FLOOD03713

• Designation Number: 173
• County: Boulder
• Community: Longmont
• Stream Name: Dry Creek No. 1
• Basin: South Platte
• Title: Floodplain Information, Flood Control and Drainage Plan - Dry Creek Number 1
• Date: 4/1/1980
• Designation Date: 2/1/1981
• Floodplain - Doc Type: Floodplain Report/Masterplan

CHAPTER IV
HISTORY OF FLOODING

C. Local N~wspapera

officials.

Flooding on Dry Creek No.

1 is generally overshadowed by
Creek taking place at th~ Same

flooding
time.

I
I
,
,
I
I
I
,

Records available at the Statc Historical Society of Colorado, covering
thc period, show that approximately 116 different newspapers have been pub-
lished throughout Bo~lder County. Specifically, in the cities of Boulder
and Longmont, these figures included 53 and 17 different newspaners, respec-
tively. Although sO~e of these newspapers are still in p~blication, others
were puhlished for short durations Ot merged with otheta. The pedods of
publication of the different newspapers were compared with the dates listcd
in the previous section of this chapter. As a rcsult of this comparison,
coupled with the availability of the information at the State Historical Society
of ColoradO, SlX different newspapers were selected for further research.
These newspapers and the periOd in whiCh they were published are listed below:

A. General

Since Dry Creek No. I is a Small drainage basin with minimal base flow,
historical streamflow records have not been collected. Actual measurements
of peak flows during flooding periods are not available. Therefore, descrip-
tions of past floods on Dry Creek No.1 are of a general nature. Information
concerning past floods has been based on newspaper accounts of flooding on
Lefthand Creek and St. Vrain Creek and discussions with city and county

on either St. Vrain Creek Or Lefthand

B. FlOOding Periods

.. Bo~lder County Herald February ". lBBO febt<.lary ". 1914
" Boulder County Miner "0' farmer January 6, 1921 May " 1947
3. Bo~lder Daily Camera March >7, 1891 to date
,. Boulder News-Herald february >8, 1916 February 29, 1932
,. Longmont Ledger September ". 1879 " dale
.. Longmont Times-Call April 1931 " date

flooding dates for adjacent streams have been published in a number of
U.S. Geological Survey water supply papers. This data was researched for
St. Vrain Creek and Lefthand Creek assuming that flooding of various frequencies
was likely to occur on Dry Creek No. I concurrently. Investigations of news

articles focused on <", following dates:
'-, " June '. ]894
June , June 5. 1921
August " -September '. 193B
July ", 194~
J~ne ". 1947

,-"

MayB.I969

The above mentioned newspapers were researched for the period two weeks
be.fore and atter the targeted dates shown in Section B. E~tensive descriptions
of flooding on the major streams were found for neatly each targeted date.
llowever, none of the articlea described specific floodingproblcm sintheOry
Creek No. I basin.

June ]6,1963
April 14, 1967

June 4, 1949
A~g~st 3, 195 I
May 9, 1957

June 6, 1972
MayS,l973
.J"ne9,1974
July 31, 1916
May 6, ]978

A sample of newspaper accounts of floods in the vicinity of the study area
is as follows;

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