The Great South Platte Flood of 1965

[Cito Pelon]

Today is the anniversary. Anybody remember it? I think the population of the Denver metro area was only about 300k back then. Aurora was nothing but Colfax and trailer parks. Highlands Ranch was, well, a ranch. C470 didn't exist. I have bad memories of that flood. What a mess.

[Billy Clyde Puckett]

I wasn't here yet, but a company I once worked for was "built" by the settlements from that flood. They were a little home owner rental company on Broadway and by the time I left in 87, they were a major construction equipment company. The flood started on Plum Creek, just South of Perry Park. I have a friend who owns a ranch on that Property. That flood resulted in the Chatfield dam and reservoir. I was here for the one in 74 (?) that wiped out the bridges into downtown and closed I25 for a couple of days.

[WoodMan]

I remember it well. I lived in Aurora at the time and was working on the Fitzsimmons' golf course. Walked over to Sand creek and it was flowing out of its banks. The bridge on Peoria and Sand Creek completely washed out. The Platte was a raging torrent and flooded most of the businesses along it. My brother got his summer job cleaning out a business over by the old airport (Sand Creek) of all the mud and debris, and then was hired full time because he worked hard. Aurora Central was the only high school in Aurora at the time to give you an idea of how huge it has grown. Denver metro area has gotten so big now from all the transplants that I am glad I no longer live there. The next LA?
Someday.

[Kaylore]

http://www.littletongov.org/history/othertopics/flood.asp

http://www.littletongov.org/history/photos/2508.jpg

http://www.littletongov.org/history/photos/2443.jpg

[Cito Pelon]

I wasn't here yet, but a company I once worked for was "built" by the settlements from that flood. They were a little home owner rental company on Broadway and by the time I left in 87, they were a major construction equipment company. The flood started on Plum Creek, just South of Perry Park. I have a friend who owns a ranch on that Property. That flood resulted in the Chatfield dam and reservoir. I was here for the one in 74 (?) that wiped out the bridges into downtown and closed I25 for a couple of days.

Yeah, Plum Creek runs down Santa Fe from Sedalia into what is now Chatfield where it met the South Platte, right about where C470 is now. That flood wiped out everything from Sedalia to about downtown pretty much, then the sheer mass of the debris it carried with it slowed it down and backed everything up into the watersheds. I remember my dad and his buddies went looting. They weren't alone. That was ugly stuff and seldom remembered.

[Cito Pelon]

http://www.littletongov.org/history/othertopics/flood.asp

http://www.littletongov.org/history/photos/2508.jpg

http://www.littletongov.org/history/photos/2443.jpg

Is that Bear Stadium in that pic? I remember the flood reached Federal Blvd on the West side of the valley at it's highest point.

[halfcreek]

Remember it well. A neighbor had a window frame business that was totally flooded. I spent an entire day hosing down frames, but did not take in enough liquids being surrounded by water. Severe dehydration and over exposure. Four days in bed. And the neighbor didn't give me a cent. The old saying, "No good deed goes unpunished" certainly held true.

[TexanBob]

Is that Bear Stadium in that pic? I remember the flood reached Federal Blvd on the West side of the valley at it's highest point.

No, that is the old Centennial Race Track which was located not far from the Platte across the interstate from Downtown Littleton.

I move to Littleton in 1968 and, while I wasn't around for the 1965 storm, I saw up close and personal what happened when the Platte flooded. We lived on South Platte Canyon Rd back then and we sometimes had to deal with flooding, particularly in the spring.

BTW, I believe there is a shopping center or an office building where the race track used to be. I have fond memories of the track because my Dad would take us once a year and place bets on our behalf (hey, your dad looted - mine encouraged gambling! Hilarious! ). When I won $15 on a quinella once, I felt like I'd hit the jackpot. I was probably in 6th or 7th grade at the time.

[TexanBob]

http://www.littletongov.org/history/photos/2438.jpg

In this aerial photo of Centennial Race Track, you can see the Platte in the lower left hand corner. The white roofs were the horses stables. The long white roof on the opposite side of the track was the grandstand (of which you see the side view in the earlier photo). Back behind the track and grandstand is a housing subdivision that had flooding problems. The track was located at S. Federal and Belleview.

[TexanBob]

I'm getting off the subject here, but I remember there were two tout sheets that were sold at the track. They typically listed the horse's overall records and their three most recent race results - at what distance and what weight, etc.

In one race, there was a horse named "Can't She Go" and, instead of all the raw data you typically saw, the tout sheet said simply about this horse, "No, she can't." Indeed, she finished last in the race I saw.

[titan]

I remember the night of the big flood. I played in a Cub Scout softball game that night (I was 9 years old). After the game my Dad took my older brother and I to the top of Ruby Hill so we could see the flood come roaring down the South Platte. In retrospect that was a pretty stupid idea (we would have been safe on top of the hill, but how about our car?) Anyway, we waited for the flood to show up for an hour or so and then drove home. A neighbor of ours waited on Ruby Hill until about midnight before the cops chased everybody off. As I remember the crest of the flood hit Littleton/Denver in the early morning hours.

Centennial Race Track? A friend's mom used to take me and my friend during the summer. I remember one race with 5 horses - she gave us $2 each to bet "show" bets on. Our picks finished 4th and 5th. I remember last going to Centennial as an adult in the early 80's.

[Billy Clyde Puckett]

The site of the old Centennial Race Track is now a bunch of condos.

[wabbit]

I lived in Colorado Springs when the rains came...and came, and came some more.

Our street became a rapids...the water dug out the pavement, gravel and underlying soil...mainly clay, until it was 6-7 feet deep.

I actually saw whitecaps on the waves of the water as it ripped down the street.

It all came half-way up our lawn before subsiding.

The more interesting moments came as zoo officials warned the public that rushing water & falling rocks on Cheyenne Mountain had freed some animals from the Will Rogers Zoo.

Rumors flew around that Siberian Tigers were roaming about the upper Broadmoor.

it wasn't true, but not too many folks were roaming about until the rumors were officially quashed & guests at the resort were told to, you know, stay indoors...just in case.