A little history on the Animas River floods, and the Farmington Branch. FYI: for those that may not know.. The Farmington branch was some of the very last track work done by the D&RGW , and was laid 25 years after the rest of the San Juan Extension. It was layed as Standard Gage, with a third rail from Carbon Junction on into the Durango Yard. 50 miles of Standard Gage branch dangling on the end of NG lines. But built in 1905, with all the modern updates, not as fast and cheep NG 1880 work.
From Carbon Junction on to Farmington via Aztec it followed the river, with first river crossing at the Florida River, and the first major Animas River crossing Just a 1/2 mile south of the Bondad Tank. Originally this was a Wooden Piling bridge.. And then about 4 miles down stream it crossed again on another wooden Piling bridge, and again just north of Cedar Hill, And again 1.25 miles South. This is the last time for many miles as the RR ran on high ground into Aztec, but there were a couple of major mostly dry washes that the roadway crossed on timber pilings. After leaving Aztec the RR turns West and about 3.75 mile latter it again crosses the Animas River for the last time in Flora Vista. Just West of what was to become the El Paso Pipe yard, the ROW and the river touched each other. 5 major Animas River crossings, and 2 minor crossings.
Animas River starts north of Silverton drains thru Durango runs down very near Aztec and thru Farmington and joins the San Juan River in Farmington. Such is the Animas River Valley.
Normal stream flow most of the year is an avg. of 411 Cubic Feet a Second, During Snow melt season its avg CFS is about 1100-1400 CFS.
First minor flooding in 1908, Spring runoff damages several wooden trestles along the way, including the North Cedar Hill bridge. Repairs were made and new Pilings replaced.
Oct. 1911.. Hurricane sweeps up from the Baja Calif. gulf slides north to the 4 corners area (oct 4-5), and collides with a cold air mass, and stalls over southern Colorado Oct 6th. Record rains of 8+ inches comes down North of Silverton, and the surroundings area., onto of two previous days of heavy rain. All the creeks and streams were already rushing, and then the deluge came on the 6th. Of course it all runs down stream, From a normal of 411 CFS, From Silverton to Durango saw a massive food of 20,000+ CFS. It took out every thing in it's way, including large sections of trackage in the Animas River canyon between Silverton and Durango.
Down stream.. lays the Farmington Branch. The first wash out was at the Florida river crossing. Down stream The Bondad crossing never stood a chance against the 20,000 CFS river, And The bridges at North and South of Cedar Hill Also GONE. The Flora Vista crossing met the same fate. Another wash out at West Farmington.
By the time all the streams and creeks had flowed into the Animas River, Farmington was seeing 30,000+ CFS of flow before it merged into the already flooding San Juan River.. When the flooding was over, every bridge South of Durango all the way to Utah was gone, or un-passable. This included all road and foot bridges. Repairs were made, as this was a once in a 500 yrs flood.
Fast foreward, 1923 Farmington Branch is reset to Narrow gage. June 1927, the Animas River again floods. 20,000 CFS, Again takes out most of the bridges, and severely damages a number of sections along the river. This was the last straw, bridges replaced with the steel truss bridges, brought in from other locations of abandoned lines, that lasted until abandonment and beyond.
1941 again saw heavy flooding of the Animas River at 17,000 CFS, but the steel spans stood. And Again in 1948, a flood stage of 16,000 CFS did some minor damage.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/25/2017 06:28AM by dave2-8-0.
