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<br />76
<br />
<br />FLOODS IN COLORADO
<br />
<br />before. The Grand Canyon is wholly impa.'3sablc. Between Pueblo anrl Canon
<br />City [the railroad tracks} are flooded for miles at a stretch by from 6 to 18 inches.
<br />of water. The county bridges across the Arkansas at Parkdalc, Texas, and.
<br />Howard have been washed out.
<br />
<br />1886
<br />
<br />A flood of considcrable mngnitude on the lower Arlmnsas River,.
<br />probably below the mouth of Purgatoire River, occurred July 20-25,
<br />1886. This flood did not extend to the upper river, as the Pueblo
<br />gaging stntion showed a mnximum of only 3,080 second-fect on July 21.
<br />The rainfnll was nppnrentiy heaviest in the vicinity of Lns Animas
<br />and La Junta. At the former place the rainfall was 3.36 inches July
<br />24-25, nnd 4.66 inches for the month, or more than twice the normal.
<br />At Pueblo the rainfall for July was only 0.39 inch. The only available
<br />informntion regarding this flood relates to the section of river near
<br />La Junta, and appeared in the La Junta Tribune of July 22, 1886:
<br />
<br />Wednesday morning the water in the Arkansas River was within 1 foot of the
<br />bottom of the sleepers of the wagon bridge. There were 5 wa..~h-outs [on the rail-
<br />ro&dl between La Junta and a point 6 miles east.
<br />
<br />After describing the storm, which was termed terrific, the Tribune.
<br />continued:
<br />
<br />By half pa.~t seven the streets and ravines were converted into small rivers.
<br />. . ... In King Arroyo, east of town, the water oa.me down in a wave 12 feet
<br />high. In Anderson Arroyo just west of town the water was at leaRt 20 feet dee'p,
<br />running over the Santa Fe Co.'s bridge. * 1\1 '" Johnson was sleeping in the
<br />house * * * 10 miles up Anderson Arroyo. About midnight he was
<br />awakened by the storm. He had been up but a few minutes when the house began
<br />to tremble, ft. wave about 8 feet high struck the south end, forcing in the window
<br />and almost in an instant the house went to pieces and was floating down this newly-
<br />formed river.
<br />
<br />1889
<br />
<br />Rains on August 9, 1889, were followed by a flood that caused over-
<br />flow from Grape Creek at lenst as far cust as Pueblo. These mins
<br />must have been nf the cloudburst type in the Arkansas Valley, a.s at
<br />none of the rainfall stntions was the recorded precipitation heavy
<br />except at Pueblo, where 1.02 inches of ruin in 1 hour on August 9 was
<br />recorded. This intense rninfnll, with a temperature of 980 before the
<br />storm, indicates a cloudburst. From tho account of the Grape Creek
<br />flood (see p. 84) it nppears that the 1\ood on the Arkansas River came
<br />primarily from that source. It was evidently augmented by rain nt
<br />other poipts. The Denver Republican states thnt min began falling
<br />about 5:30 p. m. on August 9, and 1\ooded the region around Pueblo,
<br />and that a "terrible and disust.rous rainstorm visited Florence in the
<br />evening and lusted 2 hOllr<!. The Denver & Rio Grande is having lots
<br />
<br />T
<br />
<br />!
<br />
<br />MAJOR FLOODS-ARKANSAS RIVER
<br />
<br />77
<br />
<br />of trouble ClIuscd by the cloudburst of Friday night. The Hard-
<br />scrabblc bridge washed out."
<br />A Pueblo dispatch dated August 10 is quoted in the Canon City
<br />Record of August 17, 1889:
<br />
<br />At 1 :30 this morning [Aug. 10] the water began to flood the flats west of Victoria..
<br />A venue, the water rushing through at the west end of the Santa Fe bridge. At
<br />3 o'clock the water went over the Victoria Avenue grade and soon every basement
<br />on the west side of Union Avenue was flooded. At 4 o'clock the water went over-
<br />Union Avenue grade and soon the lowlands on the east side of the street were
<br />covered with water several feet deep. The water extended from the river to the-
<br />viaduct, a distance of 4 blocks, and most of the way the water was 1~ to 2 feet
<br />deep. At 7 o'clock the river had fallen 3 inches.
<br />
<br />After this flood the city council ordered all obstructions in the
<br />channel removed nnd nppropriated 11;3,000 to repair and strengthen the
<br />levee.
<br />Discharge records for this flood lire availnble from the gaging sta-
<br />tions at Cnnon City, in the cnnyon nbove Pueblo, a.nd at La Junta,
<br />but those records show the only mean daily discharge, which at each
<br />station is undoubtedly much loss thnn the penk dischnrge.
<br />
<br />Daily discharge, ~n second-feet, of Arkansas River, August 8-14, 1889
<br />
<br /> Allgllllt
<br />Station
<br /> . 9 I' 11 12 13 "
<br /> - - - -- - -
<br />Canon cJty____U__.M._~.U.u~ '" 2,620 .,. '" ...
<br />Ncarl'llcblo_______u________u 37' 3,700 ~050 .80 1,240 M~M_MM565- 550.
<br />La Junta.__+. _. _______u~______ 11' " _H'U~__+ 1,080 1,630 000.
<br />
<br />189'
<br />
<br />In 1893, one of the driest years of record at Pueblo, a flood occurred
<br />on July 26, which renched a stage 10 feet lower than that of the flood
<br />of 1921. The river rose 8 feet in 2 hours at Pueblo." No gaging-
<br />station record of the discharge is available, but from the rating curve
<br />estnblished for the flood of 1921, with an allowance for channel clear-
<br />nllce made nfter the flood of 1893, it nppears that the peak discharge
<br />was between 20,000 aud 25,000 second-fcet.
<br />
<br />1894,
<br />
<br />The storm of May 29-31, 1894, also cnused a severe flood. The.
<br />record of rainfuU in the ArkansllS River Basin during the storm is.
<br />given in thc accompanying table.
<br />
<br />tI Follansbee, Robert, and Joncs, E. E., op. eit., p. 38.
<br />75537ll-47-6
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