FLOOD07854

• Designation Number: 62
• County: Adams
• County: Arapahoe
• County: Douglas
• Community: Denver Metro Region
• Stream Name: Cherry Creek
• Basin: South Platte
• Title: FHAD - Cherry Creek, Metropolitan Region, Colorado
• Date: 7/1/1976
• Designation Date: 11/1/1976
• Floodplain - Doc Type: Floodplain Report/Masterplan

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snow storm, during which time 6.53 inches of precipi-
tation fell. The snow and cold prevented a rapid
running off of the precipitation and little damage
resulted to the city. A flood, estimated by some to be
as large as the flood of 1864, occurred on Wednesday,
May 22, 1878. It was caused by heavy rains of
cloudburst intensity covering a limited part of the
drainage basin. The damage was not nearly as severe
as the 1864 flood because there were no buildings in
the bed of the stream and the creek channel was wider
and deeper. Several bridges were destroyed with
damage estimates of $30,000 to $40,000 for the entire
city. Wooden bridges were washed away and were
Ia ter replaced by steel bridges.

In the meantime, in 1891, the mayor of Denver
tried to secure city rights on Cherry Creek for
improvements. However, it was not until 1901 that
Mayor Speer suggested building walls along the creek
from the city limits to the South Platte River, so as to
allow for permanent improvements on thousands of
acres of flood plain land. By 1908, the first ordinance
for walling the creek was passed and construction
began. The walls were completed in early November,
1915, at a cost of $425,000 for land and $434,000 for
driveways and walls. The completed channel was 80
feet wide from Downing Street to Broadway, and 88
feet wide from Broadway to the South Platte. The
creek's fall was 80 feet from Downing Street to the
South Platte.

occurring around Parker. All tributaries to Cherry
Creek were full. The creek flooded with one large
crest owing to the failure of the York Street pile
bridge. It was this failure and sudden crest which
caused the resultant flood damage. The creek over-
flowed its banks at most places along its course. All
pile bridges were destroyed. Portions of the wall along
the creek crumbled. The estimated discharge at the
height of the flood was 25,000 cfs. Over 86 residential
blocks and 10 business blocks were inundated by the
flood wa ters.

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A major flood caused by heavy rains occurred on
July 26, 1885. The estimated peak flow on Cherry
Creek during the flood was 20,000 cfs. The flood
destroyed many railroad bridges, but the new steel
bridges survived. Reports say that white-capped
waves surged down the channel carrying all sorts of
debris. Damage to the city was substantial.

Although the creek did not flood, there was great
concern that it might in January, 1910. The channel
was blocked with ice and frozen chunks of sand and
snow, which built up behind the pile bridges. In places,
the creek was level with the tops of the retaining walls
(then partially completed), The cause of the problem
was the small dams that had been built at frequent
intervals along the creek bed to create waterfalls for
beautification.

The total damage resulting from the flood was
estimated at over $1,000,000. The greatest part of
this financial loss fell upon merchants and warehouse
owners who had stocks of goods stored in basements of
buildings near Cherry Creek. Suits were brought
against the city for these damages, but a local judge
ruled that the city was not responsible for the
damages.

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In 1890, a private company built Castle wood
Dam across West Cherry Creek above Franktown. The
dam measured 630 feet wide by 70 feet high. The
reservoir was named Castle wood Lake, and an attempt
to build a resort there failed. The dam was supposed
to turn Cherry Creek Valley into the garden spot of
Colorado. Arapahoe Ditch was constructed to accom-
plish this goal, but the area failed to develop despite
promotional schemes.

Denver was flooded again by Cherry Creek on
July 14, 1912. This was one of the most damaging
floods in Denver's history. The afternoon of the flood
2.08 inches of rain fell in Denver. The flood was not
due to local precipitation, however, but to torrential
rains higher in the watershed with the heaviest rainfall

Repair work after the flood involved the removal
of the beautification dams and replacement of
obstructing bridges with concrete ones constructed so
as not to present obstructions. The mayor of Denver
appointed a Cherry Creek Flood Commission to pro-
pose a plan of relief from future floods. The
Commission's recommendation was to construct a dam
with a reservoir capacity of approximately 12,000
acre-feet.

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As a result of the corrective actions on bridges

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