Photo courtesy: Denver Water Board. (circa - 1890s) Four men appraise the damage caused by a recent flood.
In the mid-1800s the Native American tribe of Arapaho
Indians warned the settlers not to camp or build too close to the South Platte and
Cherry Creek Rivers. They were told those rivers, especially at the confluence
were prone to burst their banks during adverse conditions, causing devastation in their wake. Perhaps the
newcomers felt they knew better than the native people because over and over, their
built homes, businesses and railroads in inappropriate places regardless of the terrain.
