FLOOD04204

• Designation Number: 179
• County: Ouray
• Community: Ouray
• Stream Name: Uncompahgre River, Ouray to Dallas Creek
• Basin: Gunnison
• Title: Floodplain Information Report - Uncompahgre River, Ouray to Dallas Creek, Ouray County, Colorado
• Date: 4/1/1978
• Designation Date: 12/1/1981
• Floodplain - Doc Type: Floodplain Report/Masterplan

I

I

I

a confined drainage that obscure the natural fre~uency of regional flood~
ingevents.

I

burst, produced severe flood damages. The July 29, 1927 ~Io~tro"e Enter~
priseheadlined "FLOOD WASHES OUT HIGHWAY A'<;D RAILROAD BELOWOl'RAY:
DM1AGE FROM FLOOD $25,000 TO $40,000." Rainfall >las evid<>ntly >lidespread
as well as intense since it caused simultaneous flooding in Canyon, Sky-
rocket, Cascade, Corbett Bnd Dexter Creeks. The paper rnponed that "the
joining of the various creelts with the Uncompahgr<> sent it on a ra~pnge
down the vBlley ...hieh threatened all kinds of da~age. The main loss is to
the railroad and high~'ay near the smelter (south of Portland). The Uncom-
p<lhgre is reported tobeflo>lingdown the site of the highway at the foot
ofStoughllill".
The Ouray Herald of July 29, 1927 also reported the follo~'ing. "The heav-
iest rainfall since the memorable flood of 1908(9) hIt Ouray last ~cdnesday
evening between the hours of 8:30 and 10 PM washing out the highway between
Ouray and Ridgway, undermining and flooding the Rio Grande tracks, filling
the Cascade flume with rocks and dirt for a distance of three blocks and
covering the road around the fish pond with debris. Canyon Creek and Oak
Creek were also on a rampage, and the power company station "as under >later
to the depth of a foot or more. The power company pipe line "as under water
and Oak Creek changed Hscourse to enterC<lnyon Creek." OnAugust5,1927
Dexter Creek flooded 3gain and washed out a quarter mile of the newly re-
built highway at Stough Rill.
The most devastating floods to strike Ouray wcre in 1929 when heavy rains
fell on three consecutive days. The July 26, 1929 Montrose Daily Press had
headlines "TERRIFIC STORM lilTS OURAY REGION, OURAY IS ISOLATED AFTER ;.'ORST
STORM IN HISTORY PUTS ALL CREEKS O~ R&~PAGE; Bridges, Roads also Suffer,
No },oss of Life". One of the most significant features of this ~torm "as
the speed with which it struck. The press r"ported that "water within 10
Tdnutes from th.. stan of th~ dondbllrst was running through SO to 60 hou:}c",
1nthelo"eryartoftheC1ty..... OakCreck,CanyonCreek,Portland
Creek, Dextcr, Skyrocket, C3.~cade and all the others almost immediately
sprang into raging torrents, forcing huge rocks ~eighing a ton and a ton and
a half, logs and all kinds of debris along on their cresta. Flum~a ~ere
broken bridges were washed away and within a few minutes indescr~bable
chaos ;esulted." 'I'his storm "videtltly carried considerable ''''''''"''~t,,r t1.-,,,,
the 1909 flood since the Ouray po<oer company was reported to be under about
3 feet of water."

I

Also of considerable interest are the high flows recorded at Canyon Creek
and the Uncompahgre River at Ouray during OctOber of 1911. The pr"dpita-
tionproducing these flo"'s waS apparently intensens at this tlltleo fyear
antecedent moisture from snowmclt is not usually extant with base flows
being lower than the late spring and summer peak flows.

I

I

I

I

A 1963 report preparod by the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers entitled "Bene-
fits from Flood Control Dal1as Creek Project, UncornpnhgreRlver, C oINado"
made reference to flooding of the Uncompahgre RiVer. This report cited
accounts of damages claimed by residents along the river from 1919 to 1939.
The esti~ated average annual damage amounted to $42,661. Records of indi-
vidual testimony supporting this figure are not available nor is the cri-
teria used in establishing the estimate.

I

I

I

I

Flash Floods Within the Study Area

I

I

The history of flooding of the tributariea to the Uncompahgre River within
the study area is better documented because of their devastating effects
on the Town of Ouray and its arterial roada and rails, Flooding on tribu-
taries is almost entirely triggered by cloudbursts within steep, rocky, and
oonf1ned drainage basIns and the resultant damage is due to mud and debris
flows more often than high water. The first ~ention of this type of flood-
ing waa found in the June 9, 1906 "Ouray Herald" which alluded to a flood
in 1874. Itstated,"\o,'henGeo.A.Scott,Ji.m)icOonaldandpartyofpros-
p<>ctors, carne into Ouray in '75 from the Mi~uel, they not~d that a flood
had ~"ept down Corb"tt Creek ...hich is just this side of Forsman Creek, and
t.hnt the wat~r had reached n lov~l t~n f~~t nbove norm~l - p~obably th~
summer previous." :>umerous c>ther fl..~h floods have b~.en docuJ::<>nted, "s
shown in Table 2, however, the ",ost significant floods oaurred in 1909,
1927,1929,1951,1965,1971and1973.

I

I

I

I

I

I

I

I

The 1909 flood "'us given the following h~a.dline in the Augu"t 23rd 'lontros"
l1~lly "Pr~~~. "J'1''''<J "f Io/Her Al"_ost WiJ'~$ Town nf O"r"y Off M"r, r:1,.,,,<Jh,,r~t
Which [c1ip,,~d All Previous Ones Does Immense Damage." The August 26th
Montrose Enterprise reported "the cloudburst which took ylacc above Oursy
last Sunday was responsIble for damages estimated at $50,000. That portion
of the city adjacent to the portland C:rf'f'K chnnnel which extends east and
~'est through the town between Fourth and Fifth Avenues wss damaged the ,,'orst,
although the flood ~~tendcd down First, Seoond and Third Strcets as far as
Sixth Avcnu<l." Ph<>tographs, oompliments of Mr. and Mrs. ~arvin Grcgory,
vividly portray the d3rnage inflicted by this storm. Following this flood,
concrete "fl.,m~s" were constructed to improve the capacity and, hopef"lly,
confine th~ flow of both Cascade and Portland Creeks through the Town of
Ouray. These flumes roplacod the severely damaged "ooden flumcs which h<ld
bcen installed sometime earlier in an effort to re~trict the streams flow
nnd prevent their nlltural ,,'and~ri"gs over the o,,",ulativ.. alluvial fans on
which m""h of Ouray has h~'m built.

I

I

I

I

I

The town "as busily digging out from und"r the debris "hen "..or<,- ralns feU
the follo"ing day The July 27, 1929 ~ontrose Daily Press ran the fo110..-
ing h~adlines: "Second Storm Ravages Ouray Section, Friday's Catastrophe
at Ouray Is Worse Than Th"t of Day Before. Gem City of Rockies Suffe~s An-
other Flood as Cloudburst Sends the Streams Out of Banks Second Time in 24
hrs; Uncomp3hgre Does Gr03t Damage to Business Concern~, Pool and RQad"~
Half of City Without Water Supply". The acco::lpanying article included the
greatest d"mage this time seemed to have cnm.. fro.. thn Uncompahgre River as
a t<,-rr1fic rain fell in the upper regions, especially in the C"mp Btrd area,
That regton contributed a large volume of water t<> the river which C3me down
in 3 wall of "ater several feet high, the crest cro,"n~d with 10ES, trees,
stumps and all Kinds of debris..... The Uncompahgrc River ~'as 10 feet

I

I

I

I

I

1927"'"sayearofheavyrunoffduetosnowmeltwhich,colObined",itbcloud-

I

I

I

I

-16-

I

-17-