FLOOD09001

• Designation Number: 189
• County: Fremont
• Community: Unincorporated Fremont County
• Stream Name: Arkansas River
• Basin: Arkansas
• Title: Floodplain Information Report - Arkansas River in Fremont County, Canon City and Florence, Colorado, Volume I
• Date: 6/1/1982
• Designation Date: 4/1/1982
• Floodplain - Doc Type: Floodplain Report/Masterplan

disaster was not repeated here Tuesday night. The
greater part of the water causing the flood came out of
the creeks west of here; sand Creek, Grape, Copper gulch
and Currant creek each furnished their quota to swell
the volume of the flood in the Arkansas River. All of
these floods converged near the eastern portal of the
Royal Gorge and swept over the banks of the river wlth
irresistable force, converting all of the low lands
adjacent to thern into lakes of varying depth and washing
away the soil where there was a possibility of a cur-
rent. Fields of corn, celery and other fannandgarden
produce were either laid flat upon the ground, orcov-
eredwithmud and silt. Untold acres of good soil was
washed into the river and mingled with ltswaters, to be
later precipitated and deposited along it course, miles
to the eastward.

its nOmlal flow. It came down in a ~eri table wall and
its roar could be heard for a great distance. Hundreds
of people left their homes and went to the river bank to
wi tness the unusua 1 spectacl e. The ~ iaduct between
Third and Fourth streets and other points of vantage
were crowded with spectators, who had gathered thereto
watchtne flood. Water covered the yards Of the Santa
Fe Railroad company at the foot of Fourth street and
surged around its station, which was an island in a
great sea of swirling water. A part of the floor Of the
Santa Fe station was under water and the platforms and
track around it were submerged.

It is dfffjcul t at thi s itme to e~en appro~imate the
loss to the cOlmlunity frail the flood, but it i s bel1e~ed
that $100,000 would be a conservative estimate. The
Libby, MCNf"n ,\ Libby c(Jllpany's pickling plant and
interestshereweredamage<1,ltw.'lsstatedthismorning,
to the extent of perhaps $15,000. Other finns and
indi~idual s al so suffered heavily. Hardly a gardener in
the Hot Springs addition escaped. Their losses run from
a few hundreds of dollars into many times that amount.
The loss fr(Jllcelery a1onewil1 probably go as high as
$20,000. Thelosstothegardenersfromothercrops,it
1sbelieved, will be as much more. It is reported that
thf" loss of two individual gardeners from celery alone
will reaCh $14,000; each of them sustaining about the
same degree of dareage. The damage to furniture, ca..~ts
and other property in private hones will be large, but
the..e is noway of computing the amount.
Such a rainfall within the small space of time on the
watershed of the Arkansas dver and its tributaries as
fell late Tuesday afternoon cannot be remembered by the
oldest inhabitants. It amounted to hundreds of thous-
and~ of tons and swept everything before it. Imlense
quantltiesof sand and boulders were washed down from
the mountains into the ri~er, or were deposited in great
banks alongs its course. The water rose 14 feet above

A trip through the flood-swept districts in the Hot
Springs addition, south Canon and in the ~jcinity of
Vine street, below the Ninth street bridge early this
morning gave the writer an excellent tdea of the ravages
of the high water of Tuesday. Everywhere a sorry spec-
tacle was presented. Fences were either o~erturned, or
had been made a lodgement for drift and debris of all
character. Lawns were either washed away, or were
covered wtth sand and mud. Flower gardens were either
destroyed of laid flat by the water. Gardentruck,upon
Which the rancher had been depending for a living, has
been either swept away or seriously damaged. In all of
these neighborhoods the f1 ood ~ictums were ei ther
cleaning their oomes of the mud wIlich had been carried
into them, or were cleaning their premises of the drift-
wood and trash left upon them by receding waters.
Household effects of all de~cription were drying in the
sunshine and people for the most part were wading about
in the mud of their dooryards to..estore the surround-
ings to a condition of normalcy. Itwasabigtask,but
was being bra~ely met.

TheCal'lonCrystal Ice company's plant, the Oiarnond Fire
'Brick cClllpany's plant, the au~11l iary pumping plant of
the waterworks near the foot of First street, in addi-
tion to dozens of pdvate homes along the river, were
inundated. The engine roQ'!l of the pumping plant had
eight feet of water in it this morning. All of the
machlnery wa~ submerged and was damaged to a consider.
able e~tent. Fortunately, but 1 ittle mud was deposi ted
in the bullding, which will pennlt the use of the machi-
nery for pumping operations on short notice.

. ..

CANON CITY OAILY RECORD
CANON CITY, FREMONT COUNTY, COLORADO
THURSDAY,.e.UGUST3,1933

HUGE O.e.MAGE IS CAUSED HERE BY FLOOD IN RIVER

Practically e~ery garden in the Hot Spl'ings addition was
flooded,andThursdayseveralinchesofmudcoveredmuch
of the land. Owners repo..tthat they '00111 be able to
save a pa..t of thet.. produce, but that much of it was
destroyed.

Se~eral 9lIal1 garrlens between Fourth and Ninth streets
were inundated and owners reported 75 percent loss.

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