The caldera within the first national park in the USA receives its nickname of supervolcano due to its ability to inflict devastation worldwide. Located below the states of Wyoming, Montana and Idaho, the area is constantly monitored by the USGS (United States Geological Survey) for signs that a super eruption is on the way. While most of these incidents are not close to the levels necessary to trigger an eruption, the 1959 Lake Hebgen earthquake that occurred on August 17, 1959 was a different story.
The 7.3 magnitude earthquake caused massive damage, including 28 deaths and a considerable £ 9 million (£ 200,000,000 today) in road and lumber repairs.
Joann Smith, who was 11 at the time of the disaster, recalled the horror of the event in 2009.
She told the Denver Post: “It was scary, it was horrible.
“You could actually see the ground open up.”
The event caused a massive avalanche of rocks, dirt and trees, which descended from the south wall of the Madison River canyon at nearly 100 mph.
The 80 million tons of rock took less than a minute to crash into the narrow canyon, blocking the river and creating the lake.
The fallen material formed a wall that blocks the flow of the Madison River.
Visitor Tootie Greene was camping in Yellowstone that night with her family and recalled her terrifying experience.
She told the Forest Service in 2011: “We had been on vacation and this was our last week, and we camped just the day before the earthquake.
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“And Stephen (his son) had been sick, so he was at the same end as the tent with us, we had an 18 foot tent and when the earthquake started, it was like the ground with the waves of the ocean.
“The noise you can’t imagine, I looked through the store’s trap and saw this wall of water, rocks, trees and whatever, because it was a beautiful full moon night.
“But after that, you couldn’t see anything from the dust.”
Ms. Greene continued to reveal how her family attempted to flee the scene, but soon realized the gravity of the situation.
She added: “I yelled at Ray (her husband) ‘let’s get out of here’ and he reached out and grabbed Steve, who was just an arm and a head, because that part of the store had collapsed.
“We walked out of the store and I left a blank for a while, but the next thing I remember was having Steve in the front seat of the truck and Ray was trying to move him and he didn’t move.
“I don’t know how many people I cared for at the time, the mind has a wonderful way of forgetting things, as well as age.
“But we ended up looking after several people before someone said we had to get out of there because the dam was leaving [to collapse].
“So we went or the highway, because it was higher than the rest, we went up to where the refuge point is now, that’s where I took care of the injured people.”
The lake that the earthquake created now covers an area five miles long and a third of a mile wide.
Today, tourists visiting the area can stop by the Earthquake Lake Visitor Center, which is located 27 miles north of West Yellowstone to relive the horrors of more than half a century ago.
