![]() ![]() ![]() The massive 7. If you are interested in learning more about the earthquake, Michael Wright recently wrote a poignant article about survivors of the disaster. - This Saturday night, at 11:35 p.m., will mark the 60th anniversary of the largest earthquake ever recorded in the Rocky Mountains. Today there is also a visitor’s center and a memorial to those who lost their lives in the earthquake. Dead bleached trees which had been–until 60 years ago–growing from the mountainside now rise from the surface of the lake. Quake Lake itself–only 1/4 mile wide and in some places more than 120 feet deep–still has an eeriness to it. The landslide left a jagged scar across the canyon, which the highway cuts through. As the water rose behind the new dam, the Army Corps of Engineers rushed to cut a spillway through the landslide debris.Īs you drive from Ennis to West Yellowstone, the marks of the quake are still obvious. They were evacuated over the next few days. Quake Lake, a lake created in 1959 by a landslide across the Madison River from an earthquake under Hebgen Lake, Montana, near. There was a campground on the river below Hebgen Dam, and around 250 people found themselves trapped in the canyon, between Hebgen Dam on the east and the landslide dam on the west. Just north of the Montana-Idaho border, Quake Lake is about 24 miles from West Yellowstone, Montana, on Highway 287. The landslide crashed into the Madison River about six miles downstream from Hebgen Dam, completely blocking the river. A 7.3 earthquake sent 80 million tons of earth and rock barreling down into the canyon toward the Madison River at 100 mph. It was felt as far away as Salt Lake City, it altered the geysers of Yellowstone National Park, and affected the water levels of wells as far away as Hawaii and Puerto Rico.Īt Hebgen Lake itself, near the epicenter, the quake caused a 50 million cubic yard landslide that rushed down the side of Sheep Mountain at as much as 100 miles per hour and created hurricane force winds. Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America (1962) 52 (2): 153162. The Hebgen Lake, Montana Earthquake of August 17, 1959. The devastating 7.2 quake caused more than 28 deaths. Just upstream of Quake Lake is Hebgen Dam, an 85 feet tall embankment with central concrete core completed from 1910 to 1915 by the Montana Power Company. Montana’s largest recorded earthquake was the 1959 quake at Hebgen Lake, on the Madison River south of Ennis. Quake Lake was formed when a massive landslide blocked the Madison River river canyon in 20 seconds on that fateful night. Most of these are are so small as to go entirely unnoticed, but occasionally the state experiences serious earthquakes. The epicenter of the magnitude 7. As a result of the ISB, Montana ranks in the top 10 most seismically active states–we tend to experience 7-10 tremors a day. The Hebgen Lake earthquakethe largest and deadliest earthquake recorded in Montana and the Intermountain Westoccurred at 11:37 p.m. Montana sits atop the Intermountain Seismic Belt (ISB), which is a 60 mile wide belt of earthquake-prone geology following the Rocky Mountains from Flathead Lake down all the way into Nevada. When we talk about Montana’s earth-shattering history, we mean that very literally. ![]()
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