Book Description

Excerpt from The Arkansas River Flood of June 3-5, 1921 Between June 2 and June 5, 1921, heavy rains of an intensity to justify the term "cloud-bursts" in the foothill region of the Arkansas Valley in Colorado caused the severest flood in the valley since its settlement. Flood conditions prevailed during the entire period, but there were three distinct floods in the upper valley. The first flood was caused by heavy rain on Dry Creek just above Pueblo on the night of June 2; the second was the main flood, which occurred during the night of June 3; and the third was that due to the breaking of the Schaeffer reservoir, on Beaver Creek, on the morning of June 5. The area considered in this report is shown in Plate I. The flood was remarkable for the very small area covered by the rainfall that was its chief cause, and for the swift rise of the river to an unprecedented stage and its almost equally rapid fall. The swift rise and fall indicated very great flood discharges of the tributary streams, which drain a mountainous country of steep slopes. The total discharge of the main flood was less than 90,000 acre-feet. Immediately after the flood the United States Geological Survey undertook an investigation of its causes and results, and the field work was begun as soon as conditions permitted. An examination was made of all the streams within the area affected by the flood to procure data on maximum run-off in the foothill region and the effect of this tributary run-off upon the main flood. The maximum discharge of each stream was determined from the slope shown by well-defined high-water marks and from the average of several cross sections. As there are no regular Weather Bureau stations in the area, especial care was taken to obtain from local residents as reliable statements as possible regarding rainfall and time of flood flows of each stream. From the field data and from information obtained from various reliable sources it has been possible to show the cause of the flood and the cause of its rapid rise and fall at Pueblo. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.