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Last modified
1/29/2010 10:11:52 AM
Creation date
10/5/2006 12:10:39 AM
Metadata
Fields
Template:
Floodplain Documents
County
Douglas
Arapahoe
Community
Greenwood Village, Aurora
Stream Name
Cherry Creek
Basin
South Platte
Title
Probable Maximum Precipitation Study for Cherry Creek Reservoir - Technical Reviews and Interim Reports
Date
10/1/1995
Prepared For
CWCB
Prepared By
CWCB
Floodplain - Doc Type
Project
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<br />. <br /> <br />The Cherry Creek Watershed <br />A History <br /> <br />For hundreds of years, runofffrom the Cherry Creek watershed has influenced <br />people, wildlifr, and habitats associated with Cherry Creek. Today, the quality <br />and quantity of water flowing into Cherry Creek State Park depends on the <br />actions of many different people living nearby and/or visiting the park. 1 <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />Cheny Creek, named by the settlers for the chokecherries that grew along the banks, provided <br />food, water and shelter for centuries for nomadic tribes of Native Americans, These included <br />Cheyenne, Arapaho, Lakota, Kiowa, and Pawnee. Legend has it, they were careful not to camp <br />on the flood plains or near a spring for fear that powerful gods living in the waters would be <br />angered and flood the entire village. <br /> <br />Contact with Europeans was initially trappers, mountain men and explorers, who frequently <br />enjoyed the hospitality of many of the tribes. The lifestyle and existence of these white men <br />mirrored the Indians. . . until, gold was found along the banks of Cheny Creek. <br /> <br />Gold had been found as early as 1848 by the children of William Bunt, while playing along the <br />creek. However, it was not until 1859, ten years after the California Gold Rush ofl849, that a <br />U.S. army officer rode into a Missouri settlement with samples of gold that had been panned <br />from Cheny Creek. Rumors of gold in Colorado spread rapidly. The Pikes Peak Gold Rush was <br />on. Fortune hungry miners and settlers rushed to the banks of Cheny Creek and the surrounding <br />areas. <br /> <br />For fortune hungry prospectors from the east the older trails used by the "4gers" to the gold. <br />fields of Califomia were either too far north or south for the Colorado gold fields. An old Indian <br />trail along the Smoky Hill River in Kansas proved to be a more direct route. Travelers of the <br />Smoky Hill Trail started in Kansas City, Fort Leavenworth or Atchison and followed the Smoky <br />Hill River to its headwater in southeast Colorado. Here the trail divided into three branches: <br />North Smoky, Middle Smoky (Starvation Trail), and South Smoky (which later merged with the <br />Cherokee Trail). The Middle Smoky and South Smoky/Cherokee trails rejoined at the Twelve <br />. Mile House, a stage stop twelve miles from Denver. This rest station was located at what is now <br />the southeast end of Cheny Creek State Park. The merged trails followed Cheny Creek to the <br />rapidly growing cities of Montana City, St. Charles, Auraria and Denver City. Friendly Indians <br />warned against building settlements near the streams, but the warning fell on deaf ears. <br /> <br />In May 1864 Cheny Creek flooded its banks and washed away many buildings and bridges in <br />Denver, then called Queen City, claiming eight lives in the process. Surviving residents donated <br />$5,000 to build flood protective works. However, no action was taken until 1908 when an <br />ordinance was passed to control the channel ofCheny Creek through Denver, Shortly <br />thereafter, in 1912 a flood exceeding that of 1864 occurred. The first attempt at flood control, <br /> <br />ITheme from the Cheny Creek State Park Interpretive Master Plan. <br /> <br />. <br />
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