The park is home to the dreaded Yellowstone Volcano – a supervolcano that gets its name because of its ability to cause worldwide destruction in the event of an eruption. Located below the states of Wyoming, Montana and Idaho, the area is constantly monitored by the USGS (Geological Survey of the United States) for signs that such an eruption is underway. However, on the evening of August 17, 1959, geologists were secured outside Hebgen Lake, which would inadvertently create a new lake on the Madison River after a landslide.
The devastating 7.3 magnitude quake killed 28 people and caused more than £ 9million (£ 200million today) in damage, and the stories of the survivors are nothing short of sober.
Historian Larry Morris recalls the gripping minute-by-minute saga in his book ‘The 1959 Yellowstone Earthquake Disaster’.
He describes an account and writes: ‘Air Force officer Victor James said:’ I heard a terrible rumble and looked up.
” I saw the whole mountain crawl. It was awful.
“‘I saw a lot of fighting in World War II, but I’ve never heard such a roar.'”
According to the text, another survivor said, “The roar sounds like the end of the world.”
Mr. Morris went through in detail how one of the campers got inches from death.
He added: “Camps in the Madison River Canyon in Montana, Irene and Purley (pub) Bennett and her four children had settled down a few hours earlier, and were looking forward to a spectacular full moon when they fell asleep. .
“Then Irene and Pud woke up to an ‘incredibly rumbling sound’.
Read more: ‘Ground could blow up every minute’ How huge Yellowstone earthquake puts USGS on alert
Their tent was half buried, but her husband Ray managed to grab the hand of her son Steve and save him just in time.
Greene told an enlightened nurse in 2009: ‘I was the happiest person there.
“I was busy. I did not have to worry about what had happened or what would happen.”
After only three weeks, the damned river made it a little over 50 meters deep, which now covers an area five miles long and a third of a mile wide.
Jack Epstein, a geologist emeritus with the USGS, was working as a field assistant in Montana when the earthquake struck and he was immediately alerted to investigate.
As fate would have it, his team’s campsite was essentially at the epicenter, on a hill overlooking Hebgen Lake.
His mapping project was temporarily put into use, and Mr. Epstein spent the next few weeks escorting with various teams of geologists in the area.
Despite the human toll, Earth processes were displayed in an unusual way, and the team had to take advantage of them.
He said in 2008: “It was a wonderful opportunity for a beginning geologist.”
Today, tourists to the area can stop by the Earthquake Lake Visitor Center, located 27 miles north of West Yellowstone to experience the horrors of more than half a century ago.
‘The 1959 Yellowstone Earthquake Disaster’ was published by The History Press in 2016 and is on sale here.
