The night the world shook: Remembering the 1959 Hebgen Lake Earthquake
Part 1: Survivors tell their stories when a mountain slid into the Madison River Canyon
https://www.kbzk.com/news/the-night-the-world-shook-remembering-the-1959-hebgen-lake-earthquake
Quake Lake Mont. - This Saturday night, at 11:35 p.m., will mark the 60th anniversary of the largest earthquake ever recorded in the Rocky Mountains.
The massive 7.3 quake took 28 lives and changed the landscape just west of Yellowstone National Park along the Madison River.
The power of this earthquake was immense. The old riverbed of the Madison is now underneath the waters of Quake Lake. The area was filled in with 80 million tons of debris that came from a nearby mountain. The rocks, the size of houses, came down with the slide landing on the far side of the canyon, in just a matter of seconds.
We dont believe that earthquakes can get much larger in this region, said Mike Stickney, Director of Earthquake Studies for Montana Tech in Butte.
Books and articles have been written about the tragedy. Most have something in common. They feature photos taken by John Owen, who was 15 at the time of the quake. He was in a vacation cabin with his family that night and still remembers being jolted awake.
I was thrown off the couch onto the floor, Owen said, recalling the fateful night.
Fearing the Hebgen Dam would burst after the quake, the owner of the resort where the Owen family was staying told his guests to flee to nearby high ground. And before long there was just a stream of cars coming in, Owen said.
250 people made their way to what was later named Refuge Point.
Right about dawn, then Dad said, Here take the camera, go take some pictures, Owen said.
The massive landslide pushed a wave of air in front of it at 100 miles an hour. It swept one man away, never to be found, and it ripped the clothing right off one survivor. You know, its the human story to hear how some families were separated, said Joanne Girvan, Director, Earthquake Lake Visitor Center . Stories like how three children survived but their parents were killed by a giant rock. A mother and one child who survived while her husband and three other children perished.