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<br />4 ". <br />. " <br /> <br />shortly after the frontal wave and the discharge and concentration of sediment <br />in the flow decreases quickly thereafter. The entire runoff hydrograph may last <br />1 to 3 hours. Near the peak discharge and throughout the period of runoff with <br />hi gh con cent rat ions, the fl ow may pul se in d.j screte roll waves. Surges may be <br />responsi bl e for channel overtoppi ng, bridge blockages, or channel avul s i on. <br />Velocities and depths of a mud flow are generally highest at the fan apex near <br />the mouth of the canyon. Most damage caused by mud n ow events is the result <br />of inundation. <br /> <br />4.3.1 Historic Floods <br />Two significant mud flow type floods have been documented along Cornet <br />Creek throughout the history of the town: one on July 27, 1914, and the other <br />on August 1, 1969. Each event occurred during an intense thunderstorm rainfall <br />which was preceded by several days of general rain. <br />The flood of July 27, 1914, was descr'ibed in the old Telluride Journal <br />(July 28, 1914, edition) as follows, <br />"At 12:50 o'clock Monday anernoon, .July 27, 1914, fo77ol-.'ing on the heels <br />of one of the hardest rainstorms experienced in the city, a river of mud, very <br />conservatively estimated at between 8 and 10 fl,et in height, swept out of Cornet <br />Creek canyon, just north of town." <br />"A waterspout of unbelievable volume, rE'sulting from a cloudburst near the <br />top of the Sawtooth Range, directly north of town, was the source of the flood, <br />and water flowing from the pinnacle point of the range, almost due north of the <br />Liberty Be77 mine workings, and gathering momentum in its mad race through the <br />Cornet Creek Canyon." <br />As described in the San Miquel Examiner (unknown date), damages from the <br />1914 flood were estimated at about $250,000; one person was killed, and many were <br />badly injured. <br />The 1969 flood was depict"d in thE! Telluride Times (August 8, 1969, <br />edition) : <br />"It has been a wet summer in San Miguel County. Shortly after 2:00 p.m., <br />severe rumblings were heard from the mountains in the g,eneral vicinity of the <br />Old Liberty Be77 workings. Betwe,en 2:30 and 2:45 p.m., a stream of mud loaded <br />with boulders, tree trunks, and debris was observed coursing from Cornet Creek. <br />A clock, demolished in the flood I-.'as later found to have stopped at 2:34 p.m." <br />