The storm hit the central mountain mining districts of the Colorado Territory early in the evening on Sunday, May 21, 1876, and it just kept coming.
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- May 21–27
This story is part of Colorado at 150.
“At first it seemed a weak attempt at a spring shower, but by midnight it had turned into a terrific snow fall, accompanied by some wind,” reported the Rocky Mountain News. By Monday afternoon, when the telegraph lines to Georgetown and Central City cut out, over a foot of snow had fallen and more was still coming down.
In Denver, snow and hail gave way to rain, “which from ordinary drops increased to perfect sheets of water,” the News recounted. The storm raged all Sunday night and into Monday afternoon, then eased up into a “steady drizzle, with an occasional brilliant spurt, into the evening.”…