1965 Flood

It had been raining for two weeks previous to the big storm so the ground was very saturated. On June 16, 1965 it started raining late morning and 14 inches of rain fell in five hours time. The storm started in Palmer Lake where there was a tornado reported. One can still see the washouts or water spouts as they were called along the hillsides in Greenland, on Dawson Butte, and on Hunt Mountain.

Old Larkspur located down by the Rio Grande RR tracks along Frink Road was severely damaged or totally destroyed. The Frink dairy was 1/3 destroyed, the club house East of Spruce Mountain Road south of town was washed away.

Most of the homes along Frink road had three to four feet of water in them. In Greenland the Allis Ranch sustained severe damage and the milk house was washed away. The rail road tracks were washed out at Greenland as well as the bridge across the creek. All bridges in Larkspur were gone so the only way out was by helicopter. The Santa Fe trestle was not washed out so if you could walk the RR tracks you could get across to the other side.

Many ranches lost valuable topsoil the Noe ranch lost about 35 acres of land. The Carlson Frink Creamery was never rebuilt as it was winding down operations anyway. Most of Larkspur business are now on higher ground and located on Spruce Mountain Road.