FLOOD08934

• County: Statewide
• Basin: Statewide
• Title: Contributions to the Hydrology of the United States
• Date: 3/20/1926
• Prepared By: USGS
• Floodplain - Doc Type: Educational/Technical/Reference Information

SOME FLOODS IN T:!IE ROCKY MOUNTAIN REGION. 111

35,000 acres, were badly damaged; and the lllinois Pipe Line Co.'s
line was broken between Chatham and Grass Creek. and several
thousand .barrels of oil was lost. At Manderson the water surface
reached the ties of the railroad track, but the railroad embankment
prevented flooding of the town.
An investigation of this flood was made soon after it occurred, and
the slope and cross sections of the maximum discharge were obtained
from well-defined high-water marks on streams that had no gaging
stations. The results are summarized in the following table:

Maximum discharge- oj streams in t/?;e Big Horn drainage baBin, July 94-26, 1923.
[Localities in Wyoming except as otherwise specified.]

Moxlm=
. discharge Drnm-
(second-feet).
Stream. . LocoIIll' ' ... TIme offload Source orlnforma-
area ....t, tion.
p", ~~
Total. .~~
mlle.
W!ud River~.__u Rlverton...___.. 11,100 U 2,"'" 4.a..m.lulY25..'.. Recording gage chart
Bec.16.T.2N.. a.t gaging station.
Muskrat Creek.. "-6,400 &3 TIll 4. 8. m. Jo1124._.. Slopemessurement.
R.BE.
Fivemfie Creek._ Bec,17'ET.'N.. ',500 U ... _____do_______n... EstImated by Bu-
R.6 . reau of Reclama-
tion.
PoisOll Creek____ Shoshoni-_______ 3,000 U ". ___..do.........___ Do.
Badwater Creek. Bonneville_.____ . 18,800 23.. "" 9.45a.m.1uly2L. Blopemeasurement.
Muddy Creek... Se:t~E:.4N.. .16,300 41.8 ... ___..do.______..__ Do.
Tough Creek___ Sec.28,T.39N., 1,500 ,2.0 .. .....do.........___ Estimated by Bu-
R.94E. ,ea. of R,clama-
tion.
Big Horn River n Sec. 2. T. 0 N., 28,100 a7 'Ii 740 op.m.July24_n. Estimated at Boysen
R.6E. dam by E. C.
~.bb, Fodoral
ower Commis-
mOD.
DOnn..___._ Thermopolis_~n 29, 800 '.7 8,080 11 p. m. July 24___ Measurement of
overfiow area and
eneIlSioDorgaging-
station rating
curve.
DOnn._...._ Manderson.._n _..n_____ ____h_ 10,900 9.30 &. In. July 26._ State Highway De-
=ou..
Do__u...____ Oreybull________ ---2i;fixr ---iT '4,500 9p.m.July26__n o or,
DOnn____~-- Harwn, Mont.. 20,100 9p.m.July27._.. Oaging-station.. 'reo-
. ofd,
Palntrock Creek_ Sec.25. T. SON., .li.680 .... 164 1 a. In. July 24__h Recording gage chart
R.89W. at~station.
Qreybull River n Meeteetsen____. 2,200 .,- 6llO 6.30 &. In. July 2L 0. .

.. On cross section."measured and slope determined 88 0.007 from high-water marks 650 feet apart; "n,"
taken as O.G40. .
~ Fairly uniform channel round beginning 2 000 feet below railroad station. Two cross sections meastJ1'ed
737 feet apart~ 1!Ppet section bad not sco;";;d out as badly aslower section, and original banksremalned.
Slope determiDe<l by di:lference in altitude of high-water marks at each section and also by altitude of
high-water marks 2,000 feet above upper section. Both methods give slope of 0.0040, .. n" taken as 0.030.
Maximum discharge based on mean of upper and lower sectioDS was 2O,OCIO second-feet, but to e1in1inate
possible scourinlowersection the dlscharge was computed by using uppersectionalone. wbich'p.ve 16,200
second-teet. The most probable maximum discharge was taken 88 the average of the two ngures, or
18,600 second-feet.
. Two cross sections measured 313 feet apart. Slope from high-wat6r marks 0.0005; "n" taken as OM5.

The only point on Big Horn River at which fairly complete records
of the flood are available.is Thermopolis, where a gaging station is
maintained on the concrete highway bridge that connects the town
with the Hot Springs resort. It was impossible to read the gage at the

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