washed away, and meadows destroyed. The generol storm of May 31-June 1, 1894, caused a flood which destroyed the Home Supply Co.'s dam near the mouth of the canyon. The Loveland Reporter of JUM 7, 1894, stated: Flood destroyed the Home Supply dam, its solid masonry having proved in.. sufficient to cope with the immense volume of wat-er. 'fhis immense body of water tearing along the rivet bed was bound to create havoc among the people. The Big English ditch went on a rampage. When it was cut. and its water joined the Big Thompson, the latter was fully half a. mile wide and increasing. During the operation of the Arkins station, located 600 feet helow the divcrsion for the Home Supply diteh, nenr the mouth of the canyon and 9 miles west of Loveland, the highest discharge recorded was 6,000 second,feet during the flood of July 7, 1906, which washed out the bridge at the station, No ndditionaI information is .available except that the mean discharge for July 7 was 2,600 second-feet, indicating that the peak, olthough lasting longer than that caused by n cloudburst, did not continue for more than a few hours. During the period of operation of the other gnging stations, the innximum stage of 9.5 feet occurred below Loveland Dam, IX miles east of Drake, at 6 p. m. July 31,1919, caused by a cloudburst a short T MAJOR FLOODS----;SOUTH PLATTE IUVER 47 distltnce above Drake. The peak discharge of 8,000 second-feet was of such short duration that the mean daily di,charge for July 31 was only 490 second,feet, and for August 1, only 311 second-feet. This c1oudburst, which occurred during the storm that caused the flood on St. Vrain Creck, resulted in a flood on Thompson River, which was ~scrIbcd by the Loveland Daily Herold, of August 1, 1919, as follows: Wit,h a rush and a roar a H)-foot wall of water swept down through the Big Thompson canyon between 7 and 8 last night after one of the worst cloudbursts in the history of this canyon. * * * The water came down sweepl'n 1 lk db'd bf" . ,gogs, p an s, an rl ges e ore It 10 a mad SWIrl. * * * The roa.d bed was washcdd o,:thto bedrock. During the worst of the flood, the entire road bed was covcre WIt 2 feet of water, except at the highest points. As no mention is made of damage on the plains area east"~ cltnyon, it is evident that the peak was reduced rapidly by chltnnel ond volley storage. In thc Thompson River Basin the general rains of June 2-7 1921 ':OI'C hcaviest east of ~he mountains. At Estes Park the pr:cipita~ tlOn for the 4-day pCrlod June 2-5, was only 2.05 inches. East of the mountains, the precipitation was 5.29 inches at Longrnont and a.02 inches at Fort Collins. High water destroyed the recorder at thc Drake gaging station, and no data regarding tbe pen,k discharge are available. The heavier precipitation enst of the mountains in- crcased the flow of Thompson River very materially and causcd it t,o ovcrflow its banks. Thc Lyons Recorder, June 9, 1921, stated that at a pomt near the river about half a mile from Loveland a house, with its occupants, was washed from its foundation and corricd ncarly half a milc downstream, lodging in a grove of trees. From J~ne 7 to 10, 1923, rains occurred again over the Thompson RIver Basm. Near Longs Pcak in the upper part of the basin the l'l1ir~fnl1 was 2.55 inches on June 9 and 2.99 inches for the 4-day penod. At Watcrdale, at thc mouth of Buckborn Creck, which enters Thompson Rivcr east of the main canyon but between two of t.he sevcral hogbacks forming the foothills, thc precipitation was 1.97 lIlchc~ on June 9, and 2.80 inches for the 4-day period. A record of 1.27 mehes at Greeley for the 4-day pcriod indicated that the pre- clpl.tatlOn was cOI~slderahly less east of the mountains. During this perIod the peak dIscharge rccordcd at the gaging station near Drake was 3,590 sccond-fcet at 6 p. m. June 9 and at 6 a. m, June 10. Only two staff-gage rendings per day are available, however, and it is probablc t.hat the discharge was grcatcr during thc night of June 9- 10. The precipitation below the gaging station cvidently increased t.he flow of the rivcr very considerably, as indicated by the report in t.hc Loveland Reporter-Herald of June 9, 1923: At four o'clock (toda.y) floodwaters from the Big Thompson, which has over-