Quake Lake, Montana

July 24th,

I can't begin to explain the feeling you get when you visit Quake Lake. For those of you that don't know this was a massive earth quake that happened on August 17, 1959 at 11:37PM. I can only hope that the people who lost their lives that night were fast asleep and didn't realize what was happening. At the visitor center we visited it said it took less than one minute for 300 feet of rock and debri to have buried what was underneath it.

28 people lost their lives in the quake that night and hundreds of others were left without homes and vehicles and transportation out of the area. Homes that were upstream from the quake were washed away in the flood waters of Hebgen Lake. It really is an awesome place to visit but one that leaves you with an eery feeling. My grandparents were camping at the campground at this time and it took 5 days for help to get them out because the road had been destroyed.

Here is an excerpt regarding the quake.

Aug. 17 1959 at 11:37 p.m. At that time, the Red Canyon fault and the Hebgen fault, both in the Madison River area, moved simultaneously and triggered an earthquake that measured 7.5 on the Richter scale. That earthquake forced a massive landslide that screamed down mountains and hills at about 100 miles per hour. Tons of rocks and earth crashed into Madison Canyon. The results were catastrophic. The force of the slide caused a flood and high winds swept a giant wave downstream. Five people died in the flood alone. The landslide killed another 28 people. It also dropped the north shore of Hebgen Lake 19 feet. Cabins on the shore washed into the water as huge waves crested over Hebgen Dam. Three sections of Highway 287 fell into the lake, the dam cracked in at least four places and hundreds of campers were trapped. The landslide eventually stopped, essentially damming the Madison River and creating Earthquake, or “Quake Lake,” a 190-foot deep, six mile long lake stocked with German and Brown Trout.

Over looking where the slide had happened.
Remember this boulder, it slid from the other side of the mountain and landed here. The information in the center said that it never rolled or broke any part of rock from its body it was still all intact, so they knew it slid all the way to were it sits now.

Here is the rock and where it landed. Below is the mountain where it came from. Keep in mind they are on opposite sides of the highway. It was an impressive distance for sure.

My Family!

Josh and Huntyr standing next to the boulder

John and Joann (Josh's parents)

Josh and I

Kandi and Rogers

The slide area

This is a reminder for me of the lives that were lost, you can see all the tree's that were once here now buried deep in the water.