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

12

FLOODS IN COWRADO

the winter of 1843-44 was one of heavy snowfall and that rain occurred
during the period of melting snow, thus causing severe floods in
Colorado, The absence of white settlers in other sedions of Colorado
accounts for the lack of references to high water in those sections, It
is probable that the heavy snow cover was widespread and that high
water occurred on most of the mountain streams.

JUNE 1864

The evidence of severe floods in June 1864 rests on more complete
information, as permanent settlements had then been made in the
South Platte and Arkansas River Basins.
In his history of Colorado, Gen. Frank Hall' records the following:
The summer of 1863 was marked by a protracted drought which dried up the
streams, and prevented the growth of crops in the limited area then cultivated.
* If! * Earlier than usual, about the middle of Octo ber, ODe of the sever~st
winters ever known in this latitude set in, with frequent heavy snows, and very
cold weather. Those who had stock on the range lost it; supply trains were
blockaded and many abandoned. * * *'
In the following spring the great masses of snow melted, flooded rivers, and
expelled the miners. Rains succeeding, torrents poured down the mountain slopes
upon the hapless residents, swooping ill some cases, their homes from their founda-
tions, and fiHing others with mud and debris. In .the valleys many ranches were
overwhelmed, covered with sand and well-nigh destroyed.
Watrous.' in his history of Larimcr County, stated:
A great body of snow fell in the winter of 1863-64, filling the gulches and ravines
to a depth of several feet and the snow was from 4 to 6 feet deep in the timber
on the hillsides. From the barren mountain tops above timberline the snow had
blown off into the timber, gulches, and ravines where it became packed and hard
as an ice bed, almost. The foothills near the plains held the snow in place, pre-
venting it from drifting, so that back in the hills there was a great quantity of
water-making material.
Wntrous wrote particularly of IJarimer County and of the Cache Ia
Poudre River, describing the high water caused by melting snow
augmentcd by "an flxtraordinary rainstorm" in the mountainous part
of the basin, June 9, 1864. He said further:
The storm which bronp;ht on the flood was general in the northern part of tho
Territory, and Denver, the Boulder, St. Vrain, and Big Thompson valleys suffered
severely from its effects.
The Central City Daily Miners Register, May 10, 1864, stated:
Just 8 months [ago] fell the snow which marked out tho beginning of the presellt
winter season. From that time until today the [snow] storms have taken the lead
on the general make-up of the winter's character. This is the most extraordinary
epoch known in the history of Colorado's climat~.
The Register of May 18, refers to the rainstorm of the "past few
days" and ~elting snow on the higher hilltops. '

~ ~y of the Sta.te of Colorado, vol. I, p. 306, Blakely Printing Co., Chicago, 1889.
. Watrous, Ansel, op. cit. p., 212.

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I
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METEOROLOGIC CONDITIONS

13

In the Arkansas River Basin a severe flood occurred on June 11,
1864. The meager information at hand indicates that heavy rain
fell just before that date, and although the ~eav~ snoW cover was
melting, it is possible that the flood was due pnmanly to cloudbursts,
as was the flood of 1921.

MAY 21-23, 1876

The storm of May 21-23, 11176, caused floods in the South Pta~te
River Basin and on Fountain Creck, which drains the foothills regIOn
from Pikes Peak to the Arkansas River. The storm extended ns far
north as the Cache la Poudre River. The Greeley Tribune of May
24; 1876, reported:
The ra.instorm which began on Sunday night {May 21} and continued with
but little intermission till late on Monday night, was the severest since the settle-
ment of the valley-at least 4 inches of water fell during the 24 hours, and thcee-
fourths of an inch in 2 hours on Monday evening after dark.
Hail fell at Fort Collins during the recent heavy rains, to a depth in places
of a foot.
Precipitation during this storm was recorded at nine stations in
Colorado as shown in the following table.

Precipitation, in inches, in the South Platte River Basin, May 111-23, 1876

Station Altitude M.y 21 M" 22 M" 23 Total
(feet)
5.283 0.03 , 6.50 0.20 6.73
Denver _.__ __.uuh_._ ...u__h....___uh Ii. 799 1-33 1.37 I." 4.1lO
Golden_____._.__.u___.h__h__u_________ 14,111 3. 19 T'. 3. 19
Pikes Peak__ _ _.____.n__h'._'.U_U______ .n_n._h__ ~02 2.62
Colorado Sprlngs_~..._ .__n__h_. .._u__~_ 6.088 nU_nud_ ...h....n_ 2.74
L.. Anim0.3_ ..__u_n _.___u_u_........__ 3,899 _h_..nun u...h_._n -_hun:32- .32
Jo'ort {,yon___._._...u____...____u_._._.'. 3,Y10 nn~"O."_ _un.h..h '. 18
1.'ort Garlandn_u_~_ _. __nnunOuun... 7,996 un_un.._ _un.nn__ _~u_n_n._ .00
Sil\'erton. _ ____un....._un_....._un_n 9.400 on.unn__ ___n...nn __.u___u_.
llcrmusll_ __..n.n_____u___.n___...un. '.633 u_un""_ _u_..o.ou_ _nn_.._." .00

I Greatest 24-hour precipitation recorded at Denver.
2 1'otal for month.

From the mellger information available it appears that the storm
waS heaviest in Denver and the Pikes Peak region. The weather
maps show that a deep low (29.2 inches) devcloped over the south-
eastern part of Colorado and the northcastern part of New Mexico,
and a high (30.4 inches) just north of tl>;e G~eat Lakes. Proba?ly
associatcd with tills low was a mass of mOIst all' from the Gulf winch
was forced upward by the Front Range, cllusing heavy preci~itation.
As the precipitation was partly in the form of snow, espeCially on
Pikes Peak the resulting floods were less severe than they would have
been had ~he heavy precipitation occurred later in ther when
higher temperatures prevailed.
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