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. 74- FLOODS IN COLORADO 18597 The next known flood in this area was that of the late 1850's, tenta- tively dated as 1859, which affected chiefly the Arkansas River below the mouth of the Purgatoire River. A. W. McHendrie, former dis- trict judge at Trinidad, obtained information from L. M. Kreeger, for many years a peace officer at Trinidad, who in his earlier years had been a guard and hunter with wagon trains following the Santa Fe Trail. In 1911 both Mr. McHendrie and Mr. Kreeger were at Lamar, and the latter told of camping in the late fifties just north of a hill beyond the south end of the present bridge at Lamar, It was raining when the wagon train camped at that point. The Arkansas River continued to rise and in 7 days it had reached the base of the hill and was 2 or 3 miles wide. Mr. Kreeger took Mr. McHendrie to the site of his old camp, which was easily identified. By sighting across the valley from the baEe of the hill, Mr. McHendrie estimated that the water must have been about 15 feet deep at the present site of Lamar. The peak of the flood did not last very long-a day or less-but the entire valley was under water for several days. Mr, Kreeger stated that the wagon train continued its journey up the Arkansas River to the Purgatoire River, along which they found. evidence of large cottonwood trees having been uprooted nnd washed away during the recent flood. The Arkansas River above the Pur- gatoire River was also in flood, but as no mention was made of trees along it having been uprooted it is believed that the flood there was not as severe as on the Purgatoire River. This belief is strengthened by the fact that the early settlers at Pueblo left no record of this flood, apparently considering it merely the usual spring rise. As the Santa Fe Trail left the Purgatoire River a few miles above its mouth, no information on flood conditions on the upper part of that river was obtained. However, the channel of the Purgatoire River at Trinidad at that time was so narrow that it was spanned by a footlog, so it is evident that this flood dia not originate in the mountains above Trinidad but on the plnins, probably in the canyon section. lS64 The first flood on the Arkansas River for which detailed information has been found occurred June 11, 1864, as a result of the general storm over eastern Colorado, The early settlers agree that this flood reached a point near Third and Santa Fe Avenues in Pueblo, and if, as seems probable, tile street has been graded down since 1864, the flood of that year may have been nearly as high as the flood of 1921. During the flood of 1921 all the streams in the valley were very high and overflowed their banks for grcat distances." 41 Follansbee. Robert, and Jones, E. E., Tbe Arkansas River flood o( June 3-6, 1921: U..,S. Oea!. Survey Water-Bupply Paper 4S7, p. 36, 19n. 1 MAJOR FLOODS-ARKANSAS RIVER 75 1861 A flood in May 1867 caused the removal of Fort Lyon to a place 17 miles farther west. The rainfall record at Fort Lyon was as follows: May 24-26, 1.80 inches; May 29, 1.00 inch; May 30, 1.15 inches; a total of 3.95 inches, as compared with a normal rainfall of 2 inches for the entire month, This flood was probably caused chiefly by melting snow, as the Canon City Record of June 2, 1894, quotes historian B. F. Rockafellow, as saying that tbe melting of the snow at the time of the flood of 1867 caused "the streams [in the vicinity of Canon City] to become swollen into rushing torrents." The Bent County Democrat, June 15, 1921, quotes John W. Powers, county clerk, as follows: I have heard ,my mother tell of the great flood of 1867. which must have surM passed the one of this month. At the time to which she referred both the Arkansas .and the Purgatoire were at flood stage simultaneously, with the result that the Arkansas River in the section where Lama.r now stands was a solid body of water from the sand hills on the south side to the first upland on the north side of the river. 1869 During a flood in June 1869 the river is said to have contained an immense amount of water. 1875 The next flood of record on the Arkansas River is that of September 16, 1875, which was caused primarily by high water in the Purgatoire River and therefore affected the Arkansas River chiefly below the Purgatoire. The Las Animas Leader, September 18, 1875, reported: I At Fort Lyon [4 miles below the mouth of the Purgatoire] the water was 4 feet higher than ever known before. The bottom land between the bridge a.nd the post trader's [a distance of three-fourths of a mile] was a swift, raging flood. The upper river was also in flood as far north as Pueblo, but as the Pueblo press gave little space to it the flood nt that point was evidently not serious. 1884 Rain and l'Un,off from melting of the heavy snow cover in June 1884 caused a flood on the Arkansas River between the Grand Canyon, just above the Royal Gorge, nnd Pueblo. The Canon City ltecord, June 28, 1884, stated that the water was 2 feet deep on the railroad tracks in the Grand Canyon. The Pueblo Chieftain, July 5, 1884, stated: The Arkansas River is booming. It rose Rcveral inches mOre yesterday, and during the morning a sudden rUll of driftwood appeared. A great quantity of it . went down within a few hours and then the rnn stopped altogether. Immense cottonwood logs * 1(1 * threat,ened destruction to everything in their way. * lie * The river is doing more damage' to the Rio Grande road than ever