A Short History of Floods in Washoe Valley
By Richard Cooper, January 19, 2021
A History of Floods
Washoe Valley lies east of the Carson Range section of the Sierra Nevada Mountains and is in a classic “rain shadow” where storms are forced up, compress and release most of their moisture on the west side. Usually what remains to be pushed over into Washoe Valley is a small remnant of the storm. Once in awhile though, enough moisture is present to overwhelm the structures of man and nature.
The recent weather which caused Jumbo Creek at the corner of Clark and Magpie in New Washoe City to briefly top its banks got me interested in writing this article. So let’s recount Nature’s exuberance and man’s folly over the over the years.
The earliest accounts are from about 1852 when Slide Mountain gave way in much the same it did again in 1983. Mark Twain wrote it up, probably with his usual hyperbole but it is said this event gave it the “cleaved” appearance and name. There was once an immigrant trail between Washoe Valley and Lake Tahoe through this gap in the mountains and one story relates that eight people with wagons were passing by and 5 were buried. their bones are still there. It seems surprising, especially if you have hiked the Ophir Creek trail from Davis Creek Park up toward Price and Rock lakes that a wagon road was possible. But I have seen another old newspaper article that stated wagon wheels have been found at the bottom of Price Lake. But I digress, that is a story for another time.
This slide also reached the base of the valley and laid down a layer of silt on at least two ranches. Other, more minor slides occurred since. William E. Price took Sophia Lake at the base of the slide area and dammed its outlet with local granite and decomposed granite enlarging it with a 200' dam. He ran a lumber and ice business and changed the lake’s name to Price’s Ice Lake. Harvesting ice was a popular business in the wintertime Sierras and that too, is a topic for a future article. (Moreno, RGJ, 2June1983)
The dam broke in 1876, 1880 and again on July 6, 1890 sending mud and debris out onto the Washoe Valley plain, destroying whatever lay in it’s path including valuable topsoil. In the 1880 account, at 8 pm, 3 miles of flume and a house were carried away the occupants barely escaping. A V&T bridge was wiped out, the Ophir Mill tailings pile swept away and the mill closed for good. In 1890, from the witness descriptions at Price lake, each flood may have been caused by further slides landing in the lake. They described a 30 foot wave crossing the lake and breaching the dam. Again, the debris covered the V&T tracks and delayed trains for 16 hours until men with shovels finally cleared away the silt.
Franktown Destroyed
The years 1880 and 1881 must have be particularly wet as floods ravaged California and Nevada. On February 2nd, 1881 the Little Valley Dam burst destroying the hamlet of Franktown. Built by several ranchers in the valley to provide consistent water in the summer, the dam was described as a mile long, three quarters of a mile wide and 50 feet deep in the New York Times article describing the disaster. The deluge was feared and attempts were made to drain the waters in a controlled fashion as townsfolk evacuated below with what belongings they could carry. But the dam burst all at once carrying a dozen men down the Franktown Creek canyon with it. All miraculously managed to scramble up the steep banks to safety. The wood frame town was swept away along with a mile of V&T track. Later, the ranchers not involved in the reservoir endeavor sued the owners for damages. (NYT 03Feb1881)
In 1889 a privately owned dam above Johnstown, Pennsylvania gave way destroying the town and killing over 2200 residents. That pretty much ended the era of unregulated, private dams. The Price Lake and Little Valley Dams were never rebuilt (Hobart Reservoir in Little Valley is a small remnant) and downstream dwellers have been safer ever since. From the 1890s to 1983, Washoe Valley was spared major flood disasters (with a notable local exception).
Slide Mountain Slides Again!
From the Reno Gazette Journal:
“Tom Reed looked out the kitchen window of his home on Ophir Creek curious about the low rumble coming from the mountains. He saw a “massive wall of mud coming down the hill uprooting trees like they were matchsticks.” Instinctively he yelled at everyone in his under construction home to run and a mad scramble ensued out the front door and away. Not comprehending what was happening they all ran the right way by chance and looking back saw their home, trucks and everything swept away. It was Memorial Day, May 30, 1983. A sunny warm holiday weekend. Nearby, Davis Creek Park was full of campers and picnickers. Without warning, a huge section of Slide Mountain broke away, splashed into Upper and Lower Price Lakes where the water propelled the slide material down the creekbed scouring out even more debris on the way down. In 8 minutes, 1 person was killed, 6 injured, 4 homes were destroyed and 6 damaged. Old Highway 395 was wiped out where it crossed Ophir Creek and 600 yards of the new Highway 395 was covered and closed. Geologists say there is much more loose material on the mountain and the next slide could happen at any time.”
Floods Strike New Washoe City
Not long after, in February, 1986, what weather casters called “the storm of the century” hit and a massive rainstorm combined with melting snow overwhelmed the drainages of New Washoe City. The neighborhood was developed in the early 1960s and what drainage systems were put in place were inadequate and neglected, many filled in or choked with brush.
Water rushed down Jumbo Creek to Eastlake Blvd washing out culverts and destroying yards. It combined with runoff from other minor drainages in the hills to inundate the area around Partridge and Coot Drives, flooding homes and washing out yards. A car on Eastlake Blvd was swept into the ditch on its side and the driver and her dog were rescued by neighbors from the swirling waters. The neighborhood recovered and Washoe County crews repaired roads and culverts.
Then, only five months later, A severe thunderstorm hit the hills in the area of Jumbo Grade and produced new flooding of residences and yards with mud. Some of the same houses flooded in February received another 2 inches of mud inside. Residents contended the county replaced the infrastructure previously damaged with culverts sized the same- too small.
This time, residents met in a community meeting to demand changes be made and the stricken homeowners filed a lawsuit against the county. Without admitting guilt, the county acknowledged the need for a major flood control project in the Jumbo Creek drainage after two 100 year floods in 6 months. Since then, much work has been done to enlarge not only the creek drainage but roadside drains and cross property water courses. The county still has an ongoing program to clean ditches and line some with riprap.
On side note, I have heard that a private dam up Jumbo Grade burst and caused the flooding. One RGJ article of 24 July 1986 says that after the storm the 40 foot wide dam was inspected and that while it did not burst, it did not hold back the water either. The article goes on to explain the dam on BLM land was private because the owner owned the water rights and it had an unknown history. It’s my guess that faced with maintenance, ownership and liability issues, the dam has been removed.
Again, in August of 1991 mud flowed into New Washoe City homes as another downpour in the hills created a flash flood. An inch of rain in 20 minutes inundated the area of Brenda and Cottontail. Eventually the flood control infrastructure was improved.
Still, we continue to have weather events that cause concern. Since then we have had “The Flood of ‘97”. Another major warm storm hit in January bringing snow melting rains that caused havoc throughout the region. My wife and I were living at North Lake Tahoe at the time and had to fly out to New Jersey on a family emergency. We made last minute reservations at Sacramento as the Reno airport was closed due to flooding. On the day of departure, we discovered that the only road open out of the Tahoe basin was Highway 50 to Carson City so that’s the way went to go to Sacramento. Highway 395 was closed so we had to detour through New Washoe City and that was our first experience with our neighborhood. Finally we reached Interstate 80 in Reno and arrived at the Sacramento airport with minutes to spare. The flooding was a big deal regionally but I did not see any news items that specifically mentioned Washoe Valley so the new drainage facilities must have been adequate.
Our last flood event was in November 2017. The New Washoe City neighborhood on the east side of Washoe Lake was threatened as Jumbo Creek reached it’s crest. Some yards in the flats were flooded when some of the water took a long forgotten watercourse. But for the most part, the drainage improvements made over the years was adequate and damage was limited.
