Re: Anoher "Dangerfield Branch" Bridge

The 1911 flood has seen some intensive study over the years. The 8" of rainfall reported at Gladstone has been questioned and the best review of that is in this report:

[www.appliedweatherassociates.com]

The power company kept daily records at the substations that were manned, and those records are still available. The last manned station in the Silverton area was the one across the street from my office and that was active until about 1938 before switching operations were automated.

Gladstone and Cement Creek still figure largely in local activity. The Gold King mine spill that has created a Superfund Site emptied directly into Cement Creek that drains into the Animas River and like the 1911 flood has had consequences well past the Utah state line and now involves Arizona.

Weather activity in the San Juans can be highly localized--intense rain/snow at one end of town and nothing at the other end. So the rainfall at Gladstone in 1911 could have been 8" based on my almost half century of braving the elements here in the mountains.