All Local, All The Time
All Local, All The Time
Bad luck seemed to follow King Blanton, who survived one weather-related catastrophe only to be killed by another. He was fatally crushed beneath his mail wagon during a lightning storm when his horse panicked and tipped it over on him.
Residents of Boulder County have long endured the volatile moods of Mother Nature, including the Blizzard of 1913 that dropped four feet of snow in just two days. There were years when swarms of grasshoppers descended, devouring everything from crops to window curtains to paint on the walls.
Today, we no longer experience swarms of locusts, and the deep snows of the last century have diminished as Colorado's climate continues to change. Yet like our predecessors, we still suffer from Colorado's infamous winds. There isn't one among us who hasn't experienced a windstorm that frayed our nerves or damaged our property. Consider the gale in April 1912, when 85-mph winds swept through Boulder County.
Although Niwot itself was only slightly inconvenienced with an annoying disruption of phone service, the April 19th edition of the Niwot Weekly News included several stories describing destruction elsewhere.
Denver suffered about $100,000 in damage from broken windows, fires, and demolished homes. The Mitchell-Monarch Mine tipple south of Louisville went up in flames, and reports from Loveland stated that the collapse of their State Mercantile building was imminent. In addition, there were significant delays in train schedules due to drifting sand on the tracks.
All but one of the oil derricks in the Boulder Oil Field southwest of Niwot collapsed in the high winds, and a Colorado Refining Company oil tank was blown onto the railroad tracks at 63rd Street. Niwot section foreman Juan Apodaca's crews worked all night to clear the tracks of debris.
Because spring planting had just ended, some farmers reported that their seed had been blown out of the ground, and sprouting plants were completely destroyed. Others took a more optimistic view, however, predicting that with a good rain, their losses would be minimal. In fact, they had already begun replanting spring wheat where the damage was greatest.
King Blanton, Niwot's rural mail carrier, was injured when the wind caught his wagon and slammed it upside down against a fence. He attempted to keep it upright by standing on the step, but was knocked to the ground and sprained his back. The mail wagon was badly damaged and his faithful horse "Bill" was cut by barbed wire, but both were back to work within days with a borrowed buggy.
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