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<br />ARKANSAS RIVER BASIN, COLORADO, KANSAS, NEW MEXICO DI5
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<br />causing a peak of 28,300 cfs on the Arkansas River at La Junta, only 3,400
<br />cfs iess than the maximum of 31,700 cfs which occurred on June 19, North
<br />La Junta was severely damaged by floodwaters June 17-19 (fig, 7), but
<br />damage would have been increased manyfold had the Timpas Creek and
<br />Crooked Arroyo flood crests coincided with the one moving down the
<br />Arkansas River,
<br />Horse Creek and Adobe Creek enter the Arkansas River from the north
<br />between La Junta and Las Animas, They had peak discharges of over 5,000
<br />and 8,000 cfs, respectively, but since these occurred on June 18, they did not
<br />contribute significantly to the maximum discharge of 22,100 cfs on the
<br />Arkansas River at Las Animas on June 19. However, the flow from these
<br />streams was a significant cause of the peak discharge of 19,800 cfs at Las
<br />Animas on June 18. Observations by H, F. Matthai on July 13, 1965
<br />(written commun.), showed that the tributaries of Horse Creek between
<br />Yoder and Hall Station had little or no flow during the flood period and
<br />that the peak flow of Horse Creek near Hall Station had been about 500 cfs,
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<br />ARKANSAS RIVER-LAS ANIMAS TO JOHN MARTIN DAM
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<br />Between Las Animas and John Martin Dam, flows entering John Martin
<br />Reservoir consisted mainly of runoff from the Arkansas River main stem,
<br />the Purgatoire River, and Rule Creek. During the flood period June 17-21,
<br />the contents of John Martin Reservoir increased 271,300 acre-feet; 87,000
<br />acre-feet came from the Arkansas River, i40,800 acre-feet came from the
<br />Purgatoire River, and most of the remaining 43,500 acre-feet probably
<br />came from Rule Creek, which had a peak discharge of 276,000 cfs at a site
<br />about 20 miles upstream from the reservoir. The peak inflow to the reser-
<br />voir was computed by the V,S. Army Corps of Engineers (1966, p. 17) as
<br />about 163,000 cfs at 1530 hours on June 18.
<br />The Purgatoire River is aptly named because of its wild and frequent
<br />flooding. The succession of flooding during the period June 14-19 can be
<br />followed by referring to figure 8, which shows hydrographs of available
<br />main-stem gaging-station records from Hoehne to the mouth. No hydro-
<br />graph is shown for the Purgatoire River at Ninemile Dam near Higbee,
<br />because the gage was destroyed and the record was lost.
<br />At Trinidad, flooding on the Purgatoire River began on June 16 as a
<br />result of severe storms on the tributaries upstream. More storms on June
<br />17, however, caused the peak discharge, 15,700 cfs, to be somewhat higher
<br />than the peaks that occurred the previous day. The gaging station was inun-
<br />dated, and no continuous records were obtained after 1900 hours on June
<br />16. The gaging station near Hoehne reflected the high flows at Trinidad, but
<br />the peak discharge on June 17 was 1,400 cfs less than that on June 16. The
<br />peak discharge at the next downstream gaging station, near Alfalfa, was
<br />27,300 cfs on June 18. Inflow from San Francisco and Frijole Creeks had
<br />('.nntl'ihllt~n to thls ne::lk !ii:omewhat. hut due to the timini! of the oeaks on
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