FLOOD09717

• County: Boulder
• Community: Longmont
• Stream Name: St. Vrain Creek
• Basin: South Platte
• Title: Floodplain Information Report
• Date: 4/1/1981
• Prepared For: Longmont, Boulder County
• Prepared By: WRC Engineering, Inc.
• Contract/PO #: &&
• Floodplain - Doc Type: Floodplain Report/Masterplan

"Th,> b~idBe was dosed in Kly t957 "hen water w,"slH'd ou~ tlt" ,<\uth
approach, (e,wing 1\ ~aping hole in the road"ay."

"D"magi.ng floods on St. VrainCreekat Longmont, with thcpossibl e
exception of those of 1864 and 1844, invariably have been a.soeiated with
heavy rains in the Plains region. Snowmelt has been a factor in most of
the floods, but sno~ett atone has not ca~sed noteworthy floods in the
study area, at least since t864. Consideration of the floods of 1894, 1919
and 1941 ilt~strates this p~tnt. The peak discharges of these three ftoods
at Lyons were very nearly equal; the flood of 1894, augmented by heavy rains
in the PLains, was the greatest known at Longmont; the floods of 1919 and
1941, which occurred when there was little or no rain between Lyons and
Longmont, '..ere so minor i" the study 'He" that they attracted no notice in
tile pres.."

D. SarnplesfrornLoeaINe"sp"persAccountsofFlooding

Records available at the State Historical So~iety of Colorado, covering
th~ periOd, "ho~ that appr"xi~ately t16 different newspapers have been pub-
lished throughout Boulde< County. Specifically, in the Cities of Bo~lder and
Longmo~t, tho.e figures included 53 and 17 different newspapers, rospectivety.
Althou~h ""me of these newsp"per" are still in ]>ubli<eatio", "thors wet<' r~b-
1 ished for .hort du,,,t ion. Or :nerged wi th other~. The p~riod~ of p<lbt ieat ion
of tlt~ different neW$paperS were c"mpared "ith th~ d"-tes listed in the pr",v'''<l''
"~cti"n of this chapter. As a. resutt of this compari.on, coupled with the

~v~i~;>bi.ti~y Of ~h~ info,"'~tion ~: thc St;>te ::is~;)<ic~, Soeicc}' of (;oLor;>d~,

slxdifferentne"spapeUWGrc...tecred for furtherre.earch. Ihe,e1Le"'papcr.,
and tohG period i.~ wl,ich they "ere publi.hed drc listed bdo'~:

1. Ilo<llderCou<ltyHe<oild

t'cbr",ny 18,1880 -l'ebruHY 11, lq14

2. 30<lld~r County Miner and l'"r;',er

J,1nltary 6, \921 - M"y \,1947

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). Boulder !JailyCamera ~areh n. l891 to date
4. Boulder ~ews-Herald F"br~ary '". 1916 Feb<uary ". 1912
5. Longmont Ledge< Septemher 12. 1379 -" J"te
4. Longrnon~ Ti.,"~8-Call April 1931 " date

The ahove mentioned newspapers were researched for the period t~o
weeks before and after the targeted dates Shown in Section B of this Ghapte~.

A sampte of ne~spape< accounts of floods in the vicinity of the study
area is as follo~s:

From the "Longmont l'imes-Call"
December 2, L940
A~ticle by Be~tha Ramey

A day or two before Memorial Day
i~ 1894, a steady rain began whiCh
finaltyreached floodproportio"s.
and the entire lower portion of the
to~n was ~ashed .away. The river
rose to the rail<oa" traeh', an<l a
portionofth"depot"'"sinundat..d.
No lives "~re lost,b~t many persons
h.,d thrilling stories to tell.
Large houses and barns ~ere swept
away, as well as all bridges of the
region. The road to Longmont "'''8
not fully repaired for two months.

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