City of Bisbee General Plan Update

Opportunities and Constraints
would be flooded. It is not known how effective this flood control system was,
but by 1903, the citizens of Bisbee determined that a more reliable form of
flood management was necessary.
By February 17, 1904 a new "subway" or wood-covered flood control channel
was constructed that ran through the downtown district. The subway,
constructed by the Copper Queen Mining Company, was completed just prior
to the August 6, 1904 flood. The channel was successful in protecting the
town from serious flooding. However, the storm waters brought huge
boulders and a large quantity of sediment debris, which was deposited
throughout the lower reach of the channel.
On August 24, 1908, Bisbee was struck with its most devastating flood. This
flood nearly destroyed the entire downtown area. As recorded in the Bisbee
Review (Aug 25, 1908) “wooden top, loaded with several tons on the surface
of the street, was hurled like a barricade across Main Street."
On December 8, 1908, a $53,000 contract was awarded to the El Paso and
Southwestern Railroad Company, to construct a new concrete channel that
would control the flood waters more effectively. A portion of this new concrete
channel would run underground behind the buildings on the south side of
Main Street, connect with an inlet located on the street surface that collects
the flows coming down Brewery Gulch, and continue in the underground
channel down along Naco Road. This 80 year-old channel, the Mule Gulch
Channel, still exists today and is the primary means of flood protection for the
historic downtown area of Old Bisbee.
On July 14, 1986, Bisbee was declared a State Disaster Area after the town
was pummeled with three-quarter inch hail and three inches of rain, in less
than one hour. The town suffered damages throughout the downtown area.
The storm claimed a human life when an individual was swept down Brewery
Gulch and into an underground culvert, by the rapid moving floodwaters. As a
result of the 1986 flood, the City of Bisbee made a request for the U.S Army
Corps of Engineers to initiate a study to investigate the town's flooding
problems. Subsequent studies by the Corps and the City of Bisbee revealed
that the channel was undersized, severely deteriorated and poses a high
probability of failure. In 1999, the City of Bisbee solicited emergency funding
from the state and federal government after monsoon rains caused flooding
and damaged the channel. With $1.4 million in funding obtained, the City
began construction of the initial phase of channel rehabilitation in April 2001.
City of Bisbee General Plan Update 2003
19 Volume I, Data and Analysis