Hell or High Water: Floods of Douglas County's First 140 Years

1864 | 1885 | 1912 | 1921 | 1933 | 1935 | 1965 | 1973 | 1983 | Main

August 3, 1933

Castlewood Dam, some eight miles east of Castle Rock on Cherry Creek, burst under the tremendous pressure of a cloudburst which caused an unlimited amount of water to flow into the reservoir from Cherry Creek, East Cherry, and Antelope Creeks [at] about midnight Wednesday. This let loose a fifteen to twenty foot wall of water onto the Cherry Creek valley, several small villages and the lowland sections of Denver. (Castle Rock Record-Journal, August 4, 1933)

Castlewood Canyon Dam Virtual Tour

"The Night the Dam Gave Way: A Diary of Personal Accounts" (.pdf)