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<br />by melting snow, as the Canon City Record of June 2, 1894, quotes historian B,F. <br />Rockafellow, as saying that the melting of the snow at the time of the flood of 1867 caused <br />'the streams (in the vicinity of Canon City) to become swollen into rushing torrents.' The <br />Bent County Democrat, June 15, 1921, quotes John W, Powers, county clerk, as follows: <br /> <br />'I have heard my mother tell of the great flood of 1867, which must have <br />surpassed the one of this month, At the time to which she referred both the Arkansas and <br />the Purgatoire were at flood stage simultaneously, with the result that the Arkansas River <br />in the section where Lamar now stands was a solid body of water from the sand hills on <br />the south side to the first upland on the north side of the river. <br /> <br />Flood of 1875- The next flood of record on the Arkansas River is that of <br />September 16, 1875, which was caused primarily by high water in the Purgatoire River and <br />therefore affected the Arkansas River chiefly below the Purgatoire. The Las Animas <br />Leader, September 18, 1875, reported: <br /> <br />'At Fort Lyon (4 miles below the mouth of the Purgatoire) the water was 4 feet <br />higher than known before. The bottom land between the bridge and the post trader's (a <br />distance of three-fourths of a mile) was a swift, raging flood.' <br /> <br />The upper river was also in flood as far north as Pueblo, but as the Pueblo press <br />gave little space to it the flood at that point was evidently not serious. <br /> <br />Flood of 1884- Rain and runoff from melting of the heavy snow cover in June <br />1884 caused a flood on the Arkansas River between the Grand Canyon, just above the <br />Royal Gorge. and Pueblo. The Canon City Record. June 28, 1884, stated that the water <br />was 2 feet deep on the railroad tracks In the Grand Canyon. <br /> <br />Flood of 1886- A flood of considerable magnitude on the lower Arkansas River, <br />probably below the mouth of Purgatoire River occurred July 20-25, 1886. This flood did <br />not extend to the upper river, as the Pueblo gaging station showed a maximum of only <br />3,080 cfs on July 21. The rainfall was apparently heaviest in the vicinity of Las Animas <br />and LaJunta. At the former place the rainfall was 3.36 inches July 24-25, and 4.66 inches <br />for the month. or more than twice the normal. At Pueblo the rainfall for July was only 0.39 <br />inch. <br /> <br />Flood of 1889- Rains on August 9, 1889, were followed by a flood that caused <br />overflow from Grape Creek at least as far east as Pueblo. These rains must have been <br />of the cloudburst type in the Arkansas Valley, as at none of the rainfall stations was the <br />recorded precipitation heavy except at Pueblo, where 1.02 inches of rain in 1 hour on <br />August 9 was recorded. This intense rainfall, with a temperature of 98 degrees before the <br />storm, indicates a cloudburst. From the account of the Grape Creek flood it appears that <br />the flood on the Arkansas River came primarily from that source. It was evidently <br />augmented by rain at other points. The Denver Republican states that rain began falling <br />about 5:30 pm on August 9, and flooded the region around Pueblo, and that a 'terrible and <br />disastrous rainstorm visited Florence in the evening and lasted 2 hours. The Denver & Rio <br />Grande is having lots of trouble caused by the cloudburst of Friday night. The <br /> <br />Colorado Flood <br />Hydrology Manual <br /> <br />4.23 <br /> <br />aw=r <br />