If you are new to the region, this may be news for you. The “old-timers” can tell you it is nothing new. I ran across this story from July, 1891 and thought it interesting. This is what a Denver newspaper carried:

“No estimate can be made of the damage done to the Rio Grande railways during the rain storms of the past two days. The center of the state is still storming. The Colorado Midland has also reported to be in a terrible condition in the mountains and no trains have gotten through. The wires, too, are down and no correct information of the condition can be secured.

“The trains are sitting at the stations as if abandoned. During the storm yesterday additional damage was done to the Rio Grande, in which a bridge was washed out south of Fountain and several feet of track was washed out near Pinon. Service on the Rio Grande’s Manitou branch between Colorado Springs and Manitou is shut down.The bridge over Monument Creek is damaged in Colorado Springs.

“A flood swept down the Arkansas starting up near Salida but was calmed down considerably as it passed Canon City. All of the roads operating between Denver and Pueblo are reporting to be more or less damaged south of Palmer Lake. Even the Rock Island is closed west of Limon.

“There were no mails received in mountain towns on Thursday, owing to the washout on the Rio Grande east of Salida, six hundred yards of track being washed away. The Pueblo train due at Colorado Springs at 2:40 pm Thursday did not reach there until about 9 o’clock Friday morning. Five miles of the Midland track in Eleven Mile canon will require three days to repair it. The Rio Grande mail from Pueblo came this morning about 6 o’clock, seventeen hours late. Today’s mail is expected on time, if there are no more washouts.”

Remember, most trains carried the mail, and you had to go to the post office to get it in most towns. Home delivery was unheard-of. Telegraph was the main source of news as the telephones were just serving some areas.