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

80

FLOODS IN COLORADO

above Smith Canyon to the southeast earner of the State. The.
Geological Survey made an investigation of this Rood SOon after it
occurred, and from its published report" the following information
is abstracted.

Rainfall, in inches, in Arka,naas River Basin, Oct. 18-19, 1908

October
Station Altitude 'fotal
((eat)
18 18
-
Ila.mP8_'h.' ... _.___dUo" _.__.___._ _.. ,____.... __.. ___ ti,400 Q'O 1.36 .,,,
I.huon_____.....___.______._...______.._____._____..___ 5,300 .62 1,41 2.03
!tocky Foro._ ______._ .._.______._ ..._______ ___ _._____.. 4,177 1.76 ,,_u'-i~42- 1.76
"'" Auhnas_~.n_ _____"__ _.___. ___._. .._ ____..._ .._____ a,81m .M 2.
Eads,______._..__..______.._..._____...__._______~._.__ 4,000 "'._____n__ 5. 9.~ 5.95
LaulQf _ _ _ __ _ _ ______..._on_____. ____________0__._ ______ 3,5"2 _.___"h___ 3.87 3.87
Cheyenne Wells._______..._...._____.___.._______...... 4,279 -.----u~3,_ .. 53 4,.5.1
Vllas..n.n.____....__.______..._.______.___.____,__... 4,155 1.33 Lro
Blalne._._...______._.._._____.._...__..._.........._._ 3,11:15 ----..--:70' 1.40 1.40
Holly.. ____.u._ ._. ____.... ..n______.___._______.__ .._ 8,380 T,. .70

Ill>

Rain gages were also in operation at various points along the canal,
which is part of the Amity canal system, north of the Arlmnsas River,
These gages reearded precipitl1tion of 6.25 inches 40 miles northwest
of Holly, 6 inches near Prowers, and 6.34 inches a few miles north of
Lamar. Most of the rain fell within 8 hours during the night of
October 18-19, 1908.
This flood of 1908 appesTs to have had two distind pa.rts. The
first, October 19, due chiefly to the very heavy rains 01\ the north
side of the river. Throughout the area affected the ground was very
hard and dry and had been grazed so dosdy that practieally no
vegetation remained. These conditions were eonducive to an ex-
tremely high percentage of rnn-off, and it is believed that as much
as two-thirds of the 6-inch rainfall reported appeared immediately in
the streams. On the north side of the river the water was reported
to have "Rowed away in a perfed sheet, oversprcading the whole
eountry nnd rnnning into the river chiefly below the Amity Dam at
Prowers, cansing a very rapid rise."" 'fhis run-off reached Holly
sometime before midnight, October 19, and reached a stnge of 9.8
feet on the gage at Holly. The flood was prolonged by the arrival
of flood waters from Two Bntte Creek and smaller tributaries from
the south, and had only reeeded half a foot the morning of Octobcr 20
when the seeond flood arrived.
The second part of the flood was caused chiefly by floodwaters
from the Purgatoire River. It reached a peak stage of 11 feet at Holly
at hoon, October 20. At 7 a. m, Octo her 21 it had receded to 4.6
feet, and at 7 a. m. October 22 it was 3.0 feet.

U Freeman, W. n., Flood In the Arkansas Valley, Colorad(), October 1908: U. 8. 0901. Survey, WBter-
Suppry Paper 247, pp. 33-40, 1910.
. Vrooman, W. B., op. elt,. p. ~a. ___

1
,

MAJOR FLOODS-ARKANSAS RIVER

81

All the bottom lands Were Rooded, railroad embankments Were
.overflowed and washed out in many plaees, and rail traffic was dd..yed
for about 6 days. All highway bridges on the Arkansas River from
the mouth of the Purgatoire River to the State line, except those at
'Granada and Holly, were washed away. Several people were drowned,
many farmhouses were flooded, a number of towns inundated, and
many thousand sheep Were lost. 1\1 uch damage was .lso done to
canal systems. The estimated property loss was about $250,000.
The peak disehs.rge at Amity Dam, half a mile north of Prowers,
was estimated at more than 100,000 second-feet, and at Holly a
-slope-area measurement made by the Amity Land Co. gave a dis-
charge of 136,000 second-feet. This discharge at Holly in 1908 was
slightly greater than during the Rood of 1921. The gaging statiOI'
at Holly was the only one in operation during 1908.

Mean daily discharge of Arkansas River at Holly, Oct. 18-24-, 1908

Second.feet
Oct, 18___,_,______,_, 5 Oct. 22________________
19__________",__ 50,000 23,___",________,
20_".,_____",,_ 125,000 24"_______,_,,,__
21______"_,_,,,_ 20,000

Second.fed
10,000
7,500
4,000

1921
Abovo the mouth of the Purgatoire River no damaging flood 00-
.curred after 1894 until 1921, when the general storm that covered the
State June 2-5 was eoneentrated in a series of doudbnrsts between
Canon City and Pueblo. These covered two scparate areas. The
larger area, roughly elliptical, extended from the northern boundary
of Pueblo County to the top of the Wet Mountains near Beulah a
distance of 30 miles, and from a point a short distance nbove ihe
mouth of Rush Creek nearly to Pueblo, a distanee of 15 miles. The
smaller nrea. covered tile south slope of the Pikes Peak uplift, which
forms the northern part of the monntain 'lalley, and extended from a
point above Skaguay Reservoir to a point 3 or 4 miles south of the
river, a distance of 25 miles, and from Oil Creek to Beaver Creek,
,a distance of 11 miles. The two areas together comprise 550 square
miles.
The progress of the storm down the valley eaused the resulting
floods on many of the tributary streams to reach Pueblo at nearly the
same time, bringing about there the greatest flood of record. The
Geological Sur 'Icy made an investigation of this flood, and published
a detailed report." The peak discharge at Pueblo, as determined by
slope-area measurement, was found to be 103,000 second-feet, and the
67 Follansbee, Robert, and Jones, E. E., The Arkansas River flood or June 3-5, IQ21: U. S. 0001. Burver
'Water.Supply Paper 487, 44 pp., HI22. .