FLOOD08485

• County: Jefferson
• Community: Golden
• Stream Name: Tucker Gulch, Kenneys Run
• Basin: South Platte
• Title: Flood Hazard Area Delineation
• Date: 1/1/1983
• Prepared For: Jefferson County / Arapahoe County
• Prepared By: UDFCD
• Contract/PO #: &&
• Floodplain - Doc Type: Floodplain Report/Masterplan

I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I

5. North Fork Tributary No. 1 - left bank tributary of Tributary No. 1
beginning 900 feet upstream of Highway #6 and ending
near the center of the northeast quarter of
Section 4, T. 4 S., R. 70 W.

6. Deadman Gulch - left bank tributary to West Fork Kenneys Run begin-
ning 1500 feet upstream of Highway #6 and ending in
the southeast quarter of Section 4, T. 4 S., R. 70 W.

7. Tributary No.2-left bank tributary to West Fork Kenneys Run begin-
ning 1500 feet upstream of Deadman Gulch confluence
and ending near the southeast corner of Section 4,
T. 4 S., R. 70 W.

- FLOOD HISTORY -

All study areas are located in the City of Golden and unincorporated Jefferson
County.

Newspaper accounts and other historical records of flooding in the Golden area
date as far back as 1864. A number of the accounts pertained to flooding on
Clear Creek with little or no mention of flooding on Tucker Gulch or Kenneys
Run (e.g. floods of 1864, 1888 and 1933). Although no stream flow records
exist for either Tucker Gulch.or Kenneys Run, other reports of past flooding
did give a clear picture of the flood damage potential of these two normally
dry streams. The newspaper articles and past reports researched as part of
this study provided information regarding six major flood events on Tucker Gulch
(Golden Gate Canyon) and Kenneys Run over the past 110 years. The floods of
1872, 1896, 1941, 1948, 1965 and 1973 were reported as follows:

Flood of July 14, 1872 - Rocky Mountain News, July 16, 1872

"Those who have ever witnessed a waterspout will bear testimony to its
appa 11 i ng na ture. One of these curi ous phenomena occurred on the Central
Stage Road in Golden Gate Gulch, 4 miles above the town of Golden, on
July 14 about 4 o'clock.... Presently a violent commotion, with confusion
of sounds like the tumult of the elements, was heard high up in the
mountains. Then came a tremendous torrent of water, bearing trees and
boulders, and calculated to astonish and terrify by its magnitude,
force and violence. The horses, seeing that they were to be sacrificed
to the prodigious volume, took fright, and shying to one side upset the
carriage and all occupants were pitched into the bottom of the gulch.
In an instant, as it were, and before they [Mr. Jack Virden and family]
could recover their feet, the wave, with a perpendicular breast of 10 or
12 feet, was upon them and licked them up like the sands of the gulch.
Mrs. Virden clung to her husband, and he, by miraculous chance, got hold
of a limb and held fast until the flood subsided..."

Flood of July 25, 1896 - Colorado Transcript, July 29, 1896

"Nothi ng 1 i ke it had ever been wi tnessed before..."

"Before the rainfall even partially ceased, the water in the creek began

3