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<br />Newspaper accounts of Manitou Springs flood events provide valuable <br />information on flooding effects, but specific information on intensity, <br />duration, and magni tude of storms and resulting floods is largely lacking. <br />Following are several articles describing effects of various floods at the <br />time of their occurrence. <br /> <br />Ylood of July 1, 1882 <br /> <br />This flood was caused by heavy rainfall from afternoon thunderstorms <br />that were centered over the Williams Canon drainage basin. A particularly <br />intense cell unleashed a cloudburst around 4:30 P.M., which directed a wall <br />of water down the narrow canyon through Manitou Springs and into Fountain <br />Creek. <br /> <br />The Manitou Springs Item of July 8, 1882 described the event as <br />follows: "Various hotels are the heaviest losers.. .Manitou Bath House <br />flooded with 2 feet or more of water and it is thought that the heavy <br />sediment on the floor is the reason the building did not float away...road <br />to the Cave of the Winds completely washed away...railroad tracks and <br />bridges washed away...hail as large as hen eggs seen in town with much <br />larger seen up the canon... The city council doubtless will take action <br />looking to the construction of the proper water courses through the town. <br />These should be lined with masonry and always kept open." <br /> <br />The Colorado Springs Weekly Gazette of July 8, 1882 contained the <br />following description: "...50 far as could be learned the life of but one <br />person had been sacrificed... two boys had gone up Williams Canon and were <br />caught by the storm...the surviving boy said that he and his brother had <br />gone but a short distance when they heard a terrible roaring behind them and <br />saw a wall of water rushing down upon them... they clambered up the side of <br />the canyon seeking refuge on the top of the old lime kiln, which is about 20 <br />feet high, when a monstrous wave struck the kiln taking the younger boy with <br />it. ..proprietor of the Ruxton Livery Stable, a short distance up Ruxton <br />Creek saw the waterspout as :It broke up Williams Canon and a few seconds <br />afterward heard distinctly the roaring of the water as it made its way <br />through the near (Ruxton) canyon and broke through the back door of his <br />barn, taking with it horses and wagons...Hail, which accompanied the storm <br />crashed through windows and threatened death to anyone who ventured <br />outside. In some parts of town hailstones as large as oranges fell and one <br />measured 11 inches in circumference. In places these hailstones lay in <br />banks several feet in depth. It <br /> <br />If the eyewitness reports contained in the newspaper accounts are <br />accurate, the 20 foot wall of water would equal the expected 500 year flood <br />(Federal Emergency Management Agency, 1983). <br /> <br />Flood of May 31, 1894 <br /> <br />The flood of May 31, 1894 was caused by heavy general rains occurring <br />over much of the Front Range. This is also the date on which heavy rainfall <br />in the Ward, Colorado area led to flooding along Boulder Creek. The Rocky <br />Mountain News of June 1, 1894 described the situation in the following <br />manner: "Rain has been falling steadily all day making a continuous fall of <br />50 hours, an unheard of thing for Manitou. Ruxton Creek is still a raging <br /> <br />-14- <br />