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Last modified
1/29/2010 10:12:01 AM
Creation date
10/5/2006 3:10:10 AM
Metadata
Fields
Template:
Floodplain Documents
County
Elbert
El Paso
Community
Elbert and El Paso Counties
Stream Name
Kiowa Creek, Bijou Creek
Basin
South Platte
Title
Flood Problems and Conditions in the Kiowa, Bijou, and Boxelder Creeks
Date
8/11/1949
Prepared For
State of Colorado
Prepared By
CWCB
Floodplain - Doc Type
Floodplain Report/Masterplan
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<br />'j.' <br />< <br />." <br /> <br />!l <br /> <br />-2- <br /> <br />~., <br />tv <br />~, <br />I <br /> <br />Until the early 1920' s following World War I, the channel of Kiowa <br />Creek was narrow (from six to 12 feet wide) and meandered almost aimlessly <br />through the meadows. Occasional floods, which were almost clear water, <br />would cover the meadows with very little damage except when hay was down. <br />In the early 1920's, gullies through the meadows began to appear and every <br />year they would lengthen and widen in spite of the strenuous efforts of <br />trying to hold them with trees and rocks. Scouring of the creek itself <br />began to widen and deepen the channel. <br /> <br />Then, following a series of drought years, came the disastrous <br />flood of Memorial Day, 1935. According to reliable reports, the major part <br />of this cloudburst occurred south of the Town of Elbert on Kiowa Creek. In <br />excess of 20 inches of rain and hail fell during the day, causing a flood <br />which claimed seven lives in Elbert County and at least four lives in other <br />counties, besides thousands of dollars of damage to property and livestock. <br /> <br />Paul S. Bailey, bridge engineer of the Colorado State Highway <br />Commission, has reported that as a result of the 1935 flood in the Kiowa <br />Creek area, the State Highway Commission replaced six destroyed bridges <br />and made repairs on one other damaged briage, at a cost of slightly more <br />than a half-million dollars ($503,079.00). <br /> <br />.... <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />Mr. Bailey has explained that construction costs quoted are those <br />of 1935, and that similar work at the present time would average three <br />times greater. The work that cost $503,079.00 in 1935 would approximate <br />a million and a half dollars in 1949. <br /> <br />r <br /> <br />Further, in the 1935 flood, every county bridge on Kiowa Creek and <br />on many of its tributaries from the very headwaters in El Paso County to <br />the South Platte River was washed out. At least 30 homes and business <br />houses in Kiowa and Elbert were swept away, and many more damaged. <br /> <br />William Giggal, Arapahoe County Commissioner, reported that in ex- <br />cess of $150,000 damage occurred to roads and bridges in his County, and <br />he had a crew of 100 men at work for five weeys burying the drowned cattle. <br /> <br />.. <br /> <br />'!he school building at Elbert, almost a new building, was com- <br />pletely destroyed. Except for the fact that it was a Memorial Day holiday, <br />over 100 school children might have been trapped in the structure. This <br />building was replaced by the Works Project Administration, with some local <br />help, at a cost of about ;;p50,00o. <br /> <br />Water and mud stood six feet deep in the Elbert County courthouse <br />at Kiowa, ruining many vital records. The City of Fort Morgan with a popu- <br />lation now of 4,880 was inundated, as was also the Town of Wiggin. <br /> <br />The Colorado & Southern Railroad which operated through Parker, <br />Elizabeth and Elbert suffered such heavy losses that it suspended opera- <br />tions with a resultant loss of service and valuation to Elbert County. <br /> <br />L <br /> <br />
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