1921, June 3, 6, 7

Although the main news at this time was a terrible flood in Pueblo that was thought to have killed hundreds (actual death toll 47), Boulder County had its share of flooding also. Erie, Lafayette, Marshall, Louisville, Longmont and Broomfield were also heavily damaged. There was a tornado in North Boulder and a flash flood on Six Mile canyon creek. Boulder was cut off from train service for several days.

"June 2 - 6, 1921. This storm produced general rains over the South Platte basin with the greatest amounts along the foothills. It covered an area of approximately 520 square miles and lasted 5 days. The maximum recorded rainfall was 5.29 inches and the greatest recorded rainfall intensity was 4.3 inches in 6 hours at Longmont. This flood was produced by a combination of rainfall and snowmelt. Although this storm caused overbank flooding neither discharges nor damages were recorded." Flood Plain Map for Left Hand Canyon Creek, Corps of Engineers, 1969

Peak discharge at Orodell (located 1 mile upstream from Fourmile Creek and 3 miles southwest of the courthouse in Boulder) : 2500cfs. From US Army Corps of Engineers, August 1969 Floodplain Mapping of Boulder Creek

From Daily Camera, June 4, 1921

"In the district immediately north of Boulder there were both a terrific cloudburst and a cyclone. The cyclone did the most damage to the ranches of Alfred C Wetterberg and C. W. Carpenter, where several buildings were wrecked and several of the fields swept clean. (This is in the area of the Six-Mile Drainage just to the west of Boulder Reservoir and Six-Mile Reservoir.) Mr. Wetterberg stated this morning that he and a friend were seated in the shelter of a shed watching the clouds form when they noticed a peculiar funnel-shaped cloud approaching. It did not occur to either of them that it would be dangerous until they noticed as it approached that it was picking up things, whereupon they started for the house.

The cyclone struck before they reached the house and they were forced to crawl the remaining distance on their hands and knees. The next instant they saw the garage lifted from off its foundations and moved bodily several yards, leaving a Ford car that was inside the garage standing unharmed on the ground underneath. The cow barn was the next to go and was raised thirty feet in the air and dashed to pieces, parts of it being scattered across the field for nearly a mile, while a flock of 200 chickens in the barnyard were whisked away like straws. The bodies of some were later found in the field. At the L. W. Carpenter place one of two large trees were snapped off and the roof of the granary lifted off and dashed to pieces. At the same time one mile west of the Wetterberg ranch there was a terrific cloudburst which caused water to flow down thru the arroyos on the Six Mile farm (this was probably somewhere around the Eagle Bike trail under the Foothills Highway) to a depth of 16 feet. Several head of cattle were caught in the flood and could be seen bobbing up and down like corks as they were swirled along in the water. Most of them, however, finally escaped alive and were rounded up later badly bruised, but otherwise unhurt.

BROOMFIELD CHURCH USED FOR
LODGING BOULDERITES IN STORM

W. A. Wright, of this city, was driving his auto homeward from Denver. As the car left the north and south road and started toward Broomfield and has gone west about a half mile, he struck water 3 feet deep and 200 feet wide - overflow of Coal Creek due, probably to spilling out of Marshall dam and the concurrent cloudburst. Hail stood 6 feet high, over some of the fenceposts. There were fifty cars stalled in that vicinity. 18 people were taken in by Clarence Graves, a farmer near Broomfield, and given shelter that night with meals and sleeping accommodations....The Broomfield church was opened up for the stalled parties who slept there all night. Mr. Wright said that the storm broke at 3:30 Friday afternoon.

"Crops were destroyed; Lafayette badly washed. Crops in the region of Broomfield were wiped out by the storm according to Commissioner Hill who made an automobile trip this morning to Marshall, Superior, Broomfield, Louisville and back to Boulder by the Arapahoe Road. Coal Creek was reported to be running high and Mr. Hill was told by George Miller of Lafayette that several houses had been washed away by this stream in Lafayette. South Boulder creek is reported to be behaving nicely. Mr. Hill stated that no damage had been done in the mountains by high water. Over near Hygiene and Longmont, many bridges across irrigating ditches were so badly weakened by the storm and the heavy flow of water in the streams that they will have to be rebuilt. A number of irrigation ditches broke their banks and flooded fields. This was true in the Broomfield district also. The ditches had been carrying unusually heavy flows of water which the storm naturally increased. Mr. Hill stated that it would be impossible to estimate the damage to Boulder county, on roads and bridges, for several days. Boulder creek is running high but no more than usual after a heavy storm.

"MARSHALL DAM HOLDS AND DANGER
IS PAST IS WORD GIVEN OUT.
Thomas Hilton, superintendent of the Gorham mine, said today that he did not think there was danger of the Marshall dam breaking. It is true, he said, that it has settled two to three feet, but this is due largely to the top having been raised creating a great overhead without increasing the size of the base. But there has been no crack or lateral movement, and there is no crevice from which water flows. All day long reports were on the streets that the Marshall dam had broken. It is to be hoped and is expected that it will hold. The big spill of water to relieve the dam was what added to the heavy rain, causing inundation of the coal towns and Broomfield and as far east as Erie. Some light and power lines were out of commission there due to a large part of the towns being underwater.

"TRAIN SERVICE IS DEAD, PROBABLY
TILL MONDAY OWING TO THE FLOOD...
The interurban line between Boulder and Denver is reported to be in worse condition that the C&S track....The track between Superior and Longmont is said to be in fair condition...The last train into Boulder from Denver was Friday morning. That train was late having been routed thru Louisville because of the threatened danger of a break in the Marshall reservoir.....The C&S train due in Boulder at 3;40 on Friday is at Louisville Junction. It has nearly 200 passengers. These passengers are being fed by farmers and out of Broomfield. Because of the shortage of supplies they have been placed on rations....Joe Markley, a reporter for the Denver News made a trip as far as Louisville Junction. He told the Camera this afternoon that 400 people who had been stranded were being fed out of Broomfield rations. He reports three bridges on the C&S line between Louisville Junction and Denver washed out. Forty feet of track is washed out at the Federal Boulevard crossing. Three feet of water ran over the section from Broomfield to Westminster for seven hours last night. This was caused by the storm, the breaking of the Churches' Lake, and of several irrigating ditches. A gulch near Burns Junction was said by Mr. Markley to be covered with hail for a depth of five feet and for 200 feet in width. Some 50 automobiles are reported to be deserted at points on the road.

" A survey of conditions in the district around Erie and Lafayette was made by Charles F. Snow this morning and he has brought back the most authentic reports so far. Mr. Snow left Boulder early this morning.... He stated that the flooded area in that district varied from a few hundred feet in width to a half a mile or more. In Lafayette three houses had been washed from their foundations near the Standard mine, bridge had been washed out and a coating of mud plastered over everything. In Erie, which was put almost completely under four feet of water, the flood poured thru the street like a mill race, carrying away houses, buildings, livestock and every moveable article. One man reported the loss of 26 head of cattle and several hogs and chickens. Another man had just purchased a brand new piano and moved it into his home. After the flood not a trace of the house or the piano could be found anywhere, and many miners who were living in the low-lands along the creek have nothing but their land left. In the town of Erie itself several houses have been moved out in the street and about 300 feet of railroad was picked up bodily and moved several feet until it was stopped by a row of trees.

"In Longmont from 3 o'clock yesterday afternoon until this morning a steady stream of water two feet deep poured down 5th and 6th Avenues and Pratt, Kimbark, Emery and Collier streets. The flood in this case was caused by overflow from several big irrigation ditches north and west of the city and especially from the Right and Ready ditch and the Oligarthy Supply ditch. The race track was turned into a lake and the new city auditorium was flooded to a depth of several feet, and the opera chairs are floating around loose on the surface of the water. The water came so swiftly that damage resulted to many buildings, especially to the Empson Packing company factories. The foundation of the Christian church is said to have sunk 15 feet in places. The St. Vrain was converted from a small stream into a torrent a mile wide and several bridges have been reported as washed out.

"In the district east of Longmont the flood was even worse in places and at Fredrick the Evans mine was flooded and ground above the mine is sinking and cracking. All roads in that district are impassable. At Greeley the flood did not do so much damage but the city has been without power of any kind for several hours because of a breakdown in the Northern Colorado Power line in which some 15 poles washed away.

"In the district immediately north of Boulder there were both a terrific cloudburst and a cyclone. The cyclone did the most damage to the ranches of Alfred C. Wetterberg and C. W. Carpenter, where several buildings were wrecked and several of the fields swept clean. (This is in the area of the Six-Mile Drainage just to the west of Boulder Reservoir and Six-Mile Reservoir.) Mr. Wetterberg stated this morning that he and a friend were seated in the shelter of a shed watching the clouds form when they noticed a peculiar funnel-shaped cloud approaching. It did not occur to either of them that it would be dangerous until they noticed as it approached that it was picking up things, whereupon they started for the house. The cyclone struck before they reached the house and they were forced to crawl the remaining distance on their hands and knees. The next instant they saw the garage lifted from off its foundations and moved bodily several yards, leaving a Ford car that was inside the garage standing unharmed on the ground underneath. The cow barn was the next to go and was raised thirty feet in the air and dashed to pieces, parts of it being scattered across the field for nearly a mile, while a flock of 200 chickens in the barnyard were whisked away like straws. The bodies of some were later found in the field. At the L. W. Carpenter place one of two large trees were snapped off and the roof of the granary lifted off and dashed to pieces. At the same time one mile west of the Wetterberg ranch there was a terrific cloudburst which caused water to flow down thru the arroyos on the Six Mile farm (this was probably somewhere around the Eagle Bike trail under the Foothills Highway) to a depth of 16 feet. Several head of cattle were caught in the flood and could be seen bobbing up and down like corks as they were swirled along in the water. Most of them, however, finally escaped alive and were rounded up later badly bruised, but otherwise unhurt.

"The mountain towns reported that the storm did not do much damage. At Nederland there was a bad hail storm with hail as big as hen's eggs according to some reports but the roads were not hurt." Daily Camera, June 4, 1921

"Boulder creek is flowing over the closed headgate of the Silver Lake ditch in Boulder canon, according to Dudley Degge, the superintendent. The ditch has been opened in several places to allow water to escape. Two Mile and Four Mile canons north of Boulder are doing no damage though carrying heavy loads of water." Daily Camera, June 6, 1921

"Little is known of this flood except that it produced the highest peak discharge ever recorded at the Orodell gage. A discharge of 2500 cfs was recorded on 6 June. Rainfall totaled 3.36 inches at Boulder through a period 2-7 June" From US Army Corps of Engineers, August 1969 Floodplain Mapping of Boulder Creek.

Information compiled by Elizabeth Black.