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<br />. <br /> <br />. 1914 - June 2 1955 <br />1916 1957 - June 29 <br /> 1918 - August 3 1965 - June 24 <br /> 1919 - August 1 1966 <br /> 1921 - June 6 1969 - May 7 <br /> 1923 - June 9 1973 - May 5 <br /> <br />In response to the flood hazard in Boulder, over thirty studics have <br />been conductcd for Boulder Creek since 1910.173 This number docs <br />not include the theses and dissertations which have addcd valuable <br />information on Boulder's floods,179 Although the stream gauges wcrc <br />not in operation during the May 31, 1894 flood, it is gcnerally agreed <br />that event was the flood of record for the creek. In addition, that <br />flood has been estimated as the 1 % or 1 aD-year flood. 180 I t is <br />important to remember that a flood of that magnitude has a 1 % <br />probability of occurring and being equalled or excceded in any year. <br /> <br />The discharge estimates for that event were made by the Boston <br />engineering consulting firr.1 of Metcalf and Eddy in 1912,181 Although <br />thcy made their calculations eighteen years after the flood, they used a <br />portion of the stream near Fourth Street that had remained stablc after <br />the 1894 flood. <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />The Most reliable record of extreme flood level was thClt <br />obtained through the courtesy of the officials of the Denvcr, <br />Bouldcr and Western Railroad Company, upon one of its <br />wooden trestle bridges crossing Boulder Crcek in the vicinity <br />of 4th Street. herc the rivcr cross-section is fClirly uniform <br />in character, for a considerClble distance above and below the <br />trestle. The slope is approximately 1.1%. The reported <br />depth was about 10 feet, giving a cross-section of <br />approximately 700 square feet at this flood level. [Later <br />reports indicate an area of about 800 square feet, and that <br />this depth may have been as much as 11 feet). <br /> <br />According to the United States Geological Survey (1960) and the Arr.1Y <br />Corps of Engineers (1969) the Metcalf and Eddy report is reliable.183 <br />Previous to those reports, Junius Henderson's 1921 transmittal to the <br />Boulder Planning and Parks Commission concerning the channelization of <br />Boulder Creek mentioned the credibility of the study. 184 Assisted by <br />photographers and engineers he made investigations of the 1894 flood <br />for the City of Boulder. In 1921 he responded to the Metcalf Clnd Eddy <br />report in the following way: <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />Metcalf and Eddy's estimatc of from 12,000 to 13,500 feet is <br />conservative, and doubtless approximately correct. Being <br />particularly interested in erosion, I have studicd all the <br />floods of Boulder Creck since 1892, except one, I believe, <br />and. so have personal knowledge of their relativc volumes. <br />Pioneers who were interviewed in 1894 agreed that the flood <br />of 1864 was approximately equal to that of 1894, so there is <br />