FLOOD08463

• County: Las Animas
• Community: Las Animas and Vicinity
• Stream Name: Arkansas River
• Basin: Arkansas
• Title: Arkansas River and Tributaries, Las Animas, Colorado, and Vicinity
• Date: 2/18/1964
• Prepared For: CWCB
• Prepared By: COE
• Floodplain - Doc Type: Project

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ENGER
SUBJECT: Arkansas River and Tributaries, Las Animas, Colorado,
and Vicinity

2. Basin description.--Las Animas, the county seat of Bent
County, Colorado, is located on the south bank of the Arkansas River
about 75 miles upstream from the Colorado-Kansas State line. The
Arkansas River and its tributaries drain an area of about 14,417
square miles above Las Animas. The principal tributaries in this
drainage area are Fountain Creek, Horse Creek, Huerfano River, and
the Apishapa River. In its upper reaches, the river descends over
6,000 feet in less than 130 miles at gradients often exceeding 50
feet per mile. At Las Animas the stream slope is about 8 feet per
mile and the channel capacity is 6,500 cubic feet per second.

3. Economic development,--The population of Bent County WaS
7,419 in 1960, of which 3,402 were in the city of Las Animas. The
development in the flood plain of the Arkansas River in this area
includes urban and suburban lands and ;i,mprovements, irrigated and
grazing lands and improvements, highways, and railroads. The
principal sources of income are from agricultural production and
processing, raising of livestock, and employment in the Fort Lyon
Veterans Hospital. The principal crOps in. order of acreage
harvested are alfalfa, sorghums, Wheat, onions, sugar beets, other
grains, and vegetables, The major source qf income. in the livestock
industry is from beef cattle.

4. Existing and planned im~rovements .--The only existing
Federal improvements for flood protection in the immediate vicinity
of Las Animas are those of an emergency nature constructed by the
Corps of Engineers. In 1950 a short reach of the river bank adjacent
to the north abutment of the United States Highway No. 50 bridge
immediately north of Las Animas was stabilized at a Federal cost of
$7,500. In 1952 a pilot channel and diversion dike were cOnstructed
to protect valUable farmland north of the city at a Federal cost of
$25,600. In 1956 the pilot channel we-s extended upstream at an
additional Federal cost Of $35,800. Subsequently, the city of Las
Animas extended the pilot channel downstream for a distance of about
10,500 feet. The Soil Conservation Service of the Department of
Agriculture has constructed floodwater retardation structures and is
planning additional structural works above the city but these WOrks
would have practically no effect on flood~ at Las Animas. The
multiple-purpose Pueblo Reservoir has been authorized for construc~
tion by the United States Bureau of Reclamation of .the Department
of the Interior about 117 river miles above ~sAnimas. This project
is an element of the authorized Fryingpan~Arkansas Project and would
have a material effect on floodflows at Las Animas.. The District
Engineer considered this project as being in operation during his
studies of the Las Animas problem.

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