The park is home to the terrifying Yellowstone Caldera – a name derived from the ability of supervisors to bring global destruction in the event of an eruption. Located below the states of Wyoming, Montana and Idaho, the area is being monitored by the USGS (United States Geological Survey) for indications that such an eruption is occurring. But, geologists became a protector during the earthquake of Lake Hebgen on the evening of 17 gen Gust, 1959, which would inevitably create a new lake on the Madison River after the landslide.
A magnitude 7.5 earthquake shook the region and killed at least 28 people and injured more than 9 9 million (200 200 or આજે 266 million today).
Historian Larry Morris remembers a one-minute minimal saga in his book The 1959 Yellowstone Earthquake Disaster.
Giving an account, he wrote: “Victor James, an Air Force warrant officer, said: ‘I heard a terrible mess and I saw it.
“’I saw the whole mountain broken. It was horrible.
“‘I saw a lot of fighting during World War 2, but I never heard such a roar.”
According to the text, another survivor said: “Smoke sounds like the end of the world.”
Mr Morris went into detail on how one of the visitors came within a death inch.
He added: “The Madison River Canyon in Montana, Irene and Purley (Pudd) Bennett and their four children settled down just a few days ago, watching a spectacular full moon when they fell asleep.
“Then Irene and Pudd woke up to an ‘incredible thumping sound’.
“Pud shouted, ‘What’s going on?’ He stood still but was caught in the glitter of wind, rocks and water.
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“Then the landslide rushed into the Madison River, hanging the river from its bed and damaging the 30-foot waves up and down the stream.”
And the campers felt the full force of the waves.
When the Madison River was displaced, a huge wall of mud water and debris flowed into their camp.
Mr Morris added: “The Bennett family at the bottom of the avalanche was hit by a tsunami.
“When she approached, Irene had a face on the bank of the river, not pinned or soaked under a pine tree, shivering wet and cold.
“Her whole body felt bruised and bloody, her lips swollen.”
Thankfully the Bennett family was rescued by emergency workers responding to the disaster.
Today, tourists can hang out in the area via the Earthquake Lake Visitor Center, located 27 miles north of west Yellowstone, and to amaze the horrors of more than half a century.
‘1959 Yellowstone Earthquake Disaster’ was published by History Press in 2016 and is available for purchase here.
