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L H III ~ 11 111 ., '1'1 " i:' :-, j:,' !i1i I H ~ :! j1 ~ H \! ~ i :f! ~ i It H " 110 CONTRIBUTIONS TO HYDROLOGY OF UNITED STATES, 11)23-1924. above BOmleville; it had an east-west diameter of 90 miles and a north- south diameter of 65 miles, The rainfall was highest in the northern third of this area. The ether areas Were on Wood River above Mee- teetse, Wyo,; and on Paintrock Creek (pI. XII), The North Fork of Shoshone River was also subject to heavy rains during this period, but as the flood waters were stored in Shoshone reservoir, they did not contribute materially to the flood in the lower Big Horn. The flood caused the greatest damage along Badwater Creek and below the mouth of the Badwater as far as the head of the Big Horn Canyon, In this stretch the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad had 20 miles of track washed out, of which about 8 miles was subse- quently relocated away from the river bottom. Three steel bridges were destroyed. The entire town of Bonneville was covered with 2 to 5 feet of water. Several buildings and 10 freight cars were washed downstream, and additional buildings were. wrecked, Just east of the railroad station, where the railroad formerly crossed Bad- water Creek on a 120-foot steel bridge, the channel is now more than 300 feet wide. In front. of the station the 80-foot channel was widened to 500 feet, The loss to the railroad alone was estimated at more than $1,000,000, Two lives were lost near Shoshoni, and a 13-year-old boy was carried by the flood for more than a mile before being rescued. The heavy rains caused many slides on the railroad track through' Big Horn Canyon and filled two tunnels with water from 2 to 5 feet deep. The new highway that is being constructed through the canyon was severely damaged. The Wyoming Power Co.'s plant at Boysen dam was put out of commission by 2 feet of water over the floor of the power house, which is inside the dam, The water was 20 feet deep over the dam and 4,9 feet deep in the railroad tunnel at that. point. Transmission lines along Badwater, Poison, and Muskrat creeks were destroyed, The Chicago & Northwestern Railway lost five bridges and 500 feet of track between Shoshoni and Hudson. Thermopolis was flooded as far east as the Burlington station,- and bllildings at the Hot Springs resort on the east side of the river were considerably damaged, At the crest of the flood the water surface was 2,3 feet above the top of the center arches of the concrete bridge at the lower end of the town and 3.7 feet above the top of.the arches 'a t each end of the bridge. This submergence of the arohes caused backwater above the bridge, which amounted to a maximum of 0,8 foot. The main channel carried 22,000 second-feet before overflow began; overflow occurred at a stage of 13.4 feet on the Geological Survey gage located on the bridge. The Hanover and Big Horn County canals, which divert water from the Big Horn' a few miles above Worland for the irrigation of