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There had been several thundershowers and the creeks were somewhat swollen, though not so much as to cause any apprehension. But by 4 o'clock. . . a heavy cloud came up over Cheyenne Mountain and the sky gathered darkness until nearly sundown, when rain and hail began to fall in tremendous torrents. The rain came down, not in drops but in floods, the hail consisted of huge lumps of ice, some of them over 3 inches in diameter; the whole surface of the country was flooded as though it were a vast lake, and in some of the ravines the water rushed along in torrents 20 or 30 feet deep. The storm continued in full violence until about 9 0 I clock. The area of the storm was confined within a radius of 3 or 4 miles. May 20. 1878. Although the few available precipitation records for 1878 indicate no general storm, a cloudburst near Palmer Lake caused a flood that was reported by the Rocky Mountain News of May 20, 1878, as follows: Monument and Fountain Creeks swept out bridges. El Paso County Losses very heavy, caused by cloudburst in valley near Divide, followed by hail. July 26. 1885. This is the earliest flood of record in the Templeton Gap Basin, and apparently the most severe. The Colorado Springs Gazette, July 26, 1885, gives the following account: H.T. Cook, who resides 5 miles northeast of that for an hour during the evening (July incessant fall of rain to the extent that a filled with water in the space of an hour. rainfall of about 16 inches. Templeton Gap says 25) there was an tub near the house This indicates a Immediately the mighty torrent came tearing down the gulch which runs through the ranch below the house and, not withstanding the house is located 15 feet above the gulch, the water completely surrounded it for a long distance at a depth of several feet. The mighty torrent came rushing down the gulch in massive waves, capped with white foam. After 2 hours, the water having passed off into Sand Creek, 5 miles east of Templeton Gap, the water subsided from the vicinity of the house. May 30. 1894. This flood was caused by a general storm which resulted in floods on the South Plat te and Arkansas River Basins. From May 21 to 27, precipitation of 2 inches or more in the upper basin of Fountain Creek had prepared the soil for rapid runoff of the intense precipitation of May 29-31, but, as the heaviest precipitation was in the form of snow, the resulting flood was materially reduced. The flood was described in the Denver Republican for June 1, 1894, which quotes the following dispatch, dated May 31, from Colorado City. 9 ,