HomeMy Public PortalAboutIdaho History: Weather and Climate--
New Meadows, Riggins Pictures Fell Part of North Idaho
Flood Story
ANY OLD PORT IN A STORM , t OR FLOOD , j
as Megeows resident escapes the high waters of Goos
creek by ''Perching on top of his outhouse. The creek
changed oye:night from a peaceful stream to a ragi.
river, bringing early -morning risers in the area the
first indication of ,flood conditions. (Photo by B
Lorimer).
P. E. OXLEY, state highway department, Boise, (in suit, which destroyed Falls creek and blocked traffic between
left) helps an unidentified lady across the rock slide New Meadows and Riggins. (Photo by Bob Lorimer).
Flume crosses Warm Springs Avenue
Idaho Yesterdays
Old Flume Battled
Cottonwood Creek
By ARTHUR A. HART
Director, Idaho
Historical Museum
Newcomers to Boise may
not be aware of one of her
most unique structures from
earlier days. Although many
have passed the signs la-
beled "Flume Street", prob-
ably only a few have noticed
its namesake, the old Cot-
tonwood flume itself.
Because Boise was laid out
in the natural path of Cotton-
wood Creek, the old stream
continued to go its own way
periodically without regard
to man's temporary changes
and "improvements." After
years of bad floods which
swept down Main Street in
the heart of town, the city
fathers finally decided to
build a flume.
Flumes were hardly a nov-
elty in mining country, since
most Boise Basin placer op-
erations depended upon
transporting water to where
it was needed to wash gold
particles out of gravel beds.
The water was channeled
along hillsides in ditches
where possible, but often
had to be controlled in wood-
en plank flumes.
Cottonwood flume was
first envisioned as a stone -
lined ditch which would car-
ry the silt -laden waters of
the creek on as direct a
route as possible to Boise
River.
Statesman Editor Milton
Kelly exploded when he
heard this proposed by the
City Council in 1881. He
pointed out that the cost
would be outrageous, that a
stone flume would quickly
silt up anyway, and that the
First Street location pro-
posed was too close to down-
town and would inhibit the
city's growth in that direc-
tion.
Kelly suggested that if a
flume was • to be built it
ought to be of wood in a V-
shape. This, he said, would
reduce the likelihood of
silting up.
Apparently the flume ac-
tually built in 1881 was a
compromise — part wood
and part stone, since there
are reports thereafter of re-
pairs to the old flume on an
annual basis which mention
both materials.
A great flood of May, 1892,
broke the flume in several
places, and in September of
that year the council decided
to build a "stone aqueduct"
to take the place of the
wooden one which was
"about worn out." The con-
tract was let to low -bidder
D.P.B. Pride for $1.97 per
running foot.
He started hauling stone at
once. In December the coun-
cil decided to have Pride
continue the project from
Warm Springs Avenue to the
river.
In 1893 Mayor Peter Sonna
ordered the flume to be
"pointed up" with concrete
to prevent leakage, and
when an anxious City Coun-
cil inspected it during a rag-
ing flood in January, 1894,
they were gratified to find it
holding up well.
Another flood of March
that same year, however,
did succeed in ripping out
200 yards south of Warm
Springs Avenue. When the
flume had filled with silt, the
overflow undermined the
sides and caused the break.
Since there was a severe
depression at that time, the
city was able to get men to
shovel out the sand for 20
cents an hour in the daytime
and 25 cents an hour at
n ight.
An 1897 flood again broke
the flue, causing the Warm
Springs streetcars to go out
of action. In 1899 the city
was sued for damages when
the flume again went out.
The case went to the State
Supreme Court which held
the city liable. Mayor Alex-
ander had the flume rebuilt
in 1901, but in 1904 a March
flood again ripped it out.
Apparently there were still
wooden sections, even then,
for specific mention is made
of "200 feet of woodwork"
which gave way.
Next time you pass down
Warm Springs Avenue, no-
tice the well -concreted
banks of the old flume, even
decorated with handsome
iron fencing in some sec-
tions, and recall the ram-
pages of Cottonwood Creek
which have kept it in the
news for generations.
By ARTHUR A. HART
Director, Idaho
Historical Museum.
"The creek at the upper end
of Main Street is running
again as heretofore, and sluic-
ing out the street. We have
called attention to this matter
several times, and we believe
there has been several efforts
to turn this watr off, but it
don't stay turned off."
"With these words, Editor
Milton Kelly of The States-
man in 1872 stated again the
problem of having Main
Street in the natural path of
Cottonwood Creek.
The problem has not been
solved to this day, in all prob-
ability, because man tends to
think in terms of "normal" or
average stream flow.
As the recent disaster in
South Dakota and the Cotton-
wood floods of 1959 and 1965
show, Nature has a way of
sending us the unusual and in-
credible from time to time.
Her cycles may, in fact,- be
normal, but they are much.
longer cycles than man's lim-
ited memory.
A Boise landmark, The
Flume, was man's solution to
the problem of Cottonwood
Creek.
It has been fairly effective,
if not entirely reliable to with-
stand all of the floods that the
creek has sent down to chal-
lenge it.
The first reference to the
Flume appears in The States-
man on March 28, 1882, when
it is reported that Mayor Pin-
ney is having a wooden flume
built straight from the mouth
of Cottonwood canyon to the
river.
Boards that were used in
earlier efforts to divert the
floors from the city were
being included in the new
project, and aside from the
fact that the flume leaked
enough that the water washed
the soil away around it,
seemed satisfactory.
From a further account a
week later, it appears that
there had been a flume in use
over part of this course ear-
lier, and that this was an en-
largement and improvement.
The city council minutes
disclose that Thomas Black -
more was paid $523.50 for the
work.
James A. Pinney was
mayor again, ten years later,
when the city made its next
b i g improvement in the
Flume. At this time it was
noted that the timbers of the
old structure were about worn
out, and that a stone aqueduct
would be built in its place.
Plans were drawn and bids
called for. On the morning of
October 4, 1892, D. B. P.
Pride was awarded the con-
tract for $5,000 — a rate of
$1.97 per foot. He began haul-
ing stone that same day.
This first contract took new
stone Flume from the mouth of
the canyon to Warm Springs
Avenue. In December, the
city authorized Pride to con-
tinue the project on to the
river at the same rate per
foot.
Unusually heavy floods in
the spring of 1892 were un-
doubtedly responsible for the
decision to replace the old
Flume, since it had cost the
city a great deal of money
and manpower to hold the old
one together at the height of
the runoff.
In April, 1897, the Cotton-
wood again had its way, this
time washing out forty feet of
the new stone walls above
Warm Springs Avenue. The
resulting flood damaged con-
siderable private property
and forced the streetcars to
stop running.
In 1901, the entire Flume
had to be rebuilt again, this
time during the adminis-
tration of Mayor Moses Alex-
ander.
W. A. Goulder, a pioneer
Boisean, was reminded on
that occasion of the early his-
tory of the Cottonwood floods
and the famous Flume.
He recalled that the Cotton-
wood annually descended on
the corner of Sixth and Main,
and that the Legislature often
met in those days in the old
wooden Turn Verein Hall.
"We remember," he wrote,
"that this entire body of as-
sembled wisdom narrowly es-
caped being drowned while
crossing the raging flood in a
Noah's ark of an old flatboat
in getting to -heir places of
business.
"The y all escaped, of
course, because they had been
reserved for a different and
more distressing fate than
drowning."
Idaho Yesterdays
Flume Eases Problem
Of Cottonwood Floods
Boise streets sandbagged when Cottonwood Creek flooded in 1965
a o e/0 te-
0'Q52e' / to
716 / c?4-2
Despite rains, runoff, snowpack
still above average
The Little Salmon River north of New Meadows looked more like a lake last Friday afternoon. US Hwy 95
runs diagonally south to north across the photograph.
Record precip leaves
reservoirs full and water
with no where to go
It was a case of too much water and no where for it to go
that led to last week's problems in central and southwest
Idaho.
Rick Wells, a hydrologist with the Bureau of Reclamation,
said Monday that even with the heavy snow followed by rain
that occurred last week, he expects the end of the month
snowpacks in Central Idaho to be 170 to 180 percent of nor-
mal.
Flows in the Payette River downstream started increas-
ing dramatically Dec. 31 after several days of snow and rain.
At that point, he said the releases from Cascade and Deadwood
reservoirs were cut back to their minimum levels 200 and
50 cubic feet per second (cfs), respectively.
On Jan. 1 and 2, he said the flows into Cascade Reservoir
averaged about 11,250 cfs, but the flows held down to min-
imum levels so as to not add to the already high natural flows
occurring in the river downstream.
At Black Canyon Dam, he said the estimated peak flow
there was 33,700 cfs, estimated because it exceeded the
Bureau's rating table there. He said it could be refined, but
that he doesn't expect it to be refined downward at all.
All that water flowing into Cascade Reservoir filled it to
within two feet of full pool by the end of the weekend. On
Tuesday, the amount of water being released from Cascade
Dam was increased to 2,450 cfs, and Wells said it could be
increased to between 3,000 and 4,000 cfs. He said those
releases will be maintained whenever possible into the spying
because of concerns that there isn't enough storage space in
the reservoir to accommodate the volume of water expect-
ed with the spring snowmelt.
"It's too full for the date and the snowpack conditions,"
he said. He said they'd like to have another 100,000 acre-
feet of storage space. With the reservoir about 2 feet below
full pool, he said that translates to about 55,000 acre-feet of
water short of being full. An acre foot of water is the amount
it takes to cover one acre of land to a depth of one foot.
For the month of December, Wells said the Bureau mea-
surA f ehiTy 1 c inches of precipifati% f itlat side.
Bob Zach, a Smiths Ferry resident who has monitored
precipitation there the past five years, said he measured 16.49
inches of precipitation during December, almost 10 inches
more than any December back to 1991 when he began col-
lecting data.
"There was no where for all that water to go," he said
oc.ot(2 o ccute. ra-Y- ot ‘.0
Airport keeps people moving
out and supplies coming in
For at least one day last
week, McCall airport
busiest in state
For a couple of days late last week, the McCall
and Cascade airports were likely among the busiest
in the state.
For McCall, that day would have been Friday
when the airport logged about 700 flight operations
— either the takeoff or landing of an aircraft.
On a normal day, Federal Aviation Administration
air traffic controller Mark Smith of Boise said that
the Boise Airport logs from 350 to 500 flight oper-
ations.
Smith and two other FAA controllers flew into
the McCall Airport Saturday morning to bring some
formal order to the situation that had developed as
stranded travelers swamped area charter flying ser-
vices with requests to be flown out of Long Valley
after mudslides and floods closed all ground routes
out.
Not that things were out of control.
McCall Airport Manager and Fire Chief Dale
Points said that pilots did a great job of keeping
things in order during the first two days of what can
only be described as a "mini -Berlin Airlift."
All told, beginning at about 11 a.m. Thursday and
ending Saturday evening, when
ground routes out of Valley and
Adams counties had been cleared,
the McCall Airport recorded about
1,700 flight operations, accord-
ing to Points.
"Initially, there was consider-
able confusion," Points said. "We
had a lot of people not used to fly-
, ing in here, they weren't familiar
with our local rules and regula-
tions."
That was compounded by the
fact that there was a varied mix-
ture of aircraft types using the air-
port, he said, from single engine
Cessnas to twin -engine prop air-
craft to jets ancknelicopters.
This crowded waiting area at McCall Alr Taxi became a famil-
iar sight last week as vacationers waited for a flight out of the
area.
i-8-/99q
And while organization emerged
from the initial and short-lived
chaos, Points said there were a lot
of lessons learned frog .the expe-
rience. He said he didn't:antici-
pate the parking problems that
would develop for both aircraft
and automobiles.
But he said city citws,-aided
by local contractors who just
jumped in to help, got more space
cleared.
While the total number of peo-
ple who flew out of McCall isn't
known, the two charter operations
there — McCall Air Taxi and'
Pioneer Aviation flew nearly 7d6
people out, mostly to the Treasure
Valley. Return flights carried sup-
plies and local residents trying to
retum from holiday vacations else-
where.
Arnold Aviation at Cascade
flew slightly more than 200 peo-
ple out of the Cascade Airport,
and lots of supplies in. Arnold had
two of its own airplanes flying,
but the company also brought two
larger, twin -engine Islander air-
planes in from Salmon to help
move people out and people and
supplies in.
Working closely with Arnold
was Eagle Air of Donnelly, which
used its Islander to move its own
passengers and also help Arnold
reduce its list.
And most of the air charter oper-
ators offered flights out at rates
less than they would normally
charge.
Kim Calvin at Pioneer said they
would continue to offer their $50
rate, below their usual $60 rate,
to those who have to fly back from
Boise to pick up vehicles left at
the airport.
In addition, Arnold contracted
with the U.S. Postal Service to fly
mail into the isolated areas of cen-
tral Idaho.
Points said that one of the things
that made everything work at the
McCall Airport were the many
volunteers who just pitched in,
helping park airplanes in an orga-
nized manner, keeping passengers
moving to planes they needed to
get to, and moving cargo from
incoming flights into hangars and
getting it out of the way.
"The loads of supplies coming
in on the back flights was phe-
nomenal," he said. "I think our
hats should be off to those people
Pa-5A- 3 °I - z3 - 9
who got that done."
Despite some close calls, he
said there were no incidents at the
airport despite the extraordinari-
ly heavy traffic.
He also said he will meet today
with the airport advisory com-
mittee to go over what can be done
to prepare for such situations should
they ever develop in the future.
But, Points also said there's not
much.
"You can't economically plow
the entire airport just on the chance
that all the roads close again," he
said. But he said they may watch
for similar weather conditions in
the future, to perhaps give them a
little more heads -up that some-
thing might develop. Complicating
things Thursday was the fact that
the runway lights stopped operat-
ing. It took an electrician more
than a day to get everything back
into working order.
"We seemed to make every-
thing work even though it seemed
like there was no way it would,"
he said.
"All in all, we learned some
things and I feel confident we'll
do a better job the next time," he
said. "And I have nothing but
absolute praise for our (charter
operations) and volunteers who
stepped forward to help bring this
thing to a successful conclusion."
Steven Young, of Boise, said he
was glad to be going home
Saturday afternoon when he
got a seat on one of the last
planes headed for Boise at
Arnold Aviation. The flight was
one of many that were part of
the great Valley County Airlift
that got hundreds of stranded
vacationers out and much -need-
ed supplies in after floods and
mudslides cutoff road access
to much of central Idaho. Young
said he had missed two days of
school during the stranding,
but that he wasn't all that bored
while visiting his grandparents
Hugh and Jessie Somerton of
Donnelly for the holidays.
Garbage pickups suspended
until roads open
Garbage pickups around Valley County have ground to a halt
and won't resume until a way out is found for Lakeshore Disposal's
tractor -trailer rigs hauling solid waste to Canyon County's land-
fill, according to Lakeshore owner Tony Totorica.
He said Lakeshore hasn't been able to haul out of the coun-
ty since Dec. 31. But there was capacity at the county transfer
station and in some of the trailers to allow them to continue col-
lecting all last week.
However, he said they've got 110 tons of garbage and no place
to put it, so pickups are suspended until they can resume haul-
ing out of the county.
Should Idaho Highway 55 open today, he said normal pick-
ups in Cascade, both commercial and residential, would resume
Thursday. But if not, residential pickups won't resume until next
Monday at the soonest.
"It's all contingent on the opening of Highway 55," he said.
"It's caused a lot of havoc."
In the meantime, all pickups, commercial and residential, have
been suspended, he said.
Area HAM radio
operators pitch in
during crisis
Members of the Central Idaho Amateur Radio Club did
their part last week in helping those trapped in Valley and
Adams counties get word out to friends and relatives.
When the telephones went dead at about 4:30 p.m. New
Year's Day, Jeremy Alexander, Jim Henderson and Kermit
Peterson, along with other members of the club, answered
the call to provide a conduit for messages from stranded
travelers.
Alexander, who is a broadcast engineer, said he was con-
tacted by David Eaton of KMCL-FM about their capabili-
ties, and said he told Eaton that they had more communi-
cations capability among the club's members than all other
agencies combined.
"We were the ones to do the job," he said.
Before telephone service was restored about seven hours
later, hundreds of messages were transmitted by Alexander,
Henderson and Peterson to HAM operators in the Treasure
Valley.
Alexander handled 313 himself, he said.
While most of the traffic was fairly routine, letting rela-
tives and friends know they were okay and were simply
stranded because of the road closures, Alexander said there
were some higher priority messages transmitted, having to
do with cancelling surgeries, arranging for pet care, arrang-
ing for substitute teachers, and letting parents know that -
children traveling alone and stranded in Long Valley were
okay.
Alexander said the response by the HAMS again prove
how valuable the amateur radio operators can be in times
of natural disasters. All of the messages got through and
were confirmed, and calls were made back to stranded folks
in Valley County that their messages had been received.
Cental Idaho cut off from world
by floods, mud slides, washouts
Other than not being able to
get from here to just about any-
where outside of Valley or parts
of Adams County, Long Valley
residents and visitors suffered lit-
tle in last week's natural resources
disaster.
Valley and Adams counties,
along with dozens of others around
the west, have been declared dis-
aster areas by everyone on up to
President Bill Clinton, thereby
making the counties eligible for
federal assistance.
But, the reality is, other than a
few days where the only way in
or out was by aircraft, we got off
easy when compared to those
downstream who've lost every-
thing to floods.
We didn't get off entirely with-
out property loss or damage, how-
ever, as Round Valley residents
George and Janice Girard lost part
of their garage and their snow-
plowing pickup to a mudslide that
swept down on their Timber Rim
Drive home. The Cascade Senior
Center will hold a benefit bingo
game for them on Jan. 17, and a
spaghetti Teed on Jan. 18, accord-
ing to center director Mary
Samuelson.
Also, a house on the Leslie
Ranch just south of Cascade
Reservoir suffered some flooding
by the large amount of runoff
spilling down mountains and into
the Cascade Reservoir drainage.
And there was no shortage of flood-
ed basements, backed up sewers
and septic systems throughout the
lower lying areas of Valley County
as the rain fell and the snow melt-
ed.
And, outside of the tragic air-
plane crash that took the lives of
four Boise residents and one from
Above: This US 95 bridge washout south of Biggins is proving
to be one of the more difficult repair items on ITD's punch list.
Below: This washout on the Little Salmon near Pinehurst will
also take some fixing before traffic will aeain flow smoothly.
Portland, there were few incidents during three days of the heaviest airport traf-
fic the McCall and Cascade airports have ever seen.
Stranded vacationers dealt with their unexpected stay with few problems.
Helen Eimers, manager of McCall's Best Western, said that people were
basically "very, very patient. Most were very accepting. The longer they stayed
the better they were.
"In fact, it was just like a family in the end," she said. As did other motels
and hotels in the area, Best Western reduced its rates to make it easier on those
stranded.
She said the pool and hot tub at the motel were in constant use, and there
were card games going in the lobby during the day.
"We had trouble keeping everyone in clean towels, but we kept up with it,"
she said.
"We kind of did whatever we could to accommodate them," she said.
"Overall, the town really rallied over this whole thing," she said.
Across the street at The Woodsman, Betty Woods said things were much the
same, they took in people and did their best to take care of them, even if they
had run out of money.
McCall Police Chief Ed Parker said there were no major incidents, although
a couple of confrontations developed in gas lines and grocery lines as folks tried
to get that last bit of gas or last carton of eggs.
"There was lots of anxiety in the air, people were frustrated and short-tem-
pered," he said. But he attributed that more to people not knowing what was
going on.
"Overall people made the most of it," he said. Most local residents had good
stocks of food and many of them opened their homes to visitors.
"In a crisis like that, the community pulls together, people pull together and
deal with it," he said.
Woods summed the entire deal up this way:
'fo �1Palc vnn temnns_ make lemonade."
4.4
v:,o �� l/2,e&er a ocu o c ezte. �a S
Travelers slowly making their
way out
This line of about 4 dozen vehicles was set to head south over the High Valley Road Saturday morn-
ing.
Colder temperatures, and round-the-clock work by state and
county road crews opened some routes out of Idaho's central moun-
tains for those trapped by floods and mudslides last week that closed
off access to the region.
In addition, the renewal of traffic will allow much -needed sup-
plies of milk, bread, eggs and gasoline to be brought back into the
area.
As of Monday, Idaho Transportation Department officials said
three land routes had been cleared out of the area. However, those
routes are very restricted, all involving one-way traffic and pilot
cars, and the hours are restricted in most cases.
Making for a four-hour drive to Boise is the route out via the
High Valley Road to Ola and Sweet and down to Idaho Highway
52 between Horseshoe Bend and Emmett.
Valley County road crews plowed open about 9 miles of the cen-
tral part of that road late last week and opened it to one-way pilot-
ed traffic Saturday evening. It is normally kept open part -way from
both directions, but the center is allowed to snow shut each winter.
However, that road is restricted to four-wheel drive vehicles only
or two -wheel drive vehicles with tire chains. Motorhomes or vehi-
cles towing trailers are not permitted on the road. According to
Valley County,>officials, it takes an hour and 15 minutes to an hour
and a half to -;:cover the distance from Smiths Ferry to Ola. That
makes for a wait of a couple of hours between trips. Vehicles can
get out via that road 24 hours a day. The High Valley Road has a
snow floor and a 6 percent grade.
For north Valley County residents who want to go out via U.S.
Highway 95, they should travel north to New Meadows and south
on U.S. 95 to the Glendale/Starkey/Fruitvale Road north of Council.
From there, pilot cars are leading vehicles over the 10-mile dirt road
24-hours a day. Motorists should expect considerable delays.
From the Glendale/Starkey/Fruitvale Road, travelers will return
to U.S. 95 and can travel on to Weiser. At Weiser, motorists should
take Oregon State Highway 201 to pick up Interstate 84.
No commercial vehicles are permitted on that route.
Those needing to travel north can, amazingly enough, do so, but
also with some tight restrictions.
U.S. 95, which was severely damaged in a number of locations
by washouts and mudslides and damaged bridges, is open from 6
to 10 a.m. and 6 to 10 p.m. daily. That schedule will be in place
until road repairs are completed.
Vehicles are being led by pilot cars for about 10 miles over a
rough road. Again, no commercial vehicles are allowed.
Some of the damaged areas include a 300-foot washout about
18 miles north of New Meadows, a 500-foot washout about 19 miles
north of New Meadows, and a 700-foot washout at Pinehurst. Also,
the north span of a bridge south of Riggins has fallen into the Little
Salmon River. However, traffic is being detoured over an old bridge,
but that is limited to one-way traffic.
ITD officials estimate that repairs to the bridge will take about
two more weeks.
ITD crews and contractors are expecting to clear enough of
100,000 cubic yard slide at Lower Banks by today or tomorrow to
allow one lane of traffic through that affected area.
(iai-ee-'7 a t o o c a-t . a 6 o�
No power, no skiin'
Spirits remained high and the skiing great at Brundage Mountain during last week's
road closures that stranded vacationers in McCall. On Sunday, the power at the
ski area went out, and Brundage Mountain SnowCat crews used one of their cats
to get Idaho Power Company crews out into the woods to repair the damage,
caused by trees falling on the power line that feeds the ski resort. They finally
restored power that afternoon, but the day was mostly a washout for skiers. But
the partnership wasn't finished either. Above, Idaho Power crewmembers board
the SnowCat again as they head out to check on the condition of the main feed-
er line to the area from Brownlee Dam. With repair crews taxed to the limit work-
ing around the region, Brundage Spokesperson Mary Naylor said they had no way
to get out to fix that main line. So at about 5 p.m. that evening they loaded onto
the cat to head to the west of Rock Flat to check that main transmission line.
Naylor said skier visits over the week were measured in hundreds instead of the
usual 1,500 to 2,000 a day during a typical holiday ski day. But those who did
show up to ski didn't have a shortage of snow to ski on as the mountain had more
than 125 inches of white stuff on the top. Those who've been up to ski have also
had a chance to try out the new snack place on Main Street. Brundage has erect-
ed a yurt about half -way down the run that serves up snacks and beverages to ski -
in, ski -out skiers.