FLOOD04722 - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I SECTION III FRIJOLE CREEK BASIN Frijole Creek is an ephemeral stream tributary to the Purgatoire River, a major tributary of the Arkansas River in southeastern Colorado. Its basin is largely uninhabited with only a few ranches scattered throughout the area. The only major highway is U. S. Highway 160 which crosses Frijole Creek near the lower portion of the basin. Local county roads exist both above and below the site of the Colorado and Southern Railway bridge. Figure 1 is a location map ahowing the general features of the area. Fishers Peak and Raton Mesa form the upper limits of the Frijole Creek drainage basin. Major drainage channels above the site of the railway bridge include El Poso Arroyo, Bill Creek, Capulin Arroyo and San Miguel Creek. Frijole Creek begins at a point just upstream of the county road bridge near the railway bridge site at the confluence of the El Poso Arroyo and San Miguel Creek. The Frijole Creek drainage basin area is shown on Plate 1 in the pocket in the back of this report. The area of the basin above a United States Geological Survey (USGS) gaging station site near the mouth of the basin is approximately 80 square miles. The USGS maintained a gaging site at this location for the period March 1957 through September 1968. The station was located on the right bank of the downstream side of the U. S. Highway 160 bridge across Frijole Creek, spproximately one mile above the confluence of Frijole Creek with the Purgatoire River. Figure 2 is a stream gradient disgram along the major drainage paths of Frijole Creek. The elevation of the top of Raton Mesa along Frijole Creek drainage basin varies between 9200 and 9600 feet. The stream elevation at the site of the bridge is spproximately 5800 feet. From the bridge to U. S. Highway 160, the channel slope is less than one percent. 'I III-1