COBWEB CORNERS: Manitou's flood of 1921
By Mel McFarlandThe floods last August and September were hardly the first that Manitou's been hit by. One of the most memorable was overshadowed by a bigger disaster. In June 1921, rains on the south side of Pike's Peak were as bad, or worse, than those northeast of it this year. And this happened only about two months after a major spring snowstorm that had shut down the region. (See Cobweb Corners, “The storm of 1921.")
The waters rushed down Ruxton Creek, making it bigger than Fountain Creek!
The creek now is farther below street level than it was then, partly because of that
flood.
The waters almost destroyed the little streetcar that ran from the loop up to the cog station. At that time, just below the spot Pilot's Knob branches off, the streetcar tracks were in Ruxton Avenue. Going uphill from there, the tracks followed the creek, except where it passed the Iron Springs Chateu. After the flood, in this part of the canyon, most of the track was hanging in mid air, above the creek.
Several houses on Ruxton were washed downhill, almost all the way to the loop. Just above the loop, the creek was running in the street! The streets in Manitou, as well as Colorado Springs, were not yet paved. That did not happen until later in the 1920s.
Downstream, near the spa building, past Ruxton Creek's junction with Fountain Creek, the flooding got worse! Imagine the water that came down Canon Avenue last fall coming down Ruxton too. A temporary lake formed about where the swimming pool is located today. In the area that is now under US 24, where the creek turns sharply, the hillside slid down, making a dam. Water backed up to Briarhurst. There was no road yet from El Paso Boulevard through the Garden of the Gods and past Balanced Rock.
The street car and railroad lines from Colorado Springs - yes, Denver & Rio Grande trains came to Manitou until 1931 - were blocked by the muck and water. El Paso Boulevard was the only road automobiles could use to get through.
Crews with picks and shovels worked to clear the area's problem, with cog railway workers filling in the washouts along Ruxton.
A flood on the Arkansas and Fountain Creek was happening in Pueblo at the same time. It was so bad that the National Guard was not allowing people to get off the train in Pueblo without a permit. In Manitou this was also a consideration. But within a few days the town was returning to normal. Even then, the primary word on the street was to tell the travelers from the east that Manitou had not washed away.
Other floods have gone through the town, each one resulting in some form of prevention work. The walls along Ruxton Creek and Fountain Creek mainly go back to the 1921 flood.
(Posted 2/9/14)
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