The morning of June 1 brought sunny skies, making the flood’s toll painfully clear. The 6th, 9th, 12th, and 17th street bridges over Boulder Creek were completely gone, and the raging force of the creek twisted the 4th Street Bridge into a sagging semicircle. The loss of these spans left Boulder cut in half, with the north and south sides completely isolated from each other. The train depot stood under at least three feet of water, and one narrow-gauge engine stranded helplessly in the deluge. The Union Pacific Denver and Gulf Railroad, which connected the state capital to Boulder, suffered extensive damage, not only in town but also on the prairies to the east. Surprisingly, for all the damage the flood wrought in Boulder, it did not kill a single resident of the city.
Farmers faced the destruction when surveying their fields the morning after. The floodwaters fanned out as they moved downstream, forming a lake a mile wide (according to one report) between Boulder and Valmont. They left behind a thick layer of sand, rocks, and branches that thoroughly covered the fertile soil east of town. Beasley Ditch was a total loss; the many farmers who relied upon it for irrigation now had to wonder if their whole crop was lost.
Despite the damage in town, the devastation in the mountains exceeded even that of Boulder and the farming regions. Some reports claimed that the water came down the canyons in a wall ten to twelve feet high; it is a wonder any of the towns on Boulder, Left Hand or James Creeks survived at all. Jamestown was “practically wiped of the face of the earth,” and the hamlets of Crisman, Glendale, and Springdale sustained severe damage. Many of the houses and stores in Crisman were gone, and the town’s lifeline—the narrow-gauge railroad—disappeared down the river. Many of Glendale’s buildings were swept away, the main road was completely washed out, and three people lost their lives. Little remained of Springdale, a small resort town along James Creek known for its mineral springs. Its main tourist draw, the famous Seltzer House Hotel, went tumbling away in the froth. Ni-wot resident Frank Bader even reported that part of the Springdale bowling alley turned up near his home.
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