Pueblo chieftain., 1921-06-20

During the night of the flood pan
demonium prevailed in town and black
terror in the country The universe
seemed falling down.
During the first week We could only
stare with fascinated awe at the thous-
and kinds ~ evidence of the power Of
flood which amounted to the fall of
a body OF water a mile wide and eight
feet deep descending several hundred
feet in trarersing hundred miles.
WreckaCe N tho city, deep gashcs in
the country. channels changed. ridges
cut down, hollows filled up.
During this third week we begin to
peep out Of our cyclone cellars and
venture some timid analysis OF the
situation,
Not only that but We begin to i'm
sgire things. First We try to guess
how many hundred years since there
was SO great a rush OF water as this
one was. SECONDLY. how many cen
turies hence will there be another like
IT. Also what caused such heaping
m of wat2rs. and wncrc they fell.
The Things Tint Held Fast
II is not trre-that panicky exclama-
tion we uttered the day after the flood.
that everything went down before 1t. J"
In town and out OF town some things
stood unmovcd-a few which had been
built for sccps.
Prominent among these were the
levees aloni; tho Arkansas and Foun-
tain rivers, partly OF large blocks of
stone sot N upright wall but much
greater length of lcvecs built of Stag
laid at a slant of Is degrees.
OF the two streams, even after the
more extensive destruction along the
river. 1t must be conceded that the
Fountain is the more unruly. Indeed
It is the most ungovernabIe creek In
all this region. not only because of its
furious current hut because of its
hottomless dulcksands, affording little
anchorage for anything. There Is no
solid hottom-nothing to tic to.
Yet the Matticc lcvec. pioneer struc-
turc OF that kind. lines the only creek
banks that did not give way. Up and
down on Goth sides, everywhere else,
the banks FOR miles were cut IN and
cut out in frirhtful way and to far
greater extent than ever before. Not a
yard of that rlistcning black bulwark
shows n wocnd.
SO striking is this contrast II stands
out SO clear. that II presents one OF
the first and most valuable lessons Out
OF the melee.
Along aud over the north shore oi
the Arkansas river ran a much deeper
tide. and IL carried tho batterinG power
~ whole .,sts of logs. large timhers
railroad tics and even houses The
piles. and reeds none. having firm
solid substratum Of hard-pacaed gravel
Tho Setting 4. What Did II
In dcr,n places In both streams
there are reefs and ob,tructing bars
composed largely OF many tons of that
same heavy smeltcr Stag. which wal
tossed and scattered during frcshets by
the swift currents. not so EASILY as
granite bo1llers. hut almost. These are
places wncTc ths Stag was thrown IN
without being racked In a smooth sur
face. II - fruc that at some spots. cs-
pecially on railroad cmhaukments
where tho Eisr was dumped in great
quantities 4 became well packed ant
In course OF time has proved imprcg-
rshic.
But this wholesale dumping II nr
longer possible because the quantity OF
Stag 10 b~ obtained has dwirdlod. The
smclt-rs are not doing much.
In old dimes the water works main
taincd long diagonal dam in the
river Just below tho Garlic bridge
composed OF loose Stag. Every frcsho'
knocked out sornc Of Il. more would
he hauled and dumped. and now the
whole river bed at that point Is lined
with II.
Quantities Of loose Stag placed at th'