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<br />GENERAL CONDITIONS ANO PAST FLOODS <br /> <br />Thewatershed1spredominatelyagl"iculturalw1thmost <br />of the area devoted to gra~1ng or raising of crops through 1rr1ga- <br />t10n. Fewart1fichlpondshavebeenbuiltinthisareasince <br />most of the water 1s obtained by pumping from wells. <br /> <br />General <br /> <br />The history and a discussion of floods on the North <br />Fork Repub11can R1ver at Wray, Colorado, are conta1ned in this sec- <br />tion of the report. The flood history has been developed from <br />interv1ews with local residents, newspaper files, and h1storical <br />records. Add1tional 1nfo~t1on was also gathered from field <br />investigations. office computat1ons. and ava1lable gage records. <br /> <br />The flood pla1n of the North Fork Republican River has <br />a moderate width averag1ng about one-Quarter of a mile in the Wray <br />area. The valley 1s fa1r1y flat with steep bluffs ris1ng 100 to <br />150 feet high on both sides. The riverbed slopes about 10 feet per <br />mile with a channel varying from 10 to 20 feet w1de and banks 5 to <br />10 feet high. <br /> <br />The Stream and Its Valley <br /> <br />Settlement <br /> <br />The North Fork Repub11can River watershed, which orig- <br />inates 1n central Yuma County, Colorado. 1s an area comprised <br />largely of sandhil1s having an ill defined drainage pattern and <br />little, lfany,surfacerunoff. Although the total drainage area <br />at U.S. H1ghway 385 on the west edge of Wray is 1,216 square miles, <br />only 59 square miles actually contribute to surface runoff. The <br />watershed has a semiar1d climate with hot summers and long cold <br />w1nte:-s. SUrT.lerprecip1tat1on.intheformofintenseshortdura- <br />t10n thunderstorms, accounts for the major1ty of the total annual <br />precipitation. These intense local storms. called cloudburst <br />storms, occur frequently in the plains region. <br /> <br />The town of Wray was laid out in July 1886 by William <br />Campbell and Amos Steck, President and Secretary of the See Bar See <br />(C.C) land and Cattle Company. A plat of the town was f11ed on <br />July 31. 1886; the town was incorporated in 1906. It was named for <br />Joun ~rdl, a cattle foreman for tMe Print (IP) Olive Spread, a <br />ranchoperat1nghereandlnthesurroundingstates. In1889.fol- <br />lowing a 10n9 controversy between cattle kings and homesteaders <br />over smaller count1es. Yuma County was formed from a portion of <br />~ashington County. Wray was made the county seat in 1902. In 1903 <br />Yuma County's size doubled with the addition of a part of Arapahoe <br />County. Today, the corrmunity of Wray (population 2.082) is a mar- <br />keting and distributing center for the surrounding farming and <br />livestock raising area. The city is served by U.S. Highways 34 and <br />351,andtl'oeChi,ago,o.urlillgtoll.<l"dQuiJlcyRailroad. Favorable <br />growth is evidenced by the recently constructed and unique city <br />facilities, a new shopping center, and rejuvenation of existing <br />business places. <br /> <br />The basin is somewhat irregular in shape with the major <br />ax1s orientated in a southwest-northeast direct1on. A tributary <br />stream, Chief Creek, j01ns the Mortn fork aoout one mile above "ray. <br />A small lake, Stalker lake. is located about two miles above Wray <br />on Chief Creek and is maintained as a fish preserve by the Colorado <br />Fish and Game Commission. The lake has little influence in the <br />control of floodfJows. <br /> <br />, <br /> <br />5 <br />