COLORADO FLOODS OF 1885

Post by Doris McCraw
writing as Angela Raines

Fountain Creek after flood stage 2015
photo property of the author

Colorado has had its share of disasters during its history from fires, avalanches, and floods. In 1885 floods struck across the state. Below is a brief overview of some of the areas affected. I've chosen to just offer snippets from the various articles. If anyone wants research more, most of the complete articles can be found on the Colorado Historic Newspaper site: Colorado Historic Newspapers.

Denver

From the Carbonite Chronicle, the following was reported on August 1, 1885:

The magnificent splurge made by Cherry Creek on Sunday — bridges washed away and property destroyed.

Denver had a flood. Not a flood of knowledge or a flood of light, but a genuine wet watery flood. It came down Cherry Creek on Sunday night about dusk and made things home, in that staid and quiet old watercourse, for a time. During the afternoon there had been premonitions of the storm and according to arrivals on the Denver and Rio Grande train, which got in yesterday afternoon, and the Denver papers of yesterday, the oldest inhabitants had predicted "a flood." For once "the oldest," etc., was not mistaken.

The flood came, and it came numerously. It brought a great many things besides water with it. There were trees and timber, and sand and chicken coupes, a dead cow, and many other articles of virtu and bric-a-brac. The flood came suddenly. At half past 5 o'clock in the evening there was a little turgid stream, tortuously forcing its way through sand in the bottom of the creek. A minute later two feet of water was rolling over the sand, and 10 minutes later, a majestic touring, that seized and hissed and roared, and mock the efforts of humanity, put forth to stop its destructive force. Onward it came, growing fiercer, and louder, and more resistlist. Thousands of people hurried to the scene and gazed with all and terror at the raging element. On its seething breast, it bore debris of all kinds, which in its mad fury it had torn from its resting places. The wooden bridges, which spanned the creek, were torn away like cobwebs, and the heavy timbers were tossed about like eggshells on the ocean. Huge masses of earth and immense sections of piling were carried out onto the seething vortex, the earth coloring the water, and the timbers adding to its fury.

Denver 1881 USGenWeb Archives  

Pueblo

The Pueblo daily chieftain of June 26, 1885, had the following article;

After the Flood.

With bright weather yesterday, trains running regularly in all directions, and the Arkansas River meandering peaceably within its banks, there was but little to remind the public of the great flood which took place the day before. There are still, however, several sizable and unsightly ponds in the lower parts of the city, and bayous of still water stand in central Pueblo. From all these ponds come the loud voices of innumerable frogs. The city authorities have had the broken streets partially repaired, where most in need of it. The "flood sufferers" were engaged yesterday in exposing their soaked clothing and carpets to the sun, washing out their crusts of mud which had settle upon the floors, and preparing to spend the night in a more comfortable manner than was possible the previous night.

Colorado Springs

From the Colorado Springs Gazette of July 26, 1885, we have the following:

While witnessing the performance at the opera house last night a reporter who was much interested in the antics of Muldoon and Mulcahey was notified that a water spout had broken in the northern part of the city and Shook's run flood was on a tear. Floods of this nature being frequent in Colorado reporter paid but little attention to what was said. Later, however, and man road up to the office and intimated that the flood was exceptional and that the lives had been lost. Immediately representatives were dispatched in every direction. It was reported that the house of Mr. B. A. P. Eaten in the northern part of the city had been washed away and his wife drown. Upon investigation, the report was found only to true.

In every respect, it was one of the most disastrous storms that has ever visited this section of Colorado. On either side of Shook's run hailstones as large as hens eggs and 18 inches deep were still laying at 4 o'clock. Not until today will we be enabled to make anyway near an estimate of the destruction. That it will amount to thousands of dollars there is no doubt.

Mr. Eaton's house was located on high ground on Wasatch Street between San Rafael and Yampa. It was substantially built on a stone foundation. When the Gazette reporter visited the grounds at 3 o'clock the property look as if it had been traversed by a cyclone. There was nothing left but the stone foundation. At the time water was flowing through the street to the depth of the foot or more.

Almost simultaneously with the flood in Shook's run, and before the rise of the Fountain, the water and Cheyenne began to rise rapidly and soon overflowed its banks. No estimate can be made of the amount of damage done on Cheyenne, and it is feared that much livestock has perished, and a large amount of hay, lately cut, is, without doubt, carried away.

Every wagon bridge on Shook's run was carried away, foundations and all. The Rio Grande railway bridge over that stream was lifted bodily and born on the flood down to destruction. 

Overview of Denver/Colorado Springs Flood

Although we find floods and disasters sad and sometimes overwhelming, they can and are used when telling the history and the fiction that comes from history. I myself have experienced flooding both where I live in Colorado and growing up in the mid-west and the Mighty Mississippi's floods. They are terrifying and awe-inspiring at the same time. I hope most never have to experience their power, but they were and are part of the lives of people. I still remember Louis L'Amour's story "Matagorda" and his use of the hurricane that hit that area as the 'character' that overarched the whole story.

The USGS had a publication from 1948 that talks about early floods that had been reported in this state. USGS publication

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Doris Gardner-McCraw -

Author, Speaker, Historian-specializing in
Colorado and Women's History

Angela Raines - author: Where Love & History Meet

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Angela's Mountain Angels

TRUTH IN FICTION -Using real history to create fiction

Post copyright 2015 by Doris McCraw

Writing historical fiction is great fun, but it's even more fun when you can add details that create a richer reality. In many cases writers use actual people, places and events to weave their stories around. Such was the case in my current work "Never Had A Chance" in the "Cowboy Celebration" anthology. I used the town of Pueblo, Colorado, an actual lawman by the name of Patrick Desmond and Teresita Sandoval.

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Patrick Desmond was born in County Cork, Ireland in 1841 and died in Ogden, Utah in 1890. The years in between are the stuff of legends. At least according to some of what I found. According to the information from Pueblo, Patrick was quite the lawman. He was responsible for bringing in numerous outlaws, and was a member if the Rocky Mountain Detective Association. He arrested an Alamosa stage coach robber in Pueblo, and was involved in a stopping a counterfeit ring Pueblo. His luck was not always the best in his financial life. On Feb 1, 1884 the livery owned by Desmond was destroyed by fire for a loss of $14,000. Insurance only covered $4,500. Desmond met his demise in Ogden, Utah at the hands of Thomas Todd, a former bartender at the "Bucket of Blood" saloon in Pueblo. In an altercation Todd shot and killed Desmond, but was only given a four year sentence, which he served in the state of Utah. (Todd returned to Colorado after his sentence and continued his violent streak.)

Maria Teresa 'Teresita' Sandoval,http://bit.ly/1GXxlP9,  is an early pioneer woman everyone should know. Born in New Mexico in 1811, she married at a young age and moved to Colorado. She met Matthew Kinkead  and moved with him to Ft. Pueblo, where she helped run fort and trading business. When Kinkead left for California with their son, Teresita moved in with her daughter, Cruzita and her husband in the Arkansas River Valley. There she took control of her daughters property after the death of Cruzita's husband. Teresita died in 1894. http://bit.ly/1fby74ihttp://bit.ly/1fby74i

Pueblo, Colorado itself is a great story. Early on the area at the confluence of the Arkansas River and Fountain Creek, was drawing settlers. In 1806, Zebulon Pike built a stockade there when he famously tried to climb the peak that now bears his name. Ft. Pueblo was a business fort similar to Bent's fort. In 1854 they suffered the Christmas Eve Massacre, and to this day no one has learned what really happened. Wm. Jackson Palmer, founder of Colorado Springs, located his Colorado Coal and Iron company, latter known as Colorado Fuel and Iron there. Prior or WWII it was the first and only steel mill west of St. Louis, Missouri. Even in modern times, Pueblo is known as the "Home of Heroes". President Eisenhower was quoted as saying, while presenting Raymond G. 'Jerry' Murphy his medal of honor, "What is it...something in the water out here in Pueblo? All you guys turn out to be heroes!" In 1993 Scott McInnis read into the congressional record that Pueblo was the only city to have four living Medal of Honor recipients from the same hometown.

commons.wikimedia.org

Below is a excerpt from "Never Had A Chance" second in the Agate Gulch stories, found in the "Cowboy Celebration" anthology. Leave a comment for a chance to win a copy of the anthology in a drawing on Wednesday July 8, 2015.


                                                                **********

The smell of unfamiliar food cooking pulled Tom back from oblivion. His mind tried to process what he was smelling; a pungent, smoky smell. Immediately, his stomach started growling as though it had been empty for some time. Moving to rise and follow the smells, Tom found his left arm tied to his chest. A pain shot through his upper left chest and shoulder, followed by a stinging in his right leg; but none of those irritants compared to the throbbing behind his eyes, up through the top of his head and down the back of his neck. He took a deep breath to calm the panic he was beginning to feel.

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Where was he, why was he restrained? That thought was swiftly followed with the question that pushed Tom into full panic.  Who was he?

Fighting the pain, Tom rolled to the right, moving to the edge of the bed. He was in a bed. The knowledge calmed him somewhat, but he still needed to find the answers to his questions. He'd almost made it to a sitting position when the door opened.

So, you are awake," the male voice stated. A voice with a Spanish accent. "I will send for the doctor; in the meantime, you lie back down," he continued, as he pushed Tom back toward the pillow. "Please, stay here until the doctor says otherwise. I do not want you doing anything that will require you to stay longer." So saying, the man quickly went out the door, closing it firmly.


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Until next month, happy reading and enjoy your summer, and be sure to check out "Home For His Heart" the first in the Agate Gulch series of stories.

Angela Raines is the pen name for Doris McCraw. Doris lives in Colorado and focuses on Colorado and Women's History. Currently, when not writing fiction, she is researching the women doctors who practiced medicine in Colorado prior to 1900. She also publishes a haiku and photo five days a week. You can view them at: http://bit.ly/1dVnNwO