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Flood leaves some high, dry <br />By JANE HUME <br />Srnff writer <br />Judi and Rick "Sagebrush" <br />Ellifritz had [o move Thursday <br />when Fortification Creek rose <br />suddenly as the result of snow <br />melt in unusually warm temper- <br />atures. <br />Fortification Creek runs <br />from Black Mountain in the <br />Routt National Forest to the <br />Yampa River south of Craig and <br />was' pouring over its banks <br />Thursday. <br />The trailer home the <br />Ellifritzes have lived in for the <br />past three years also had to be <br />moved. The home they rent was <br />perilously close [o the flood <br />waters of the creek, now a river. <br />"There was land, at least 20 <br />feet of land in front here;' Judi <br />said, before the swirling water <br />took out a cottonwood and IS <br />feet of bank in front of her home. <br />After a long night spent <br />watching the Flood, Rick chased <br />down a police ofEcer, he said, <br />and officials from the Moffat <br />County Sheriff's Department, <br />Craig Police Department and <br />Craig Fire/Rescue arrived, just <br />in time to watch the tree fall into <br />the river. <br />Crews from [he Moffat <br />County Road and Bridge <br />Department removed the tree <br />from the water Thursday morn- <br />ing, and a volunteer crew from <br />Bell Country Homes and its <br />home movers, Mudd Rats, <br />pulled the trailer from the soggy <br />bank. <br />"The guys came to me," <br />Rick said, "and asked me if they <br />could move the trailer for us. 1 <br />said we couldn't afford it, and <br />they said they didn't expect to be <br />paid." <br />Theresa Love, one of the <br />Mudd Rats owners, said the <br />company has been in business <br />just a year. She was passing out <br />coffee to the workers moving the <br />trailer during a light rain. The <br />coffee was donated by the Kum <br />and Go convenience store, a few <br />blocks away from the home. <br />Rick said the trailer had first <br />been placed on the creek in the <br />1960s by "Stinkfoot Blackie," a <br />local stone cutter. Blackie was <br />noted for using small sticks of <br />dynamite to break up refuse that <br />collected under the bridges in <br />Bonds along the creek in the <br />1940s. Stones cut by Blackie <br />still surround the property where <br />the trailer was located. <br />The Ellifritzes are staying <br />with friends while they look for <br />a new place to live. <br />"The trailer was trashed <br />moving it," Rick said. "It was <br />just too old [o make the move." <br />Further down Yampa <br />Avenue, another trailer close to <br />Fortification Creek was being <br />undercut by the flood waters. <br />Sean Houck borrowed a truck <br />from Boyko Distributing [o <br />move his belongings from his <br />home with the help of friend <br />Steve Ivers. <br />The trailer was in danger <br />after a tree next to it tell into the <br />raging creek, causing the bank to <br />break away near the trailer. <br />Earlier a television cable was <br />removed from over the trailer. <br />The cable was covered by the <br />tree and was apparently holding <br />up the tree. As [he cable was <br />withdrawn, the tree fell away <br />frorn the bank. <br />"The owner of the trailer is <br />going to move it," Houck said. <br />"But 1 am out of here." Houck is <br />staying with family members <br />until he can find a new place to <br />live. <br />