The flood of July 26, 1885, like that of May 22, 1878, was not caused by a general storm, but by local rains over the drainage basin of Cherry Creek, as the available records showed no heavy precipita-
tion throughout Colorado The Rocky Mountain News, July 27, 1885, mentions the floods of 1864 and 1878 as the two great floods prior to that of 1885.

Local rains over the drainage of Cherry Creek in Douglas County caused “white capped waves [which] surged down in their mighty anger, threatening to engulf everything in their way, carrying on their surface huge timbers and debris from ill-fated bridges and buildings” in the area of the Larimer Street Bridge in Denver. (Rocky Mountain News, July 27, 1885)

--Follansbee, Robert and Leon R. Sawyer. "Floods in Colorado." USGS. 1948.

"A big washout near Douglas [just south of Castle Rock] caused considerable delay with trains on the D.&R.G. last Wednesday. The frequent storms are causing enormous expenses to the company this summer."

--Castle Rock Jounal, July 29, 1885.

Although considerable damage occurred in both Denver and Colorado Springs, Douglas County seems to have escaped most of the destruction.