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Depending on clrtumstances of location some residents escaped unscathed; others were faced with the monumental task of cleaning and rebullding while still others walked into the canyon to see a terrible emptiness where their homes once were. And storles of near misses from death or injury go on almost without end. There were almost as many tales ot neighbors helping neighbors and strangers. Oille McKeehan, proprietor of Rockbrook Museum about five miles upstream from Drake walked In to his suted, water-soaked and badly da.maged store with two of his family. Some windows were broken out on the north sIde of the building. On the west or upstream side doors and windows were broken out allowing debris, silt and rocks entry on the crest ot the waters. Over- stuffed turntture In what had been his living room was dank and reeked the odor of dlrty water. In the store section of the building some few artllacts, merchandlse and antiques stood intact, now almost out of place in the wreckage, on shelves along the front windows. McKeehan was worklng steadily, slowly, carryIng out debris and an unseen helper was shoveling sut out oJ a front window. The pile of sand was growing steadily. There was no frantic. furious movement in theIr labor, only the same dogged detennlnatlon seen in numbers of other people who had anything left to salvage. "I just don't have time to talk," McKeehan declared not unkindly. "I've been talking to Bureau of Reclamation people and pthers and It's taking up too much of my time. 1 don't have much help and want to get done." "When do you estimate being back in business?" "I don't have any Idea," he sald. "All I want to do now Is to get the 14 years of work was erased in just hours r;mTOR'S NOTE: F.arl ","UlIOft. outdoor wrl\er lor the (:lo\on.4o&n. and i'bo\ographfor Joe No\'otby work8d thelr way down the BIg Thompeon and North Fork canyon. tIMl Saturday IoUowtnr the July 31 nnod. 1b1l ..... one of the Intervtew. that ","lIlOn condudM durinr the trtp. AbOut two and one-qU&rter miles down the North Fork canyon from the hamlet of Glen Haven a sm&l1. comfortable frame cabin once stood aerenely in the shadow of a aoartng, rock outcropping. 'I11.e river, alter following the edge of a amall meadow swept agalnlt the foot of the outcropping and over the years a deep pool had been acooped out by the acUon of the water. In the cool depths of the pool trout found food and a haven from warm summer daya and frigid winter n1ghta. "It wu a great tlahlng hole," Delbert Kl1ne said. With lta back door pracUcally on the north edge of the pool and Ita front door ap- proximately 7~ feet from the road that ran down the canyon at the front edg1l of the lawn, the cabin 88.t u in the small end of a fuMe!. North of the road the oppoelte aide ot the' canyon roee to dLuying heights. There WIUII a sm&l1 foot bridge behind the cabin which pennltted accen to the !IOUth side of the North Fork. It was an IdyUc aetUng and the cabin had been there for It years. It waa built by Delbert and Odea88. KUne, fonner ad<lreu Box 186, Drake, Colorado. Expecting nothing more Uua.n the usual weekend, the Kline's acUvtUea were the nonnal routinCl of retired Uv1ng In a place such as the snug cabin on the North Fork. A generous supply of firewood WSA cut and stacked againllt the coming cool weather, in ;u~a~:na~=I~~~uC: ~d~:~r:!:r had Aa In many other cues a qUlrk of clr. cumstance lntetf.rred In the Kllne's Uvea - and thoae of thelr daughter IJn and her husband Howard McFarland. :::-~~= ~':~::~f7e~:ze:n:: from the water Jug the Klinea were carrying that we knew who they were.) Their BOn Bob waa with them. Pleasant, composed people, KlIne had a day.pack strapped on his back and they had walked from Glen Haven. "We had a home there," DelbertKllne aa1d, ge.aturtng vaguely acrou the river. "\\'here?" "'I11.ere _ right o\'er there," KlIne replIed almoat lmpaUenUy, "That'a the sepUc tank there," pointing to a short, cyllndrlCallJecUon of concrete., a!mUar to thoae used In aewen. "And we used to have a foot bridge over there." Long before the evening of July 31 the telephone rang at the KUne cabin. It was Un calling from SterUng. Colo. wanUng to know It It would be &11 right If they drove to the North Fork cabin for a weekend \'islt. "No." her daddy repUed, "I think your mother and I would like to drive over there for a change," So It wu that on the night of the 81at Delbert and Odena Kline were enjoying a famtly viAlt in SterUng whlle forcea were buIldlng o\'er the mountalna to relea.ae torrenta of rain on the North Fork and Big Thompaon canyons. Had they decided in favor of their daughter v11llting them an ugly chance loomed that add1Uonal ataUsUcs relating to flood casualties would have been recorded. Novotny and I gaped In aatonlahment. We had noUced the length ot concrete pipe lying In the river bed juat off the edge of the walhed-out road on aur walk. down the canyon; otherwtae the area looked like any area along a stream that had been washed over with flood waten. 'I11.ere was no sem- blance of where a house had been; no faun- daUon, no wreckage, no sign of human habltaUon. Only stark, barren emptined lying bleak In the afternoon sun. "One of our neighbors called to tell us what we 'had' here," KlIne I8.1d. "We had to come and aee for ounelves." He hooked hla thumb. In the strape at the pin.striped overaUa he wore and gued acroes the empttnen. "Atthe base of that o\'erhang there waa a nice deep HOT A..~D thlraty, Joe Novotny and I walked wear11y along the washed out North Fork road meeting the KlInes oppoelte the pool. 1 used to f18h It from our back porch and caught IIOme nice trout out of It." The "pool" was fmed with sUt, the aWl-brown North Fork waten waahlng over It, atlrr1ng the aedlment so that a fatnt llne of whitish color dr1tted downstream with the current. "We can rebuild a house." Mn. lOlne wd and her chin qulven!d ever eo aUghUy. "But we can't replace all or the plcturea and per- BOW things that a tamUy accumulates." She turned and pointed actoas the rock.atrewn space to where the North Fork burbled along the Oppotltte bank. "We had the foot bridge about there but I'm not su", exactly where It was." Novotny stood on a large boulder that had wuhed up to the roadside In the Oood and took the KlIne'a plcture as the couple stood very c1()1;e together, tal.klng quietly and oc- culonally potnt1ng ac1'08S the barren area. At Urnes they said nothing, each lost 1n their own thoughts and you could 88Me that they were drawn together in spirit, possibly wondl!rtng how l' yean of work could have been totally erased in a space of two or more houn. Novotny and I wlahed them luck and resumed our hot walk up the canyon to Glen Haven. Each of us had our thoughts too, remembering what KlIne had told ua before we left the couple. "We were In the Kersey nood," he wd. "We moved here permanently after the nood. just to get away." Cause, effect-ecology of the canyons Creeping steatthUy Into the Dakotas, the high pressure area, with Uttle or no Influence to the east of It to urge it on. ground to a halt, Jts clockwise winds bustly sucking moisture-laden air from the BOUtheast. Flowing smoothly and unhurriedly across the plaIns, the winds reached the east side of the Rocky MOWl' tains. Interrupted by the barrier. they rose In a classic up-slope maneuver and blew quIetly In this manner all day on July 31. Their main concentration was over the area of Estes Park and the Big 'Ibompson canyon and Its canyon of the North Fork. As the winds gained height over the mountains they formed huge billowing masses of clouds. HIgher And hlRher they rose. spreading out to the sides, churning and clashing wIthin themselves, wIth great. brilliant sheets of Ughtning UlumlnaUng their interlors adding to a process as old as time. As the clouds rose. energy was released when the vapor condensed into water droplets, leaving voids rapidly tilled by moreascendJng air. Feedlng on itself the mass of clouds became super-saturated and unable to contain its burden released more rain as it progressed and grew. At their maxlmum intensUy cloud tops reached to more than 82,000 feet. Below the heaviest concentration of clouds the Big Thompson and North Fork Canyons lay, natural escape routes for excess waler that had been fonnt'd mUllons of years ago. A:J natural phenomena oc- curred over the eons so had the canyons changed from mere low tines In the lerraln to shallow washes, to deeper gulches to canyons. wide at their tops. narrow at the bottoms where the two rivers ron. The formation of the canyons are the result of long, tortuous, natural processes. The flash flood was another process In the continual evolution of the canyons and the watersheds of the two rivers. released more and more rain, the earth eJther could not absorb the excess water or the ralns feU too fast for It to do so. Thus the water began flowing down the canyon sides and usually dry washes became creeks nmnJng Into gulches that before had oontained trickles, tumlng them Into small rivers. The overburdened gulches poured their water into the main rivers or into existing creeks, all eventually concentrating In the two main rivers. As the now of water increased, power and trictlon built up to 1Jlll'easonable proportions sweeping bare, gulch and draw bottoms to expose great sheets of bedrock, carrying off topsoil and vegetation accwnulated over large spans of llme. THE ENORMOUS power of the flood utenilly blew trout and aquatic life before U. A trout with his streamllned fonn Is essentlally l fast-waler fish but has Its UrnitatJoru when confronted with the power and turbulence of a Dash flood. As the beds of the Big Thompsen and North Fork rivers we", ripped apart and rocks of all sizes were dislodged, nonnal resting piaces and refuges were elJrnlnated leaving tlsh to the mercy of the current. Presumably, they were swept out of the canyons into warmer. slow- moving waters on the plains. Some few may have resisted the wa!er's Before the Dood the canyons and the many side gulches and lesser creek bottoms had recovered from pn>\1cwl Doods so that stream rocks and boulders were largely unsettled and the sides and bottoms of gulches had collected topsoil and grown vegetation. 'They could do this because the yearly run-off of snow-' melt Is a generally gradual process. Thus the spring freshets are usually gentle; on occasion they have some strength which cause mild bank washouts and lesser, subtle changes. There is nonnally Uttle concern and changes are barely noticed during snow-melt and occasional rains. AS 11iE SUPER-saturated clouds power and escaped the tenible grinding of rocks and gravel and remained In the canyon. Many expert trout ftahennen would not consider the BIg Thomp- son and North Fork rivers as quality trout streams. Nevertheless they were an Important source of recreation tor tourlsts and residents of the canyons. Serving the two rivers as part of the state's trout stocking program was the Drake trout rearing unlt of the Division of Wildlife on the North Fork. Facilities at the unJt were dealt a severe blO'A' by the flash nood. Besides losing most of its equipment and bulIdlngs, approximately 13 tons of trout ranging In sUe from seven to 10 Inches were either burled In water'borne stlt or were S'oVept away. Figuring four fish per pound about 104,COO trout were lost, the entire stock of fish at the Drake unit. IN EVERY uncontamlnated body of water there are free-floating, tiny organisms so small they are either lnvis1ble or unnoticed by the human eye and are known as plankton. They are the bottom of the food chain upon which nsh feed. CnJstaceans and aquatlc 1n8ects feed on plankton and on each other and fish feed on the crustaceans and insects and oUter tlsh. Aquatic in- sects such as May-fly nymphs, stone flies and caddis mes are adapted to Uving under stream rocks and In the gravel of stream bottoms. As the Big Thompson and North Fork streambeds were disturbed, aquatic life without protection, was swept along with the flood waters leaving the streambeds In more or less ster11e condltlons. Where the flood waters sJowed on the ptalns outside of the canyons they settled wIth the sut. Thus marshes and river deltas are enriched. It's nature's method of distributing organlsms. Throughout the length of their flood plains the two rivers gouged new watercourses In places or widened and detpened their exIsting paths In others. The floodplains, the areas ot generally Oat land through which the rI\'ers flow, were widened In places. entirely denuded of vegetation in others and sometimes changed so drastically that the visitor of the week before would find 11 difficult identifying some previously.famUlar spots. The July 31 flash flood Is one of several natural methods of en- vironmental adjustment; fire, volcanlc activity and earthquakes are others. The Big Thompson and North Fork canyons will continue to be subjected to someUmes subtle. sometimes violent environmental adjustment and change. This 18 one of the cold, hard facts of the natural world. -EARL WILSON place straightened up a Uttle bit so I can prepare It for winter. " He turned and walked away past a sign that said "Rocks, M.1rerals and Rock Jewelry" and the river stones, and shards of mica laying thick around the building mocked the sign. A QUARTER OF a mile down the remains of the road Russell Eulan still lives in a neat, undamaged bungalow at the confluence ot MUler C'reek and the North Fork. H]s house and four others are clustered together on a bright, grassy bench on a rise above the road and on the north bank of the river. Euian Is a retired construction man and bunt his house four years ago. He's lived in the can}'On since then and intends to remain there. "In fact," he saJd, "we had no intention of leaving for higher ground the night of the flood." He shIfted to a mo", com- fortable position in the saddle cinch- ed toa trim, gray horse. He had been down the road Checking on neigh- """'. dIt started raIning about 7:30 and before long was ra1nlng very hard," he recalled. "There was almost continuous lightning flashes and we could see the river coming up fast. In a little whtle we knew we had a Oood on our hands." There was nothing to do throogh the, long, anxIous hours except keep surface water from entering the house and watch the deadly nood roar down the canyon, its tossing, brown waves sinister in the gleam of lightning. Miller Creek. nonnally a mild stnam some four feet wide became a raging river 60 feet wide and an estimated 10 to 12 feet deep. It added Its O'An considerable power to the main stream's rapidly generating, unbelleveable force which was to cause more ha\'oc farther downstream. All electrical power and telephone service had long since been dlsrupted. With first light at dawn on Sunday came the first shockJng, impact of the damage and misery left behind by the flash flood; Eulan's home was turned into a refugee camp and helicopters soon arrived, landlng on the sodden ground by the house. When the nonnaUy placid North Fork began to rise at an alanning rate, Don and Jane McKee and three guests watched wIth apprehension from the windows of the McKee's snug cabin about one-half mile dovm-canyon from the Eulns place. They had reason for alann alnce the cabin stood on a sUght bank off the edge of the roadway, tucked under the overhang of a clift. The rlver Ucked madly at the opposite edge of the road. The McKees had arrived at the cabin from Henderson, Colo., on Thursday, planning to vacation over the weekend, Meanwhile they worked on completion of a wall around the base of the tiny flat the cabin stood on. Being ecology conscious they built the wall of rocks; it would prove its worth by helping divert flood waters away from the cabin. In spite of the slx- feet high .....all. however, the water silll rose high enough to cover the patlo. The tiny cabin was to become a refuge for 30 people. Three of the refugees, from Greeley. Colo., had been fighting theIr way through the ever. deepening flood waters that covered the road. The bright orange compact car they had been drlvtnt had reached its I1m1t of forward progress by the time the McKee driveway came into sight. They pulled Into the driveway and barely reached the safety of the patio, with help from the McKees and their KUests. TwIce, during the balance of the terror-lUled night McKee moved his charges out of the cabin to the safety of the canyon side. A 1,000 gallon propane tank, torn loose from \ts mounts rumbled by and exploded in the flood just dO'NllStream of the cabin. A couple, discovered strand. ed on the root of their flooded pickup, upsl.rt'am of the canyon, was given encouragement by George WUde who shined a flashlight on them through the terror-fUled hours. Lucktly the truck was In a backwash and the couple was rescued by neighbors early Sunday morning when the water reeeded slightly. by wiring poles to the sides of a ladder and extending it from the bank to the bed of the truck. "The noise of the water was deatenlng," said McKee. "The whole mountain seemed to tnmble and you were reminded of the noise of jet engines being tested. After awhile the continuous roar1ng beats agalnst and into you and makes you sIck at the stomach. It disorients you." In a disaster the pathos, humor, acta at courage are l50meUmn overshadowed by tricks of hap- penstance. Whtle McKee and his guests were saving the young Greeley famUy from almost certain death, three young people set out from Loveland for the McKee cabin where they were to be guests for the weekend. They were to be at the cabin by 9 but never arrived. They had stopped at the Covered Wagon restaurant for refreshments and were swept away with the restaurant and Its other occupants by the smashing power of the flash fl~.