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<br />. <br /> <br />Flood of May 1904. The flood of 20-21 May 1904 was caused by <br /> <br /> <br />rains of cloudburst intensity on the North Fork Cache la Poudre River <br /> <br />and Boxelder Creek watersheds at an altitude of about 7000 feet m.s.l. <br /> <br />J. A. Armstrong, irrigation engineer, investigated the flood on <br /> <br />the North Fork Cache la PDudre River, and the following is abstracted <br /> <br />from his report in USGS Water Supply Paper 147, published in 1905. <br /> <br />"The floods down these creeks were caused by a continuous heavy <br /> <br /> <br />rain, or a succession Df cloudbursts commencing before noon of the 20th <br /> <br /> <br />and lasting 5 or 6 hours, centering about Stonewall MDuntain at the <br /> <br />head of Stonewall Creek. Stonewall, Dale, and Lone Pine Creeks <br /> <br /> <br />are all tributary to the North Fork Cache la Poudre River. The flood <br /> <br /> <br />was down into Livermore, only a few miles, almost before anyone could <br /> <br /> <br />remove anything out of the way, and had it been at night, there would <br /> <br /> <br />probably have been great loss of life as well as property. The volume <br /> <br /> <br />of water passing Livermore has been estimated at 20,000 cubic feet per <br /> <br /> <br />second." <br /> <br />The floDd reached the Cache la Poudre River early in the afternoon <br /> <br /> <br />of 20 May and was augmented upstream from Fort Collins by floods from <br /> <br /> <br />Dry Creek, Hook Canyon, and Moore Canyon. In describing the flDDd <br /> <br /> <br />downstream from the canyon, the Greeley Tribune of 26 May stated: <br /> <br />"About the first warning of danger that people up the valley had <br /> <br /> <br />was when a wall of water 10 to 14 feet high burst out of the Poudre <br /> <br /> <br />Canyon (early in the afternoon), a couple of miles above Laporte. As <br /> <br />quick as possible word was telephoned to Fort Collins of the coming <br /> <br /> <br />flood, and the people of Laporte sought safety on high ground. When <br /> <br /> <br />the water reached the open valley it spread over a surface of about a <br /> <br /> <br />mile and its speed was somewhat slackened." <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />19 <br />