The Great Pueblo Flood and Its Aftermath
How a tragedy shaped a city down to today.
The Great Pueblo Flood:
In early-June 1921, a terrible flood changed Pueblo, Colorado forever, destroying numerous homes and possessions. In response, authorities rerouted the Arkansas River a few miles south to a newly constructed levee next to the Union Depot. Since that time, the levee has managed to subvert any flooding so that that the center of town has never seen that level of destruction again. While the flood killed many people, it also impacted Pueblo's economy for decades afterward.
Before the levee construction, Central Pueblo was prone to flooding. The worst of many floods came in early June 1921 when rain along the Front Range caused flooding in excess of 24 feet in some areas. The flood affected around 300 square miles of mostly homes and businesses. Around 700 buildings were completely washed away along a considerable amount of railroad property - the Union Depot was located just a few blocks from the Arkansas' bank. On June 24th, there were still over 400 people living in refugee camps outside the city.
The actual death toll of the flood is often difficult to track down. Some estimates put the number as high as 250 while others have estimated as low as 78; equally concerning was the missing persons list which was over 500 people long. Perhaps more important was the effect that the flood had on the future of Pueblo . Following the flood, the town government was inundated with debts which weren't paid back until decades later. Some of the money borrowed after the flood went towards building a system to protect Pueblo from possible future flooding.
Flood Clean-Up
Much of the information regarding the immediate aftermath of the flood is chronicled in the Pueblo Chieftain, which wrote an article on June 8, 1921 that described the conditions it printed under in the immediate days after the flood. They used tallow candles and old simple equipment to maintain production. The printing area of the paper was unharmed by the flood however, and they continued to print despite the lack of electricity and natural gas. Other businesses and crucial bits of infrastructure were not spared from damage, but were quickly adapted to meet the needs of the city post flood and in the case of the former, make profits. Several temporary bridges were erected in the town and those that were able to be repaired were fixed quickly. Initial cleanup was often left to the US army, which declared martial law on June 8th. Some temporary constructions were built by the army and others were built by private contractors.
Businesses that were able to reopen did so quickly. Some sold reduced priced damaged goods, some sought to use their skills to refurbish flood damaged cars and other mechanical items and others just sought to capitalize on the competition being washed away. Food supply in the city was carefully moderated to avoid shortages. The government handed out some supplies and set restrictions on what people could buy from markets to avoid people buying out whole stocks (which seemed to be the average citizens compulsion). Puebloans were urged to conserve water and boil what they could; the flood contaminated the cities water supply and, despite warnings from the military, an outbreak of Typhoid Fever occurred following the flood. By June 15th , the disease spread to enough sectors of the city that health officials offered a free typhoid vaccine to citizens to prevent further deaths from the effects of the flood. The government even went so far as to allow liquor sales and consumption in the State of Colorado for 30 days so citizens could avoid contaminated water sources.
Some businesses were open on their second floor only and operated without power. Factories throughout the city were unable to manufacture many of their goods without power however, which persisted for several days . The upbeat and progressive advertisements were in direct contrast with the reports of death and destruction that filled the newspapers. It's interesting to see the duality in the mood presented by the Chieftain and how it shifts from somber to upbeat advertisements; the Medill and Codding Brothers advertisements appear next to the military's posted missing persons list.
Rebuilding
Pueblo incurred those debts because of the cost of rebuilding infrastructure and literally moving the Arkansas River to prevent future flooding. How does one move a river? By building new levees to reroute the water. This task was carried out by the Morgan Engineering Company of Dayton, Ohio, which helped to build new infrastructure in Dayton after their 1913 flood and pioneered engineered flood control methods.
The new path for the water went through Pueblo's rail yards. Pueblo's railyards were already in a state of decline as was the rest of the states'. This period is called the Years of Retrenchment and is dated from 1913-1967 , as such the flood did not bode well for the already struggling industry. The Union Pacific Railroad and its Depot are still located to the north of the new River channel. Another rail depot and transfer yard in Pueblo belonged to the Missouri Pacific Railroad, but it is not a part of Pueblo's modern rail system. The Missouri Pacific's former location is occupied by I-25, the Runyon Sports Complex, and Runyon Lake (a reservoir).
After the flood, the Arkansas River in Pueblo would go through the south portion of the rail yard. That's where the levees would be built and where they stand today.
Longterm Impact:
After the building of the levee, the old route of the river terminated shortly after the old bend and became a ditch running through town. You can see that ditch in the center right part of the above picture. [That ditch would later be repurposed as the Arkansas Riverwalk, but that wasn't until many decades later.]
In 1978, the Pueblo Chieftain described Union Avenue as a shadow of its former self and questioned if the flood prevented Pueblo from developing like Colorado Springs did following World War II.