The Lamar register., 1921-06-08
BIGGEST FLOOD IN
HISTORY OF THE.
RKANSAS VALLEY
Loss of Life Will Probably Reach Over One
Thousand and Property Loss Far
in the Millions.

The story of Pueblo is the story on
a reduced scale of the other towns
along the valley. The flood waters
spread out as they came down and
therefore lost considerable of their
tremendous force. This was shown by
the fact that the waters, which were
travelling at the rate of twelve miles
an hour just after passing Pueblo and
eight miles an hour between La Junta
and Las Animas, only made rate Of
four miles an hour between Caddoa
/ and Lamar.
The smaller towns between Pueblo
and La Junta all Jared badly, but
Rocky Ford being farther from the
river was not injured much. La Junta,
however, was overwhelmed by the
flood and the north part of the city
almost wiped out. The light plant and
water works were put out of business
and the situation there was worse than
anywhere else in the lower valley. Las
Animas had the north section Of the
city badly flooded also and the water
up in the business section some. East
of Lamar the towns were not serious
ly hurt Granada was too high and
the water seemed to disappear some
place before II reached Holly as it
only came up into the yard Of Mr..
Partridge's home right in the south
part of town and did no damage in
the town at all.
The great damage was not in the
towns, however, but along the valley
where il will be days before any real
estimate can be formed of what has
happened. Whole farms have been
literally washed away at places, crops
washed out on thousands of acres.
homes swept into the floods and car
ried down the river. and the bodies of
many farmers and their families are
being found as the waters subside
lodged among the rubbish along the
river. The damage to bridges, roads,
dams and headgates cannot be even
guessed at, but enough is known to
make il sure that it will run into the
hundreds of thousands of dollars. The
dams and headgates of the Fort Lyon
canal system are reported to be still
there but the bulkheads washed out
and it is estimated that the damage
will only amount TO $4,000 and that il
can be repaired in about ten days.
There is enough stored in the res
ervoirs TO save any danger of a short
age, but If the water is turned into
the canal in ten days the reservoir
water will not be needed. The Amity
canal escaped with even less damage
than the Fort Lyon and the Lamar
Canal and Fort Bent dams stood the
test. so the irrigation question here
is in much better condition than could
possibly be hoped for Sunday. The
sand dam of the Hyde canal went out
of course but the headgate stood and
the dam will be easily replaced at low
water time.
Farmers lost many head of stock,
horses, cattle, sheep and hogs being
swept away by the flood, but when
their crops were not entirely washed
away the reports coming in since the
waters subsidized indicate that the loss
will not be SO great as feared. Many
report their crops washed off by the
rains of Monday to look even better
/ than before the flood. The small
farmers and poultry raisers along the
bottom lands were the greatest suf-
ferers in this line as they were almost
entirely wiped off the map.
At Lamar after the first reports
of the flood above had been received
people became alarmed and almost q
panic resulted among many of them
The remarkable feature Of this was