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<br />Hardscrabble bridge washed out' <br /> <br />Flood of 1893- In 1893, one of the driest years of record at Pueblo, a flood <br />occurred on July 26, which reached a stage 10 feet lower than that of the flood of 1921. <br />The river rose 8 feet in 2 hours at Pueblo. No gaging station record of the discharge is <br />available, but from the rating curve established for the flood of 1921, with an allowance for <br />channel clearance made after the flood of 1893, it appears that the peak discharge was <br />between 20,000 and 25,000 cfs. <br /> <br />Flood of 1894- The local newspaper on the evening of May 30, 1894, reported <br />that at Salid21 rain had fallen continuously for 36 hours and was continuing and that for the <br />duration and volume the storm exceeded anything in the memory of the oldest inhabitant. <br />At the same time, Florence reported that rain had fallen there for the preceding 24 hours <br />and that the amount was estimated at 3 to 4 inches. The precipitation above Canon City <br />had little influence on the ensuing flood, as the discharge at Canon City was not greatly <br />in excess of that during years of heavy mountain snowfall. I n the Arkansas Valley above <br />Pueblo this flood reached a higher stage than the flood of 1921. Below Pueblo, however, <br />it was consid,erably lower. At Las Animas, according to the Bent County Democrat of June <br />8, 1921, the flood of 1894 reached First Street, whereas the flood of 1921 was 4 feet deep <br />at that point. The city engineer of Pueblo subsequently made a slope-area determination <br />of peak discharge and found it to be 39,100 cfs. Subsequently the channel capacity <br />through Pueblo was increased to 40,000 cfs. <br /> <br />Flood of 1904- The Purgatoire River flood of September 29-30, 1904, caused a <br />flood in the lower part of the Arkansas Valley in Colorado. No gaging station was in <br />operation at that time at the mouth of the Purgatoire River, and it is therefore impossible <br />to detennine the volume of the flood entering the Arkansas River. It is believed, however, <br />to have been at least as great as the peak discharge of 44,300 cis at Trinidad. Rainfall <br />in the Arkansas River Basin below the Purgatoire River undoubtedly increased the flood <br />volume in thEl Arkansas River. At the Colorado and Kansas diversion dam, 3 miles west <br />of Prowers, li~e peak discharge was computed as about 70,000 cIS. <br /> <br />Flood of 1908 - The flood of October 19-20, 1908, was caused by heavy rains, <br />chiefly during the night of October 18, which covered the part of the Arkansas River Basin <br />in Colorado oast of a line running just west of La Junta, except the area south of a line <br />from the Pur9atoire River above Smith Canyon to the southeast comer of the State. The <br />Geological Survey made an investigation of this flood soon after it occurred. <br /> <br />Rain gauges were also in operation at various points along the canal, which is part <br />of the Amity canal system, north of the Arkansas River, These gauges recorded <br />precipitation of 6.25 inches 40 miles northwest of Holly, 6 inches near Prowers, and 6,34 <br />inches a few miles north of Lamar. Most of the rain fell within 8 hours during the night of <br />October 18-19, 1908. <br /> <br />The flood of 1908 appears to have had two distinct parts, The first, October 19, <br /> <br />Colorado Flood <br />Hydrology Manual <br /> <br />4.24 <br /> <br />fFIFf <br />