06/17/2026
Small Town Snippets....
I’ve written about the flood of 1965 before, but here is another Rocky Mountain News page of pictures to see. Dated Sunday, June 20, 1965. There were two floods, and I may be off a day or so, but one June 13 or 14 and the big flood on June 15 or 16 of ‘65. This act of nature took a toll also on folks in Denver…for us out here the worst end of it happened in Deer Trail. The top photo says “Railroad tracks dangle from the end of a trestle near Byers swept away by flooding Bijou Creek. High water swirls around two spans of the same bridge, collapsed into the river. Trains to and from the east were blocked by flood damage as railroads dispatched extra gangs to begin clean-up operations.” This is looking to the southwest of the bridge just before the (now) May Farms entrance. The middle picture is from “a farmyard in Adams County northeast of Denver…” “…fortunately, few lives were lost.” The bottom photo says “Triple victims of the Bijou Creek flood were these three bridges at Deer Trail. Steel bridge at left belongs to the Union Pacific Railroad. Center is the concrete structure of Interstate 70. A county highway bridge at right received the worst of the damage.” I’d say that’s putting is mildly!
The county highway is the old road. I do know parts of I70 were washed away, and trains didn’t run for a very long time. In Byers the tracks were all washed to the north side of where they lay. Someplace there is a picture of 7 year old me standing on the very west edge of the washed away Bijou bridge at Byers. Many memories come to mind of these days (the big flood happened during the night)…my two most vivid are the horribly loud roaring all night of the vicious waters, with cracking and crashing of metal, trees, etc., and of the smell for days afterward. This proves it really doesn’t matter how many computers, satellites, robots or electronic brains we have. Mother Nature will ALWAYS have the last word!
🎹
P. Ann O’Player
(Aka Stacie May)
