Laserfiche WebLink
<br />The flood reached Fort Collins late in the afternoon on 20 May and <br /> <br /> <br />continued for about 3 hours, during which time about 150 hDuses in the <br /> <br /> <br />lowlands were swept from their foundations. All bridges but one in <br /> <br /> <br />Fort Collins were destroyed. Concerning Boxelder Creek the Greeley <br /> <br />Tribune stated: <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />"The Boxelder, a small stream ordinarily only a few feet wide, was <br /> <br /> <br />tearing down thrDugh a fertile valley filled from bluff to bluff with a <br /> <br /> <br />sheet of water a mile wide, carrying buildings and bridges away in its <br /> <br /> <br />mad rush." <br /> <br />Downstream from the mouth of Boxelder Creek, the floodwaters of <br /> <br />the two streams reached a width of 1.5 miles in places. <br /> <br />The flood reached Greeley abOut 8:30 a,m. on 21 May, and flowed <br /> <br /> <br />Dver a large area of the city. Downstream from the Union Pacific Rail- <br /> <br /> <br />rDad the lowlands were also flooded and the houses in that area were <br /> <br /> <br />submerged to their windDw sills. The flood stage continued until noon, <br /> <br /> <br />when the water fell almost as rapidly as it had risen. <br /> <br />Flood of June 1923. The flood of June 1923 was caused by a <br /> <br /> <br />combination of melting snow and heavy rains. At the end of March, the <br /> <br /> <br />snow cover was about 50 percent abDve nDrmal. June was Oue of the <br /> <br /> <br />wettest months on record. <br /> <br />Regarding the flood of 15 and 16 June, the Fort Collins Express, <br />16 June 1923, stated: <br /> <br />"Fed by mDuntain cloudbursts and heavy general rains, the (Cache <br /> <br /> <br />la) Poudre River last night in 2 hours became a raging torrent. <br /> <br /> <br />Cloudbursts, one at Livermore and another at a point not far away from <br /> <br /> <br />there, late in the afternoon sent a wall of water down the canyon. At <br /> <br />Laporte and Fort Collins the river rose 2 feet in as many hours." <br /> <br />20 <br /> <br />. <br />