At times patience was as hard to come by as funding, but on the whole Boulder’s population took their hardships in stride. When the water finally receded, the trains began running again, and normal routines and work patterns slowly returned. A hopeful symbol that life was regaining its usual ebb and flow came on June 19, when the ditch company finished installing its new headgate near 12th Street. The sandbags were finally removed, the headgate was lifted, and water—once again a benign force, bringing growth rather than destruction—ran freely down Beasley Ditch.

It was July 20 before the city of Boulder finally hired a contractor to rebuild the 12th Street Bridge. The construction firm, the Wrought Iron Bridge Company of Canton, Ohio, did not finish its work until November 8, about two months overdue. The new 9th Street bridge was not ready for traffic until January 3, 1895, nearly seven months after the flood, and it—along with the new spans across 17th and Arapahoe streets—appears to have been plagued with defects until well into the spring.

However long it might take, Boulder and its inhabitants were getting back on their feet. Unfortunately in the mountains, time did not heal all wounds. Some of the mines eventually opened back up and resumed production, but many of the supporting stamp mills were destroyed. Also, the flood occurred immediately after another disastrous event for the mining towns—the Silver Panic of 1893, which devastated Colorado’s silver industry. Approximately sixty percent of Boulder County’s ore production was in gold, but the gold camps were struggling nonetheless. Now, to make matters worse, the Union Pacific Railroad announced it would not rebuild its narrow-gauge Greeley, Salt Lake & Pacific (GSL&P) line up Boulder and Four Mile canyons.