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Introduction , The history of floods on Coal Creek at Erie has not been well recorded. Only one gaging station is located on Coal Creek in the upper end of the basin near plainview in Jefferson County. This station has been operating since August 1959 and the drainage area is 15.1 square miles. Our knowledge of past flooding is primarily based on accounts published in previous floodplain reports, old newspaper articles, local histories, and the personal memories of a few long-time residents. Town History From a note found in the cornerstone of the Erie Methodist Church in 1972, it appears the town was first laid out on the west bank of Coal Creek during the year 1871.1 By the time the town was- more formally organized in 1874, Erie was the third ranking town in population in all of Weld County, exceeded only by Greeley and Evans.2 A petition to incorporate the town was officially presented to Weld County on November 16, 1874.3 The first of six local news- papers to be published for brief periods during the early history of the town was the Erie Canfield ~ndependent, which appeared in 1884 and ran until 1894. The last was the Erie Herald, published from 1907 to 1915 and from 1933 to 1949.4 The first planning commission was organized at a town meeting held February 8, 1967.5 lScciology and History classes of Erie High School, ~rs. Karen Adelfang, Advisor, Erie: Yesterday and TOday, (Erie, Colorado), Edition 2, February 1974, page 4. 2"b"d ~, page 25. 3ibid, page 49. 4The other early newspapers published at Erie were as follows: the Erie Independent, 1894-1896, the Erie Review, 1900-1902; the Erle News, June 1903-1906 and 1930-37, and the Western Mirror, June 1904-1907. No copies of any of Erie's early newpapers published during a major flood event could be found. A more recent publication, the Erie Echo, was pUblished as a separate paper from December 1977 to January 1979. 5Sociology and History classes of Erie High School, Editio~ 1, April 1967, page 15. -1-