|
<br />,.
<br />
<br />88
<br />
<br />FLOODS IN COLORADO
<br />
<br />MAJOR FLOODS-ARKANSAS RIVER
<br />
<br />89
<br />
<br />Rainfall, in inches, in Fountain Creek Basin, May B6-f8, 1902
<br />
<br />Qverflowed their banks and caused families to flee, * * * subsided yesterday
<br />morning. * * * At the confluence of North and South Cheyenne Creeks,
<br />the main road past Stratton Park was a roaring river. Gardeners and ranchers
<br />suffered greatly in loss of crops, washed out by swollen streams or bea.t down by
<br />heavy rain and hail.
<br />
<br />The flood on Fountain Creek overflowed the valley from Colorado
<br />Springs to the mouth of the creek at Pueblo, destroying bridges and
<br />damaging the agricultural land. Its peak reached Pueblo 3 hours
<br />after the peak in the Arknnsas River had passed and when the river
<br />had fallen 7 feet.
<br />The Denver & Rio Grande Railroad Co. compiled the following
<br />synopsis from statements by its employees:
<br />
<br />Colorado Springs: Very heavy rain from early evening June 3 until morning
<br />June 4.
<br />Fountain: Rained practically continuously from 4 p. m. to 4 8. m. The worst
<br />storm ever witnessed in Colorado. Could not see a car length ahead with a
<br />lantern. Water running over the track and nearly to the top of the Sand Creek
<br />Bridge.
<br />Buttes: Flood came very suddenly at 11:15 p. ID. and by morning had risen
<br />about 10 feet.
<br />Pinon: Heavy rain started at 9 p. m. Water rose to depot about 4 a. m.
<br />Pumpman marooned in pumphouse. Stayed on top of pump until morning.
<br />Bragdon: Storm began about 8:30 p. m. and rained terribly hard all night.
<br />Eden: Terrible storm all night.
<br />
<br />From additional information it appears that the peak on Fountain
<br />Creek between Buttes and Bragdon occurred between 11 p. m. and
<br />midnight June 3, and the peak at the mouth at 3 a, m. June 4,
<br />No measurement of the peak discharge at Colorado Springs was
<br />made, but F. O. Ray, city engineer, states that neither Fountain Creek
<br />nor Monument Creek destroyed any bridges nnd that neither over-
<br />flowed its banks in the city, where the channcl capacity of Monument
<br />Creek was 10,000 second-feet and that of Fountain Creek ahove
<br />Monument Creek was 8,000 second-feet. Therefore, the peak just
<br />below l,he junction of the two creeks did not exceed 18,000 second-fcet.
<br />The Geological Survey made a slope-area measurement at the mouth
<br />of Fountain Creek soon aftcr the flood and found the peak discharge
<br />to be 34,000 second-feet. The total discharge from 9 p. m. June 3 to
<br />3 p. m. June 6 was about 70,000 acre-feet."
<br />Rain during the period July 27-30, 1932, wns recorded in the
<br />Fountain Creek Basin by the United States Weather Bureau as
<br />follows:
<br />
<br />this stream cannot be estimated. At the Eighth Street Bridge [l>ueblo} the
<br />water washed away the south bank, which is 25 feet high, for a distance of 300-
<br />yards. [Another bridge with a span of 140 feet was required for the new channel.}
<br />
<br />From May 26 to 28, 1902, rainfall was general over the Fountain
<br />Creek drainage arca, the recorded precipitation being as follows: '
<br />
<br /> May
<br /> StaUon Altitude Total
<br /> (feet) 26 27 28
<br /> -
<br />Husted________________.nn.______........_._____._. 6./i-tO 0." I." 0.36 ~'7
<br />~r.oo .20 1.03 1.23
<br />010" Eyrie_ _....n._____.__._ _...._.__h.U._ _.u___ 10,265 .10 1.10 m"-~45- 1.6'
<br />Lake Moralne_ ____..._n__________...__...___d..... ~""8 1.32 1.42 .28 3.02'
<br />Oolorado Sprinp_____.uu._..______...___.____.____ 4,685 .03 1.93 .34 2.30-
<br />Pueblo_ ____nu_._.u._____.un___n____.__...._.__
<br />
<br />A cloudburst on May 27, 1902, between the southern edge of
<br />Colorado Springs and a point several miles soutb of Fo,;,ntain, a
<br />distance of about 15 miles, caused a sudden flood on Fountam ~ree~.
<br />South of Kelker the creek cut a new channel 30 feet deep, malung It
<br />necessary for the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad to construct a new
<br />bridge. A former section foreman stated that nt Buttes t~e flood
<br />moved the depot from the west side of the tracks to the east SIde, and
<br />twisted the rails around the section houso to such an extent that the
<br />honse was not washed away. As a result of that flood the railr.oad
<br />raised its tracks about 10 feet near Buttes. The Colorado SprmgB
<br />Gazette in its issne of June 5, 1902, described the experience of a
<br />rancher who was caught in the stream bed by the "wall of water 1.0
<br />feet high" and hurled from his carriage, but who managed to save hl!>
<br />life. The Pueblo Chieftain reported that the greatest volnme of
<br />water since the flood of 1864 reached Pueblo and destroyed every-
<br />thing in the lowlnnds of Fountain Creek. .
<br />One of the worst floods of record for this area was caused by the
<br />general storm of June 2-7,1921. The flood in the vicinity of Colorado
<br />Springs is described' in the Colorado Springs Gazette, June 4,1921;
<br />
<br />Shooks Run had before 9 p. m. [June 3} become a river. It had spread its.
<br />waters over the northwestern part of the city, covering several blocks. '" *. '"
<br />Sand Creek and Fountain Creek were roaring, [filling] the banks to overflowmg,
<br />flooding gardens, farms, ranch hou8Cs, etc. '" '" '" Old timers declared it
<br />the worst storm in 25 years. In- Manitou the storm seemed Dot to have been as-
<br />severe as in Colorado Springs.
<br />In its issuo of June 5, the Gazette continued:
<br />
<br />Fountain Creek, Monument Creek, and Shooks Itun, which )light before last
<br />
<br />11 Fo1Ja[l~bce. Robert, and Jones, E. E., The Arkansas River flood of June 3-5, 1921: U. S. Gaol. Survey
<br />Waler-8upply Paper 487, p. 33, 1922.
<br />
|