 In white man's history, there'd never been a flood in the Big Thompson Canyon. But on a cool July evening in 1976, 11 inches of rain fell in less than an hour. And the water rose over 30 feet, raging down through the canyon, destroying everything in its path. That night, I chanced to sit near a couple of highway patrolmen drinking coffee in a truck stop, and they were discussing a fellow trooper who had been killed in the flood. It seems Kenneth Purdy had been told to seek higher ground, but instead had turned his car and raced the water down the canyon, saving dozens of lives before it finally caught him.