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<br />The Big Thompson: <br /> <br />Before and After <br /> <br />To generations of vacationers and residents, the <br />Big Thompson River was only a mild-mannered trout stream <br />But since the July 31, 1976 flood. everyone knows <br />and respects the river's potential and has also learned <br />in the process a bitter-but valuable-lesson: <br />never to take Nature for granted. <br /> <br />A storm so severe it occurs only once <br />about every 100 years. . . <br />A flash flood that dumped more than <br />10 inches of rain in less than four hours <br />into one of the nation's most scenic <br />areas. . . <br />A wall of water that tossed auto-sized <br />boulders, and autos themselves, <br />around like ping pong balls. . . <br />And a story of sorrow written against <br />the historic walls of Big Thompson <br />Canyon. . . <br />That was the tragic climax to a day <br />marking the 100th Anniversary of the <br />State of Colorado. <br />When it was all over, more than 100 <br />persons had perished in a night and day <br />of terror unlike anything ever seen in an <br />area renowned for its rugged beauty, its <br />hardy residents and, at times, its severe <br />weather. <br /> <br />BY JAY HARRIS <br /> <br />Big Thompson Canyon is known to <br />millions of Ameridms as one of the most <br />scenic vacation spots and "places to <br />visit" in the West. Countless <br />Coloradoans, as well as residents from <br />around the world have pitched their <br />fishing poles, their tents and often their <br />cares along the narrow Canyon walls <br />and its usually rippling, occasionally <br />rumbling, river. <br />Big Thompson starts just east of <br />Estes Park and meanders like some <br />giant geological "roller coastel" some <br />40 miles toward Loveland. U.S. <br />Highway 34, a two-lane blacktop, <br />parallels the Big Thompson River. <br />The "100th Anniversary:'J;lisaster in <br />Big Thompson changed all that. . .and <br />the lives of hundreds of persons along <br />with it. <br />Neither Estes Park itself, nor <br /> <br />Loveland, was damaged in the flooding, <br />and each quickly reached out with <br />emergency aid. rescue teams and later <br />relief for those who were affected. <br />Big Thompson Canyon and the Big <br />Thompson River were tailor-made eons <br />ago for just such a tragedy as that which <br />finally struck. . . <br />The river on the canyon floor shoots <br />down the Canyon "funnel" from an <br />altitude of about 10,000 feet to 9,000. . <br />.8,000, then 7,000. . . <br />The Big Thompson is a "pussy cat" as <br />rivers go under normal conditions. <br />Seldom wider than 15 feet and no more <br />than 6 or 8 feet deep in pools along its <br />path, mostly it is a small stream <br />tumbling over polished pebbles and <br />occasional rocks the size of a football. <br />Through the ages, time and erosion <br />have carved walls six stories deep in <br /> <br />11 <br />