Gilpin observer., 1902-08-07
COLORADO RAINFALL
HEAVY RAINS SOUTH OF DENVER.

Big Floods at Pueblo and Manltou-
Considerable Damage Done In Ute
Pass-Water Famine Greatly Re-.
lieved Over Large Territory
Denver Water Company Buys More
Water.
Denver, Aug. 6.-The long
drouth was broken yesterday by sud-
den downpour of rain along the east
ern slope of the Rocky mountains. Dry
creeks, south of Colorado Springs as
far as northern New Mexico, became
raging floods. At Pueblo and Manitou
people had to move hurriedly from
homes and in some cases flee for their
lives. The dam of a large reservoir on
the Purgatoire river burst and the sta
ton agent at Tercio remained at his
instrument, telegraphing the warning,
until the water was up to his knees.
Warning of an eleven-foot rise was
sent from Pueblo to residents along
the Arkansas river. Exactly one year
before, even to the hour, similar
storm swept over the state.-
Train schedules from the south were
all deranged. Fountain creek, where
the floods of two months ago washed
out the tracks of the Rio Grande, San
tn Fe and Colorado & Southern, is
again on the rampage and stretches of
railroad track from Colorado Springs
to Trinidad are under water.
Yesterday afternoon the Denver Un-
ion Water Company purchasd from the
Nava6u nttph Gprnnonv IN rfOhf nf
the latter to water in the South Platte
river. The rains. 1t is thought, have
relieved, to some extent, the water
shortage, both in Denver and in the
farming sections.
The worst flood in the history of Ute
Pass swept through Manitou yesterday
afternoon and that famous resort was
under water and its inhabitants ter
rOrized for several hours. The canon
was stripped of hundreds of feet of
railroad track and every wagon bridge
for several miles.
Between Colorado Springs and Pu-
eblo the disaster of the early summer
was repeated and heavy rains on the
Arkansas swelled the river to a volume
never seen before in Pueblo. Floods
did considerable damage also at the
Trinidad coal camps.
A Republican special from Manitou
last night says:
Manitou presented a sorrowful spec
tacle this evening. The Fontaine Qui
BOuille has again demonstrated its
right to the name it bears. There was
a clOudburst in the vicinity of Wood
land park. The flood that descended
Ute pass this afternoon did more dam
age in ManitOu and the pass than has
been done before by single storm in
years.
There is not a wagon bridge left in
Ute pass below Cascade, the Rainbow
fall. one of the beauty spots of the
vicinity of Manitou, has been put out
of existence. the carriage road is wash
ed out completely at several places,
being entirely gone, and the wall flush
from the creek bottom to the top of the
wall in the canon where the Rainbow
fall was but yesterday. In the Soda
Springs park in Manitou the wreckage.
consisting of household goods. lumber,
railroad ties, bridge timber, tree
trunks. etc, is from twenty to thirty
feet high. The bridge leading from
the street railway line TO the band
stand in the Soda Springs park is
washed away. as is also the main
bridge connecting the Soda Springs
pavilion with the street.
During the height of the flood the
Manitou Mineral Water Company's
building was foot under water above
the main floor. and most of the stores
along the north side of Canon avenue
were a foot under water for an hour.
Fully 100 light dwellings have been
moved from their former foundations
and left standing in new locations.
A Pueblo special says: The largest
volume of water that has ever come
down the Arkansas fiver within the
memory of Puebloans rushed through
the city this afternoon, beginning at 3
o'clock and not subsiding until after ..
Had 1t not been for the new levees. re-
Gently constructed above the West
Fourth street bridge, it is probable
that the damage to the city would have
run into the hundreds of thousands of
dollars. As 1t Is, the damage Is COM
paratively light. and no loss OF life ac-
companied the rush OF water. The
railroads are the worst sufferers by
the food although their damage is not
equal to that occasioned by the flood
which came down from the Fountain
river some weeks ago.