this June 5 2009 will be 33 Years Since the Teton Dam Broke , Flooding the Upper Snake River Valley with 80 Billions of Water between St.Anthony - Roberts - Idaho Falls - Blackfoot and to American Falls . It was the Worst Disaster this area had ever seen , so i think it is only fitting to relive Part of History that happen in this area and what occured .
11:57 A.M. June 5,1976 is a date that will fore ever be etched in my mind. This was on a Saturday,while i was Roadmaster at Idaho Falls. I was on Weekend duty , I had the Radio on and was listening to Music, When a flash Bullentin was Announced " The Teton Dam has Breached "
I quickly got ahold of the Train Dispacher and told him to stop all trains on the 4th Subdivison, as all of our Locals were just coming on Duty at Idaho Falls, Then i got ahold of My Section Forman
at Newdale. I told him what was up and told him to check the Bridge just above Newdale. The Bridge was a 3 Span Tresel Bridge about 75 Ft. High. He called in about 15 Minutes in a Shook up voice , Saying the bridge no longer exsists, its been washed away .I knew right away the Crap had hit the Fan.
The Superindent Ed May and my Chief Engineer were at Sun Valley at a shippers convention. so i called and got ahold of them . They told me to hang tight in the Office, they called back in 15 Minutes and said there is a helicopter awaiting at the Idaho Falls Airport for me and they wanted me in the air to give them a quick assement of where i thought we would lose our railroad , We was over Sugar city just as the flood hit Sugar City . We witness what you could call a war zone . The destruction was un believable .when we got back to idaho falls , the Estimate that i gave to them was within 1 Mile of What Occured. We was able to restore all the Railroad track in seven days , It was a feat never before done on the union Pacic railroad. One day we unloaded 1200 car of ballast and one day between Sugar city and Rexburg we laid 2 miles of Track panels .The Railroad had the Laramie Panel yards working 24 hour shifts in trying to stay ahead of us. also the Simplot ballast plant at Pocatello was on a 24 hour Shift . We worked 7 days in a row with 18 hour days . when we had completed our task the railroad back into sevice .Ed May , Our Superindent brought all the section Gangs in the San Piper at Idaho Falls to buy super which was a very big Rib Steak. He singled me out , Saying that we had a man who worked like a horse in restoring the Railroad and by golly he was going to feed me like a horse, he had another steak even bigger than the First one and placed it before me ( I ate both of Them )
Onething that i would like to focus on, People always said that Idaho Falls was somehow spared major damage, But Local New 8 had a great quote from T.J.Wadworth who said "( Idaho Falls was) the City that saved itself because from major damage by the virtue of over 10,000 residents showing up to sand bag the River Banks , you can imagine what would have happened if those residents had not worked so quickly. Blackfoot down the rive sustained major flooding
another thing that i have thought over and over is what would have happened if the dam had broke at night when ever body was asleep instead of at noon . I shudder to think of what the impact of the flood would have been then
As you Look at the Story of the teton Dam Flood ,when you look at the story if you view the
Pages as they come up , if you click on them , It will enlarge the Print so that you can easily read the Pages
