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~ . isolated from one another by the flood, so were the north and south portions of Lyons.18 Citizens were pulled across the creek by ropes as the current was too swift to permit any other means of fording the creek. An enti re team and wagon was washed downstream at Meadow Park.19 Towns Downstream of Lyons: Montgomery, Pella and HY<Jiene At Montgomery, just east of Lyons, about one and one half miles of Burlington and Missouri Railroad track was washed out, including valuable railroad switching equipment.20 Bridges, including the one at Pella [near present-day Hygiene), which was iron and less than three years old, were washed away.21 Many of Pella's residents, including the I ssac Runyon family, sought higher, safer ground in Longmont. 22 At Hygiene, the St. Vrain was a half-mile wide on Main Street. The new iron bridge in that community, which was only a few months old, was taken out by the force of the waters. 23 Just west of Longmont along St. Vrain Creek the story of the damage was about the same. Some two thousand feet of Union Pacific Railroad track was destroyed. 24 Longmont . Although the main townsite of Longmont uphill from and north of St. Vrain Creek was free of floodwaters, the area in the floodplain just south of the main commercial core suffered substantial damage. Diaries and newspaper accounts attest to the long, hard pre-flood rains, the east wind that carried the storm westward to Lyons, and the onslaught of water that came roaring down St. Vrain Creek [and Lefthand Creek) on May 31.25 South of town the entire valley was flooded from the point where higher elevations prevented the spread of water and kept most of Longnont's residential areas safe across railroad tracks and into the farmland. 26 Water stood at a depth of five inches inside the Farr.1ers Mill, which was located near the foot of the hill upon which Longmont was built. 27 Southward across the Union Pacific tracks and beyond to the farm land near the junction of St. Vrain and Lefthand Creeks the water was over a mile wide.28 Sixty feet of the main bridge across the St. Vrain just south of town were destroyed, much of the Dickens and Burbank ice house floated downstream, and the old Burlington townsite bridge washed out as well.29 St. Vrain and Lefthand Creeks cut new channels through the rich soil that nourished Longmont's cropland and those waters consequently forced farmers off their property.30 Water was as high as hip level at Burt Epperson's farm south of town near the Union Pacific tracks.31 Farmer Dickens, reportedly the richest man in the County, lost property worth $6,000. THE EFFECTS OF THE FLOOD IN THE LEFTHAND CREEI( BASIN . The mountain towns, mining camps, and upstream canyons of the area were perhaps the most severely affected by the 1894 flood. "vlost were