Berthoud Weekly Surveyor September 19, 2013 Page 5 The historical society and Mark French are interested in obtaining and copying old photos from Berthoud’s past. Please contact Mark at 532-2147 if you have any photos you would like to share.
A LOOK AT BERTHOUD
The Little Thompson flood of 2013 is one for the ages I
t is not unexpected for the Little Thompson River to flood in late May or early June when the spring runoff begins to fill the creek with torrents of water. A September flood like the one that occurred last weekend is completely unprecedented in terms of its unusual timing and the devastation it left behind. The last time there was a flood that swept Surveyor away most of the Columnist bridges over the Little Thompson was June 1921, but that highwater event caused far less damage than last weekend’s unimaginable inundation. June 4-8 of Mark 1921, a total French of a little more than four inches of rain fell in the Little Thompson Valley. On June 10, a few days following the storm, The Berthoud Bulletin reported, “Locally the property loss is confined to fences, sheepfeeding yards and equipment, and seven bridges. Fields on low lands were badly washed, but in most places the crops, especially beets, will recover. “A granary, the sheep feeding pens — with all fences and troughs on the J.Y. Munson place — were carried away. A part of the granary can be salvaged, but the roof was carried downstream for several miles. The water was over the top of the fly-wheel of the engine that runs Mr. Bertleson’s pumping plant. The dike of a small lake was also washed out.” “Practically all the fencing, pens, etc.,
of the J.H. Stumpf feeding yards, and 100 chickens were carried away. “Heavy damage was suffered by W.A. Osborn. Practically all his fences are gone, and some twelve acres of sugar beets are washed badly. His field was under four feet of water. Mr. Osborn has known the Little Thompson since 1878, the year Uncle Steven Osborn and family came to this valley. In their first year a big flood came — with waters so high that the house was surrounded, and the well in the yard was filled with flood water. But at that time, Mr. Osborn says, there was no channel like the creek now has. It would have required another foot of raise this time to run the water over the yard at the old place. C.C. Clark, who was here in 1876, says that year had the highest water in the Little Thompson. In 1894 the creek was on the rampage, but was not up to the proportions of this flood. “Many yards and cellars were flooded in Berthoud Friday afternoon. A perfect torrent was coming down Fourth street — the rain waters augmented by the flood from a broken ditch in L.H. Fagan’s field. The water was turned into the old ball park, which carried it over to Third Street which soon was a raging torrent. The O.F. Drew house was flooded, the water being three or four inches deep on the floors. The basement of the Berthoud Farm Products Company’s elevator was soon filled, and water stood axle-deep under the cars alongside the elevator. To relieve this condition, a way was cut through the railroad, and water poured through and formed a big lake northeast of the Farmers Flour mills. It looks like old times to see that pond there. “The sweep of the flood down the Little Thompson carried away the Krueger bridge, the Lincoln Highway bridge, the two bridges just south of town, the Ownby, the Everhard and the Irvin
Edmondson bridges — seven out of nine bridges on the Little Thompson going out. The Lincoln Highway bridge is badly wrecked, abutments and all. “The Osborn bridge is in good shape, and is taking care of all the north and south traffic. “The abutments of the bridge west of the railroad were not damaged, but the upper works and driveway were carried down and lodged against the C.&S. bridge. The east bridge was carried about 200 feet down stream. The Osborn bridge and bridge near Joe Stumpf’s stood. “The waters almost got into the section house; it was but a few inches shy. On the other side it washed the steps of the Old Berthoud School house. Fred Eitel and family, who live just south of the Lund place, moved out when the river moved into their house. “From Friday afternoon till Tuesday evening Berthoud was without train or mail service, except a little dab of mail brought up from Boulder. Daily papers have been at a premium, and many would have paid a fancy price for most any kind of sheet with red ink scare heads. “Berthoud is the northern terminus of the C.&S. trains coming this far north, staying over a few hours, then making the return to Denver. Through service north will probably be in effect before this reaches Bulletin readers. There were numerous washouts between here and Denver, but repairs have been made. Temporary bridging has been put in at the washouts at each end of the railroad bridge over the Little Thompson. “Later reports from Pueblo show that the loss of life was much less than was at first feared. It is now thought that the dead will not exceed a hundred. The property loss is tremendous, and will run into the millions of dollars.” One week later on June 17, 1921, The
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Brothers stated Weld County Road (WCR) 44 (Highway 56 extended eastward from Interstate 25) was badly damaged. The bridge east of I-25 appeared to have been damaged and the road grade was washed away. WCR 1, at the bridge just north of the entrance to the wastewater treatment plant, is completely washed out. She stated the bridge did not appear to be damaged, so that portion of road could possibly be filled in and repaired relatively quickly. WCR 7 was re-opened during the day Tuesday. Chief of Police Glenn Johnson reported, except for the continual rains and the flooding in the area, his department experienced a quiet weekend. He stated department personnel supported Weld County and Larimer County Sheriff’s Departments in patrolling the road areas that are barricaded and making certain unauthorized persons stay away from those locations.
dramatic (life threatening) happened in town,” said Hart. He dispelled rumors concerning the town’s potable water and sewage treatment facility. Hart assured the trustees the town’s water is safe to drink, and, while the sewage treatment facility itself experienced some minor flooding, no raw sewage was emitted into the river. “Many area communities wished they could say that,” Hart said. Town Engineer Stephanie Brothers gave a report of the road situation for area roads maintained by the town. She presented pictures of the devastation along with her narrative.
Photo by Mark French
The approaches to the bridge on Larimer County Road 15 south of Berthoud were swept away by flooding on the night of Sept. 11. A bridge in that location was also destroyed in June 1921 when four inches of precipitation caused the water level to rise to dangerous levels. Berthoud Bulletin added, “L.E. McKanna, the efficient road overseer for the Berthoud district, is hard at work repairing the damage from recent floods. He has saved the steel bridge at Old Berthoud by taking it all apart and pulling it out of the sand and expects to have it in shape again by tomorrow. The next bridge below is unsafe but with some new piling under the ends it will soon be all right. “The Little Thompson bridges on the Lincoln Highway and at the Everhard place are both gone. The former will probably be replaced by a concrete bridge as soon as the State Highway commission can get to it and the pile driver is now on the ground for putting in the latter.” On July 8, 1921, one month after the flood, the local tabloid noted, “At the regular meeting of the Berthoud Lions
club Wednesday evening it was unanimously voted to employ John A. Bell to build a temporary bridge across the Little Thompson on the Lincoln Highway. Mr. Bell and a force of men began the work Thursday morning and put in a substantial bridge.” This year the local Lions Club probably will not make an effort to replace bridges. That expensive effort will be the responsibility of county and state agencies. It will be many weeks before the flood damage is completely assessed, but it can be said — with surety — that the Flood of 2013 wreaked more havoc than any flood in the recorded history of the Little Thompson Valley. It was an event that will be talked about for generations.
Town Clerk Mary Cowdin reported the town’s website was used to great effect to alert the public to changing conditions during the storm. Regarding the only agenda item requiring a vote, the trustees were asked to consider approving Coulson Excavating as the contractor for the 2013 street paving project. Coulson was the lowest qualified bidder for the project at $189,625. However, in light of the events of the past week Hart stated there were now “some unknowns.” “We don’t know if Coulson will want to mess with a little project like this with all of the major projects that are out there. We may need the money ourselves to fix (flood damaged) roads and bridges while we wait for reimbursement from FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency),” said Hart. He requested the suggested motion be changed to read, “Staff recommends the 2013 pavement project be earmarked to Coulson Excavating for an amount not to exceed $189,625, and awarded at staff’s discretion.” He said the changed motion would allow staff the flexibility to spend the funds as appropriate at the time. He also said the board would be kept in-
formed of how the funds are spent. The above motion was made, seconded and passed unanimously. The trustees also heard reports concerning a pair of studies to be conducted at the behest of the town. The first report, given by Michael Delich of the consulting firm Delich and Associates, was regarding a transportation master plan. He explained the study would look at, and work with, assumed population densities for Berthoud in the year 2035. The study would also calculate the projected capital expansion fees (impact fees) which the study indicates will be required for road infrastructure by 2035. The second study deals with an analysis of impact fees in general. The firm BBC Research and Consulting will conduct a study to determine if the impact fees being charged of developers are adequate. Ford Frick of BBC explained the finer points of impact fees and their uses to the trustees. The next town board meeting will be held Tuesday evening Sept. 24. The start time for board meetings has been temporarily changed to 6:30 p.m. due to heavy agendas.
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