1976 Memorial
by Jon Burch Photography
Title
1976 Memorial
Artist
Jon Burch Photography
Medium
Photograph - Digital Capture/your Final Image Will Not Contain The Faa Watermark.
Description
The headwaters of the Big Thompson River begin in Forest Canyon within Rocky Mountain National Park in Larimer County, Colorado. The river flows east through Moraine Park to the town of Estes Park where it is held in Lake Estes by the Olympus Dam before being released into the Big Thompson Canyon. The North Fork Big Thompson River also begins in Rocky Mountain National Park, on the northern slopes of the Mummy Range. This tributary flows east, through the town of Glen Haven where it merges with the Big Thompson River in the town of Drake in the Big Thompson Canyon.
From Lake Estes, the River descends 1/2 mile in elevation through the mountains in the spectacular 25 mile Big Thompson Canyon, emerging from the foothills west of Loveland. It flows eastward, south of Loveland across the plains into Weld County and joins the South Platte approximately 5 miles south of Greeley. It receives the Little Thompson River approximately 4 miles upstream from its mouth.
On July 31, 1976, during the celebration of Colorado's centennial, the Big Thompson Canyon was the site of a devastating flash flood that swept down the steep and narrow canyon, claiming the lives of 143 people, 5 of whom were never found. This flood was triggered by a nearly stationary thunderstorm near the upper section of the canyon that dumped 12 inches of rain in less than 4 hours supplying more than 3/4 of the average annual rainfall to the area. Lesser amounts of rain fell over the lower section of the canyon, where many of the victims were.
Around 9 p.m., a wall of water more than 20 feet high raced down the canyon at about 14 miles per hour, destroying 400 cars, 418 houses and 52 businesses and washing out most of U.S. Route 34. This flood was more than 4 times as strong as any in the 112-year record available in 1976, with a discharge of 35,000 feet per second.
In 2008, a man who was thought to have died in the flood was found to be alive and living in Oklahoma. Daryle Johnson and his family had rented a cabin east of Estes Park, but left without telling anyone on the morning of July 31. A woman who was researching the flood's victims discovered he was still alive.
Others were never found and presumed drowned from the stalled storm dropped 14 inches of rain in the canyon turning a river running 18 inches into a wall of water 20 feet high. Climbing the sides of the canyon was the only way to survive.
This is a stone memorial located 1 mile below Drake and 13 miles west of the Loveland Kmart. The stone marker lists the names of those killed, a list that includes Colorado State Patrol Sgt. W. Hugh Purdy and Estes Park patrolman Michael O. Conley who died trying to get people out of the canyon. Many have driven buy the memorial on the way to Estes and some have stopped to read. - Partly from Wikki
It wouldn't be until September of 2013 that the canyon would experience another flood that claimed lives.
Photograph copyright Jon Burch Photography.
Uploaded
December 2nd, 2013
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