The Night The Mountain Fell: The Story of the Montana-Yellowstone Earthquake

By Edmund Christopherson

This is an informative and gripping account of the 1959 Hebgen Lake earthquake, also known as the 1959 Yellowstone earthquake, which struck in southwestern Montana on August 17 at 11:37 pm (MST). The earthquake measured 7.3-7.5 on the Richter magnitude scale and caused a huge landslide, leaving 28 people dead and causing US $11 million (1959) in damage.

The slide blocked the flow of the Madison River resulting in the creation of Quake Lake, and effects of the earthquake were also felt in Idaho and Wyoming. It was the strongest and deadliest earthquake to hit Montana since the 1935-36 Helena earthquakes and caused the worst landslides in the history of the Northwestern United States since 1927.

With numerous illustrations and color photographs, and eyewitness accounts help to tell the story.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Golden Springs Publishing
• Release date: Aug 9, 2016
• ISBN: 9781787200333

Edmund Christopherson

Ed Christopherson (1903-1974) was a professional author and magazine writer whose articles about Montana, the Northwest, and other subjects appeared in The Saturday Evening Post, Holiday, This Week Magazine, Mademoiselle, Reader’s Digest, The New York Times, Congressional Record, etc. Christopherson went to West Yellowstone (they called it “Shookville”) the day after the quake, gathering first-hand accounts from survivors there, and flew and walked over the slide in Ennis and elsewhere in the quake area. He also spent months researching and correlating what turned out to be “The Night The Mountain Fell.”

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Text originally published in 1960 under the same title.

© Pickle Partners Publishing 2016, all rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted by any means, electrical, mechanical or otherwise without the written permission of the copyright holder.

Publisher’s Note

Although in most cases we have retained the Author’s original spelling and grammar to authentically reproduce the work of the Author and the original intent of such material, some additional notes and clarifications have been added for the modern reader’s benefit.

We have also made every effort to include all maps and illustrations of the original edition the limitations of formatting do not allow of including larger maps, we will upload as many of these maps as possible.

THE NIGHT THE MOUNTAIN FELL:

THE STORY OF THE MONTANA-YELLOWSTONE EARTHQUAKE

BY

EDMUND CHRISTOPHERSON

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Contents

TABLE OF CONTENTS 4

ABOUT THE AUTHOR 5

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 6

FOREWORD AND DEDICATION 7

REAL SHOOK 9

TRAPPED 19

OUTSIDE WORLD 28

FIRST PATROL 34

CD’S PUZZLE 39

RESCUE—-FIRST MD 41

CD WRAPUP 50

UNTRAPPED 56

MYSTERY—-WHO GOT IT? 62

CD AND NATURAL DISASTERS 69

AFTERMATH 74

LIVING GEOLOGY 77

NOW YOU CAN SEE 87

REQUEST FROM THE PUBLISHER 94

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Ed Christopherson was a professional author and magazine writer whose articles about Montana, the Northwest, and other subjects appear in The Saturday Evening Post, Holiday, This Week Magazine, Mademoiselle, Reader’s Digest, The New York Times, Congressional Record, etc.

Born in Ohio, he began his writing career in New York. His introduction to the Mountain Northwest came through a season as a Forest Service Smoke jumper. After several years in New York, he picked exciting and scenic Western Montana as the center of his regional writing activities.

Christopherson went to West Yellowstone (they called it Shookville) the day after the quake. He got firsthand accounts from survivors there, and in Ennis, flew and walked over the slide and elsewhere in the quake area, and since has spent months researching and correlating what turned out to be The Night The Mountain Fell.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Illustrations and maps by DeLynn Colvert except for page 56, which was done by Beverly Linley

FOREWORD AND DEDICATION

To those who experienced, suffered the helping and the helped, the surviving and the lost all members of the involuntary fellowship of the Montana-Yellowstone Earthquake; to those who come to see and wonder; and especially to those who assisted in this book’s realization, The Night the Mountain Fell is cordially dedicated.

REAL SHOOK

AUGUST IS A BUSY MONTH in the exciting mountain vacation area that centers in West Yellowstone, Montana, and includes Yellowstone National Park, the restored ghost town of Virginia City, the nationally famous trout fishing reach of Madison Canyon that runs through the Gallatin National Forest, plus dude ranches and lakes in the parts of Montana, Wyoming and Idaho where the three states come together.

Geologically, it’s a new area, where enormous forces are still thrusting up mountains, where volcanic craters still exist, and where the heat of the earth still spouts its imprisoned fury through the geysers that have made Yellowstone Park’s Firehole Basin famous.

At 11:37 P. M. on Monday, August 17, 1959, one of the severest earthquakes recorded on the North American continent shook this area. It sent gigantic tidal waves surging down the 7-mile length of Hebgen Lake, throwing an enormous quantity of water over the top of Hebgen Dam, the way you can slosh water out of a dishpan, still keeping it upright. This water—described as a wall 20 ft. high—swept down the narrow Madison Canyon, full of campers and vacationers who were staying in dude ranches and at three Forest Service campgrounds along the seven-mile stretch from the dam to the point where the canyon opened up into rolling wheat and grazing land. Just about the time this surge of water reached the mouth of the canyon, half of a 7,600-ft.-high mountain came crashing down into the valley and cascaded, like water, up the opposite canyon wall, hurtling house-size quartzite and dolomite boulders onto the lower portion of Rock Creek Campground.

This slide dammed the river and forced the surging water—carrying trees, mud, and debris, back into the Campground. The campers who’d escaped being crushed under part of the 44 million cubic yards (80 million tons) of rock found themselves picked up and thrown against trees, cars, trailers, the side of the canyon, etc. Heavy, 4,000 pound cars were tossed 40 ft. and smashed against trees by the force of the ricocheting water and the near-hurricane velocity wind created by the mountainfall. Other cars were scrunched to suitcase thickness and thrown out from under the slide.

And the water stayed—held by the

Reviews for The Night The Mountain Fell

[merrymary_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

The story of the 1960 Yellowstone Park earthquake. I was a child living in Billings, Montana at the time - and I remember it vividly. A lot of photos and first-hand reports, eye-witness accounts. My first knowlege of natural disasters.

[Mike Gilbert · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

An excellent telling of an amazing sequence of events. I highly recommend this book.

[Daniel Doss · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Very dramatic read. Also the science of tectonics was explained. I read this book years ago when my father purchased it while on a vacation through Yellowstone. I enjoyed it then as I enjoyed it now. Thank you!

[jbarr5 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The Night the Mountain Fell: The Story of the Montana-Yellowstone Earthquake by Edmund Christopherson Never realized this had happeend. Also didn't know that there were so many areas effected by this. Stories of those who were there and what they were doing along with watching what others around them were doing when it struck and afterwards.Very tragic.