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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58

FLOODS IN COLORADO

MAJOR FLOOD&-SOUTH PLATrE RIVER

59

~ay30___,_",_________,_,__
31'_'___'_'______'__'''
June 1_~____._.______________
2_",__,_______",___,__

Mean daily di8charge of North Fork Cache la Poudre River, Ma1l30 to Jllt1.e 8, 1930
&efI'nfl. &':0114-
fell fed.
160 June 3_____________,__________, 298
1,670 4_______",,_,__,,________ 241
461 6_______""_",,,________ 219
366 6_____",__,_,________"" 179

Bellvue. The flood, which was carried into the ha.tchery area about 7 p. m.,
inundated the roads with a foot of water and washed over the hatchery ponds.

On September 4 the same newspaper stated:

Some of the places where uncontrolled water struck were the Colorad(l State
College ca.mpus, BcHvue, the State fish hatchery south of Bellvue, Soldier Canyon,
the No. 10 district., and Spring Canyon. None of the excessive water came from
the Cache 18 Poudre, freshets from smaller canyons and run-off from hillsides
being responsible for the damaRc.

The flood from one of these small tributaries, Spring Canyon,
was investigated. Spring Canyon drains the hogback region south. ".-
west of Fort Collins and enters Dry Creek, which in turn enters the
Cache la Poudre River 2 miles below Fort Collins. The drainage
area of Spring Canyon, lying immediately east of Buckhorn and
Redstone Creeks, received intensive precipitation September 2.
A. D, Thompson, who lived in Spring Canyon in sec. 31, T. 7 N., R.
69 W., stated that the precipitation of September 1-3 filled and
overflowcd .a 12-inch bucket in his yard, most of the rain falling
before overflow occurred. Frem the sbape of the bucket it was
estimated that 11 inches of rain fell during that period. The peak
of the flood' reached tbe Thompson residence between 3 :30 and 4 p. m.
September 2, and lasted but a few minutes. A slope-area mellSure-
ment of the flood in sec. 32, T. 7 N., R. 69 W., indicated a discharge of /"
11 ,600 second-feet, or 1 ,590 second-feet per square mile from the
drainage area of 7.31 square milcs.

Fork Cache la Poudre River started to rise about 5 p. m. and reached
its peak an hour later at a stage of 9.82 feet on the Livermore gage.
The river remained high until 8 p. m., then dropped rapidly. The
peak discharge was 6,800 second-feet, as determined by a slope-area
mellSurement. A small area at Livermore. WIIS inundated. The
mean daily discharge WIIS as follows:

Between Livermore and the canyon gaging station on the Cache In
Poudre River about 14 miles downstream, the flood traversed a
narrow valley terminating in a canyon with little or no channel
storage. The flood reached the canyon station at 8:15 p. m., May
30, and destroyed the gage recorder, but from the high-water marks
the peak stage was found to be 7.9 feet gage height and the peak dis-
charge 10,200 secondcfeet. The Fort Collins Express-Courier, June 1,
1930, states tbat the storm, which extended into the upper basin of
. vthe Cache la Poudre River, was not sufficient to increase' materially
II' the flow above the mouth of North Fork. That flow was about 2,000
second-fcet, indicating that the flood peak on North Fork was about
8,000 second-feet. No definite informaHon regarding the duration
of the flood is availablc, but lIS the flood reachcd Fort Collins, 12
miles downstream, about 10 p, m. and lasted only 2 hours, it is evident
that its duration at the canyon station could not have been longer
than 2 hours and was probably less. The mean discharge for May 31
was dctermined by the State engineer as 2,700 second-fcct.
The chief damage by the flood was wrought on bridges, highways,
and irrigation canal head gates, above Fort Collins. In that city
the river, although bank full, did not overflow its channel.
The storm of Scptember 1-4, 1938, in the Cache la Poudre River
Basin appeared to be concentrated below the mouth of the canyon
-/" in the vicinity of Bellvue and Fort Collins. The only precipitation
recorded in the basin was at Fort Collins, 5.59 inches, and at Greeley,
1.55 inches. The peak discharge at the gaging station in the canyon
was 1,660 second-feet, and at the mouth, 1,100 second-feet. The
flood run-otf near Fort Collins is described in the Fort Collins Express-
Courier of September 2, 1938:

Flood waters which poured into the Bcllvue area from La Bow Gulch Thursda.y
evening swept 50,000 rainbow trout from the fish ha.tcher)' half, a. mile west of

CHERRY CREEK
Cherry Creek is a plains tributary draining an area of 420 square
miles which extends from the divide betwcen the South Platte and
Arkansas River Basins to the mouth of the creek in Denver. The
divide is an outlying spur of the foothills having an altitude of 7,500
feet, and the upper part of Cherry Creek Basin is rugged in character.
The headwater streams have a fall of 1,000 feet in 20 miles. Below
that point the descent is less rapid, being 1,300 feet in 38 miles, or
34 feet per mile. Thc drainage basin lics in the cloudburst zone ClISt
of the foothills.
Because of the normally small dischltrge of Cherry Creek, no gaging
station was maintained on it prior to 1939.
Since the first settlement at Denver, in 1858, Cherry Creek has
been a source of lively interest, and many references to it appear in
the local press. Whcn the first settlcment was made by gold seekers,
Cherry Creek, with its normally insignificant flow, was not considered
a mcnace, and prcparations were made to settle at the mouth of the
stream. The Rocky Mountain News of July 27, 1885, contained the.
following account:
There is a tradition that ~when Count Mura.t a.nd his pa.rty of permanent settlers