![]() "When you're driving down Speer Boulevard, you've got that beautiful little concrete channel with a bike path down there and a nice slowly running creek. By 7 a.m., that wall of water arrived in Denver, taking out several bridges and flooding homes and businesses along the way. The collapse released more than 1 billion gallons of water downstream and sent an eleven foot wall of water thundering down Cherry Creek. The dam's foundation was weakened by years of erosion. The eastern section of the dam was the first to break, followed by the middle and western sections. ![]() His attempts at opening several of the dam's valves to relieve the pressure, wasn't going to stop what was 43 years in the making. Two days of non-stop rain was too much for the dam to handle. The Castlewood Dam stood for 43 years up until 1:30 a.m. People look on from the side boys wear plastic visors." The 1933 flood as a result of the break was devastating blow to the city of Denver.ĭenver Public Library Digital Collections "View of a Cherry Creek flood in Denver, Colorado after the Castlewood Canyon Dam break shows torrents of muddy water in standing waves. If the whole contents of the lake were allowed to spread out, allowing for the removal of the portions of the dam that would be carried away in front of the flood, the water would not do much more than fill the channel of the creek.” Wells is quoted as saying in the article.īut of course that wasn't the case. “Now, as a matter of fact, if the dam broke, and I don’t care how large a break it was, by the time the head of the flood had reached Denver the last drop would not be out of the dam. He told the paper that if the dam were to break, it wouldn’t have much of an impact on Denver. ![]() In an April 17, 1900, article in the Rocky Mountain News, Welles tried to dispel those fears. Flood control is now handled by the Cherry Creek Dam, which was built in 1949 as part of a $275 million New Deal program.ĭenver Public Library Digital Collections "Men stand on the top of Castlewood Dam on Cherry Creek in Douglas County, Colorado." (1890-1910)įears of the dam breaking and damaging homes and businesses downstream began spreading when news of the leaks made headlines in Denver. It became a state park in 1964 and expanded another 792 acres, to include the former dam and reservoir, in the 1970s.Ĭherry Creek still meanders through the canyon, now unobstructed, carving an even deeper canyon through 90 years of erosion. Today, what's left of the dam - the right and left abutments and part of its crest - sits quietly like an ancient Roman ruin in front of a now-dry reservoir bed inside Castlewood Canyon State Park, 40 miles southeast of Denver. ![]() It's a little-known piece of Colorado history that had lasting impacts on the region. It's construction created a reservoir - called Lake Louisa by many - with a capacity of 5,300 acre-feet of water. 3, 2023, is the 90th anniversary of the collapse of the Castlewood Dam, which was constructed in 1890 near Castle Rock and held back the Cherry Creek. ![]() Denver Public Library Digital Collections "Aerial view of Cherry Creek floodwater and damage in Denver, Colorado after the Castlewood Canyon Dam break shows the Auraria neighborhood (upper center), Colfax Street (upper left), Cherry Creek, and downtown buildings including the Telephone and Telegraph building (foreground)."Īug. ![]()
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