FLOOD05562

• County: Statewide
• Basin: Statewide
• Title: The Arkansas River Flood of June 3-5, 1921
• Date: 8/12/1973
• Prepared For: Arkansas River Basin
• Prepared By: USGS
• Floodplain - Doc Type: Flood Documentation Report

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36 THE ARKANSAS RIVER FLOOD OF JUNE 3-5, 1921.

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one of the greatest floods in the 19w..er Arkansas River as occurring
in 1844. Rufus Sage,12 who crossed this region in that year, records
the fact that the streams in the lower Arkansas Valley were of un-
precedented size and velocity, and this caused frequent delays to his
journey. At Paunee Fork his party was compelled to wait four weelts
to ford the river.,
The foregoing evidence indicates that the flood of Indian legend
probably occurred during 1844.
Mr. Archie Proffitt, a resident of Pueblo, states that an Indian
showed his uncle, who came to Pueblo in 1850, rin~r silt in crevices
of the tock along the mesa. n('ar City Park, which the Indian claimed
was the high-water mark of an old flood. This mark WllS at about
\he elevation of the floor of the "indnct, whir:h is 12 fl'cl :t1)Qve the
flood of 1921. It may have been nUllle hy Ihe flood "r Indian legend.

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FLOODS OF AUTHENTIC RECORD.

Regular observations of the stage of Arkansas mver began in
1885, 'when a gaging station was established at l{ock Canyon, 9
miles above Pueblo. This station was maintained until late in. 1887.
The station at Pueblo was established in the fall of 1804, and has been
mai,ntained almost continuously since that time. Records of floods .
from the settlement of the Arkansas Valley to the estnhlishment
of the gaging station on the river are found chiefly in the files of the
local newspapers and in the testimony of witnesses in the Kansas-
Colorado water suit before the United States Supreme Court. '
The first flood of authentic record occurred in 1855, after l\ winter
of very heavy snowfall, although the flood itself was probably caused
by hard rain during a period of melting snow. No information re-
garding the exact date and approximate height of this flood is
available. ,
The next flood recorded was that of June 11, 1864, caused chiefly
by very heavy rains. The early settlers in Pueblo agree that this
flood reached a point near Third and Santa Fe avenues. The flood
of 1921 was nearly 3 'feet deep at this point, lI:nd if, as seems prob-
nble,the street has been graded down since 1864, the latest flood may
have been but very little higher than that one. As Pueblo was then
but a small settlement of less than 100 inhabitants, with only a few
houses to obstruct the flood flow, it is probable that the same amount
of water now would reach a considerably higher stage in the city. .
During this flood all the streams in the valley were very high and '
overflowed their banks for great distances, Turkey, Beaver, and
Hardscrabole creeks being especially high. Fountain Creek was the
first to rise, and many cabins on its banl{s at a point back of the

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