Dennis Daily - Disasters of the Pikes Peak Region

of the

Pikes Peak Region

Edited by

Dennis Daily, Tim Blevins,

Sydne Dean, Heather Jordan, Chris Nicholl,

& Michael L. Olsen

Published by

Pikes Peak Library District

Disasters of the Pikes Peak Region

2017 Pikes Peak Library District.

All rights reserved. Smashwords edition.

This publication was made possible by private funds. Interpretation of events and conclusions are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the opinions of Pikes Peak Library District (PPLD), PPLD Board of Trustees, or PPLD employees and editors.

ISBN 978-1-56735-345-7

Library of Congress Control Number: 2017933723

Publishers Catalogingin-Publication Data

Name: Daily, Dennis, editor| Blevins, Tim, editor | Dean, Sydne, editor | Jordan, Heather, editor | Nicholl, Chris, editor | Olsen, Michael L., editor.

Title: Disasters of the Pikes Peak Region / Edited by Dennis Daily, Tim Blevins, Sydne Dean, Heather Jordan, Chris Nicholl, Michael L. Olsen.

Description: First edition. | Colorado Springs, Colorado : Pikes Peak Library District, 2017 | Series: Regional History Series | Includes bibliographical references and index.

Identifiers: LCCN: 2017933723 | ISBN: 9781567353181

Subject: WildfiresColoradoHistory. | FloodsColoradoHistory. | FloodsColoradoColorado Springs. | FloodsColoradoManitou Springs. | Flood controlColoradoColorado Springs. | Disaster victimsPersonal narratives. | WildfiresColoradoBlack Forest (El Paso County: Forest). | First respondersColorado.

Classification: LCC GB5010. D57 2017 | DDC 363.34dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017933723

Regional History Series

The Colorado Labor Wars: Cripple Creek 1903 1904,

A Centennial Commemoration

To Spare No Pains: Zebulon Montgomery Pike

& His 1806 1807 Southwest Expedition

Doctor at Timberline: True Tales, Travails,

& Triumphs of a Pioneer Colorado Physician

Legends, Labors & Loves:

William Jackson Palmer, 18361909

Extraordinary Women of the Rocky Mountain West

Lightning in His Hand:

The Life Story of Nikola Tesla

Enterprise & Innovation in the Pikes Peak Region

The Pioneer Photographer:

Rocky Mountain Adventures with a Camera

A City Beautiful Dream: The 1912 Vision for Colorado Springs

Film & Photography on the Front Range

Doctors, Disease, and Dying in the Pikes Peak Region

Rush to the Rockies! The 1859 Pikes Peak or Bust Gold Rush

Candy Makers Manual for the Household

Massacre, Murder, & Mayhem in the Rocky Mountain West

Foreword

A communitys recorded collective memory is often benchmarked by frightening experiences and by the second-hand tales told, and retold, by others. More often than not, these delineations in time are disastrous events like fire and flood or catastrophic occurrences such as drought, financial crisis, or explosion. Though very different, these life-altering occasions have common memorable and emotional factors that make it possible for survivors and witnesses to recall and describe them in vivid detail.

This book, Disasters of the Pikes Peak Region , serves as an intense summary of many of the major fires, floods, and other catastrophes of this area. Though thoroughly researched by the contributors, this book is not intended to be a comprehensive accounting, but rather a collection of some of the more significant calamities impacting the areamany of which were discussed at the 9 th Annual Pikes Peak Regional History Symposium, also titled Disasters of the Pikes Peak Region.

Readers will learn that recent misfortunes experienced in the Pikes Peak region were unprecedented in their destruction, but were not unfamiliar, or even unpredictable, events. In fact, we should expect some natural disasters. For example, did you know that Colorado was designated the hail capital of the U.S.? Or did you know that Colorado is on the western borderline of Tornado Alley and that twisters have damaged property in both the El Paso County plains and Manitou Springs, where an estimated $1 million in tornado damage occurred in 1979?

In these pages you will learn how the devastating 19 th century fires in Cripple Creek and Colorado Springs influenced how these communities developed and how waging battle against destructive flames evolved from making fire breaks by blasting buildings to sophisticated military missions involving satellites, GPS, and aerial firefighting methods. You will understand, from first-hand accounts, how the 1898 Antlers Hotel fire started and quickly burned an extensive area of Colorado Springs three blocks long and two blocks wide. And you will be shocked by the damaging 1935 Memorial Day Flood, and other floods, that swiftly overcame Colorado Springs parks, streets, and buildings.

Today, many residents of this region can clearly recall the day when the Black Forest Fire stormed though that northern El Paso County community in 2013, when the floodwaters inundated creeks and normally dry gullies damaging Manitou Springs homes and businesses later that same year, and when the flames of the Waldo Canyon Fire crested the hills before selectively consuming hundreds of houses in the Colorado Springs Mountain Shadows neighborhood in 2012.

Remembering the effect of a disaster reminds us of the losses and, hopefully, the restoration that followed. During our recent fires and floods, the El Paso County community rallied to feed the first responders, to help house displaced people, and to clean floors and mud-packed streets. Rebuilding was not easy, but the resolve to reestablish normalcy and overcome the overwhelming devastation of those tragedies has empowered and strengthened our community.

We need not helplessly wait for the next disaster to happen. Current mitigation and planning efforts will help control the destruction of future wildfires and floods. Even though wildfire, stormwater, and flood management infrastructure improvements are expensive, it is not a question of if a disastrous fire or flood will occur, but when it is also a matter of either pay now for the preventive measures to avoid loss of life and property or pay later with loss of life and property.

We hope that you are prepared and stay safe.

John Spears, Executive Director

Pikes Peak Library District

Tim Blevins, Special Collections Division Head

Pikes Peak Library District

Acknowledgments

Disasters of the Pikes Peak Region , the 15 th book in the Regional History Series, is mostly a product of the June 9, 2012, Pikes Peak Regional History Symposium of the same name. Some readers of our Regional History Series have inquired as to why it has taken nearly five years to release this book. Though our books are often delayed for several reasons this book was hindered because of, ironically, major regional disasters. Just weeks after the symposium, the Waldo Canyon Fire started on June 23, 2012. By the time the fire was contained it was the worst disaster in Colorado history. The following year, on June 11, 2013, the Black Forest Fire started and soon claimed the distinction as the worst disaster in Colorado history. The Waldo Canyon Fire burn scar left areas vulnerable to floodingfirst occurring at Ute Pass at the end of July 2012 and then hammering Manitou Springs hard during July and August 2013.