I've been a pretty tough old bird, but I wouldn’t want to go through that again! Grace Miller

August 1959

Survival Tactics

Seventy-something-year-old Grace Miller was a self-professed “tough old bird.” When she found herself boating past her submerged home, which was sunk to the roofline in Hebgen lake, she responded to the situation with humor. “I hope it stays upright,”she quipped, “my teeth are still on the kitchen counter. Right next to the sink.”

Prior to the Disaster

Prior to the Hebgen Lake Earthquake, Grace Miller’s small lakeside home sat up the hillside from here---along the original lakeside. Miller ran the Hilgard Lodge---renting cabins and boats to vacationers. On the night of August 17,1959, she woke with a strange feeling she needed to get out of the house, immediately. When she and her malemute dog, Sandy, reached the door, she found it jammed shut.

Strengthened by adrenaline, she kicked the door open---only to find a five-foot gap between the stoop and the shore. As she and her dog leaped, the house dropped away behind them, sinking into the lake.

Now homeless and afoot, with the earth trembling all around, she knew she had to get to higher ground. She and Sandy headed cross-country. The dog stayed close to Miller, several times stopping her before she fell into crevices. They arrived at the Kirkwood Ranch, about a mile and a half away, in the early hours of the next morning.

Slides and Seiches

Grace Miller’s house (and other buildings at this site) were destroyed by the 20-foot seiches (pronounced saysh), waves that rolled back and forth across the lake after the earthquake. These powerful water surges, combined with the destabilization of the ground, also caused a landslide along the shore. The slide was 750 feet long, 200 feet wide, and dumped 1/3 million cubic yards of debris into the lake---taking a large chunk of Highway 287 with it.

On August 17, 1959, this area was hit with the most devastating modern geologic disaster in the Rocky Mountains. An earthquake of a magnitude 7.5 on the Richter scale violently shook the earth, triggering a massive landslide, large surface cracks expanded and contracted, and fault lines - miles long - tore into the mountainsides permanently altering the landscape, tragically resulting in 28 deaths.

Today, this tranquil setting surrounding you is misleading – geologic tensions are still active underground. These 37,800 acres – within the Gallatin National Forest – were federally designated in 1960 to interpret the 1959 Hebgen Lake Earthquake and provide for public use and understanding of the strikingly awesome earthquake features and geology.

As you travel west along highway 287, you will encounter a series of stops within this 16 mile stretch. Each stop offers a different piece of the story – a unique perspective of the event.

The Earthquake Lake Visitor Center , which provides a spectacular view of Earthquake Lake, is located directly on top of the massive landslide that was triggered by the quake.

The highway slid into Hebgen Lake cutting off links to emergency services and help.

Erected by Gallatin National Forest.

Geologists Irving J. Witkind and Jack Epstein had uncanny timing on the night of August 17, 1959 the two U.S. Geological Survey scientists were camped on a small knoll above Hebgen Lake when their camp trailers began to bounce “like basketballs.” The two emerged to a shuddering landscape and a deafening roar from deep underground.

Witkind and Epstein had spent the summer studying the geologic features of the earthquake-prone land. That night, they had the rare experience of having their academic knowledge come startlingly to life. Today geologists continue to investigate this region’s seismic dynamics.

“We first discovered the fault scarp at night, thank God, there was a full moon the night of the earthquake!”

Jack Epstein visits the fault scarp again in daylight.

Block Faulting

The geologic process by which the Hebgen and Red Canyon blocks dropped and tilted is called block faulting. This area lies at the eastern edge of the Basin and Range province. Here, the earth’s crust is stretching and thinning, causing fault blocks to subside and tilt.

Changes in several of Yellowstone’s geysers after the 1959 earthquake indicate there was some relationship between the quake and Yellowstone geology. After the earthquake, Sapphire Pool erupted violently with some bursts reaching over 125 feet high.

Did the Yellowstone Hot Spot Contribute?

The Hebgen Earthquake occurred when two blocks of the Earth’s surface-the Red Canyon Block and the Hebgen Block-subsided (dropped). Because the quake struck close to Yellowstone, where a large chamber of molten rock (known as the “Yellowstone hot spot”) lies just a short distance below the ground’s surface, one might assume a connection. 640,000 years ago a colossal volcanic eruption created a caldera that encompasses most of the park. Ever since then, parts of the caldera have been rising and falling, causing tremors and faulting in the rocks above. However, there is no evidence that the quake of 1959 was directly caused by the dynamics of the hot spot.

By 1898 a 10-foot wide road was built through the Gallatin Canyon to Taylors Fork and the park line. In 1911 a crude, narrow wagon road went to "Yellowstone" (West Yellowstone), 90 miles from the county seat at Bozeman. In 1926, the road was graveled. West Yellowstone started with the coming of the railroad in 1908.

This area contains many historical interests: Hebgen Lake and dam, Quake Lake and the Madison River Earthquake Visitor's Center at the site of the August 17, 1959 mountain slide.

Near here was the Grayling Post Office that served from 1898 to 1951. Missouri Flats (Madison County) was homesteaded by people from Missouri in 1911. Still standing in the ghost town of Cliff Lake in Madison county (2002) are the school, teacherage, store and post office. The Fir Ridge Cemetery overlooks Hebgen Lake.

Erected 2002 by Montana Cultural Trust and Gallatin County Historical Society.

The Forest Service granted Jess Pierman a special-use permit to build a hotel and restaurant here in 1910. A large tent accommodated guests until the present hotel was under construction in the fall of 1912. Doll Bartlett began cooking for Pierman in 1910, saving much of her weekly ten-dollar paycheck. Her husband Roxy drove the stage between Monida and West Yellowstone. By the time the hotel was under construction, the Bartletts had saved enough money to buy the business, which they ran until Roxy died in the 1920s. Doll continued to run the hotel with her second husband, George Pickup. The two-story rectangular plan is of simple log construction with saddle-notched corner timbering and a prominent front dormer. The original six upstairs rooms, warmed by a cut stone fireplace in the downstairs lobby, catered to rail and stage travelers. Each room had a pitcher, a wash basin, and a chamber pot. Water came from a well across the street. The hotel expanded, adding fourteen rooms in 1921 and a bar and dance floor soon after, but there was no running water until the 1930s. In 1923, President Harding was a guest and antiquated registers show that many Hollywood greats, such as Wallace Beery and Gloria Swanson, enjoyed the hospitality of the Madison Hotel. Log support columns and beams, wood floors, light fixtures, the stone fireplace, and many of the room furnishings are original. Although not the first hotel in West Yellowstone, the Madison is the only hotel that remains from this early period when tourism was in its infancy.

Erected by Montana Historical Society. (Marker Number 13.)

A Celebration that Rolled on the Rails 1964 marked 100 years since Montana was established as a territory. How would the state celebrate this milestone? The challenge to develop a unique showpiece led to the idea of a train that would tour the state and surrounding region to showcase Montana's history and resources.

An Idea That Kept On Growing....Up To 25 Cars!

Stagecoaches, wagons, 72 horses, exhibits from the Montana Historical Society, even a display of a million-dollar collection of gold were loaded onto train cars. Over 300 Montana citizens traveled on the train to help promote the state. The 100th Birthday Train grew to over 25 cars.

All The Way To New York City!

The Centennial Train left Billings on April 5, 1964 for a tour of 16 cities stretching all the way to the east coast and back. Each stop included a parade, banquet, and other festivities. During the stop in Washington, D.C., a grand dinner was held in honor of President Lyndon Johnson, with Montana native Chet Huntley serving as toastmaster. The train was in New York City for the opening day of the World's Fair, and it served as the backdrop for the Montana Pavilion's pioneer village for two seasons.

Dressed For The Occasion

Art panels illustrating the state's history, wildlife, and industry decorated the train cars exteriors. Some cars displayed Montana ranch brands made from Anaconda copper. Imagine seeing this colorful train as it traveled across the country, painted in colors that evoke images of the Montana countryside and sky, and bedecked with artistic treasures!

All Aboard!

Montana's Centennial Queen Bonnie Jo Robbins and "Big Medicine" served as ambassadors aboard the train.

A Final Home In Yellowstone

The train returned to Montana after the close of the World's Fair in 1965. Seven of the cars were given to gateway communities in the state to serve as visitor centers. West Yellowstone received a "CowBelle" car embellished with copper brands. When the Chamber of Commerce outgrew the space, the train car was used for retail operations. In 2003, it was donated to the Yellowstone Historic Center by the Povah family to once again serve as a showpiece of Montana's history.

Erected by Yellowstone Historic Center.

Named for the year it was built, the Oregon Short Line 1903 was constructed for $16,685 as an executive rail car for the Vice President of the Union Pacific. In reference to E.H. Harriman's Presidential rail car, the Arden, which was built in 1900, some who rode on OSL 1903 said, "We out bested old E.H. on this trip". The charm of the wooden exterior and interior construction was typical of that period. It was retrofitted in 1915 and was renamed OSL 150 at the time. In 1935, the car was given as a retirement gift to E.C. Manson. He sat it on a stone foundation next to the forest, just 3 blocks west of here. After various owners used it as a summer home, Clyde and Linda Seely purchased it in 1975 and lived there that summer. After many paint jobs of various colors it had lost its identity and looked like "just an old relic", while on the inside its immaculate condition was maintained. Finally, its real identity was revealed when the above photos were discovered in the Smithsonian Institute. One shows the completed car in front of the Pullman Factory, the other an interior shot with the original furniture. In 1995, this museum-quality rail car was placed here and the Seelys and Howells built the Holiday Inn around it. Please enjoy the self guided tour of the inside of the rail car. (Marker Number 10.)

In 1905 Union Pacific officials began construction of a branch line in the pine-forested wilderness from Ashton, Idaho, to the western edge of Yellowstone Park. As the final tracks were laid in 1907, Samuel P. Eagle, Alex Stuart, Charles Arnet and L.A. Murray applied for commercial leases, prompting the Forest Service to survey and plat a six-block townsite. Privately-owned businesses prospered, serving crowds of Park tourists ferried back and forth from the railway by stagecoach. West Yellowstone became a thriving permanent settlement, dominated by the beautiful 1909 Union Pacific Depot. Designed by the Union Pacific Engineering Office, it combines Richardsonian elements with rustic exposed wood and hood-like roofs. In 1925 Gilbert Stanley Underwood, who was later noted for his imaginative resort designs and many passenger stations, drew up the plans for the new Dining Lodge and employee dormitories. These creative designs explore the naturalistic Rustic style adopted by the National Park Service. Welded tuff gathered along the railway line enhances the rustic appearance of foundations, walls, colossal chimneys and massive fireplaces and complements the log construction. This collection of railroad buildings constructed between 1905 and 1927 has withstood severe weather, major fires, rebuilding and expansion. The district stands today as a rare reminder of early Park tourism and a tribute to a fine architect.

Listed in the National Register Of Historic Places by the United States Department of Interior, in cooperation with the Montana Historical Society. (Marker Number 4.)

On the night of the earthquake about 250 people were camped in the Madison River Canyon.

Their escape was blocked by the highway destruction at Hebgen Lake and the huge slide at the mouth of the canyon.

Realizing they were trapped, most of the people gathered on the ridge behind this sign.

The misery and confusion of the night were relieved by many acts of kindness and mutual assistance.

A Forest Service Smoke jumper rescue team parachuted to this point to give first aid and prepare the injured for evacuation.

They were flown from the area by U. S. Air Force and Forest Service contract helicopters.

August 17, 1959: performer Bobbi Baker was on her way to a gig in Billings, Montana when she stopped at the Hilgard Lodge for the night. Just as she settled into bed, she heard a “huge rush of wind” and the cabin began to shake violently. After one hellish minute, the tremors subsided and Baker ran outside.

For the next six hours, she remembered only a few mental images: holding a crying child, feeling the ground buck with aftershocks, and falling exhausted back into bed. At six the next morning, jolted awake by a big aftershock, she groggily packed her bags. “I have to do a show tonight” she thought, as she raced away. Thirteen hours later, she arrived in Billings, exhausted, with a dislocated shoulder, a black eye and a bruised face. It was not until much later that she learned the magnitude of the disaster she had witnessed.

At the time of the quake, Bobbi Baker was touring as a popular comedian and singer.

This is where the Musician stopped for the Night

When the earthquake struck, this was the site of the Hilgard Lodge. Bobbi Baker was staying in one of two cabins tucked close to the lakeshore. One of the cabins still stands...but barely. Photos from the days after the quake show them remarkably intact, though tilted and cracked.

But earthquake-generated waves had damaged them beyond repair and they were abandoned. Since the quake, they have been making their slow descent to the earth and the water, mute reminders of that frightening night.

The quake made headlines across the country. One article tells the story of a family, fleeing toward West Yellowstone on Route 191, hurdled over a six-foot fault scarp and crashed. Fortunately, they escaped with minor injuries. Some of the highway cracks were 20 feet deep.

Broken Lifelines

Bobbi Baker was lucky - she drove east and escaped from the disaster. Others were not so fortunate. In many places along Hebgen Lake and the Madison River, Highway 287 was severely damaged, with rifts across the road and huge cracks in the pavement. A landslide just west of Hilgard Lodge had cast a large section of Highway 287 into the lake, trapping everyone to the west of it.

Prior to 1936, the roads leading from West Yellowstone were not plowed during the winter months, isolating the town from the rest of the world.

Even the Train Stopped Running

The Union Pacific Railroad provided passenger service to West Yellowstone from June into September. The deep snow made it difficult and at times impossible to maintain even freight service during the winter. Once snowed in, the tracks weren’t cleared until about the end of March.

The Spring Campaign, as the opening of the route was called, was greeted with great fanfare in the town. School was let out for the day, and a grand party was held to celebrate the reconnection to the outside world.

Staying Connected

During the winter, postmasters retrieved mail every week to ten days from the Sherwood Store near Henry's Lake in Idaho. They made the two day round trip over Targhee Pass using skis or by dog sled.

In 1933, the first winter air service provided a new way for West Yellowstone's residents to send and receive mail. The plane had skis attached to the landing gear, making it possible to land in a snowy clearing. The pilot also delivered milk, a rare wintertime treat.

FWD Snowplow

The snowplow in front of you was built by the Four Wheel Drive Company of Clintonville, Wisconsin, the first manufacturers of four wheel drive equipment. Produced in the late 1930s, this plow was used by the Montana Highway Department to clear roads in the Gardiner area north of Yellowstone. It features a twin-headed engine produced by the Waukesha Motor Company in Waukesha, Wisconsin.

Closed for the Winter

Because then as now tourism was the main industry of the town, businesses closed for the winter and many residents left West Yellowstone for the season. Those who stayed spent much of their time keeping paths from their homes shoveled — or trying to get around in their vehicles. Skiing and dog sledding provided means of enjoying the snow and getting out and about.

By 1936, the road leading from West Yellowstone to Bozeman was paved, and winter plowing operations began. Plows similar to the FWD in front of you were used to clear the highway, making it possible for the town’s residents to travel during the long winter months.

Erected by Yellowstone History Center.

This basin was settled by ranchers and homesteaders. Bannock Indians had encampments here as late as 1913. Near here is the west entrance to Yellowstone Park, the nation’s first National Park(1872). West Yellowstone was founded in 1908 with the coming of the Union Pacific, Oregon Short-Line. Passenger service ended in 1961. (Railroad abandoned in 1980) In 1908 a Post Office and military camp were located four miles inside the park at Riverside. From 1909 to 1920, the Post Office was called “Yellowstone” (West Yellowstone). The military managed Yellowstone Park from “Fort Yellowstone” in Mammoth until 1916. Beginning in the 1880’s, horse-drawn stagecoaches were taking tourists through the park. Cars were permitted by 1915 and yellow park buses in 1917. Lionhead Ski Area located on Targhee Pass increased tourists to this area. Paiute Indian Chief Winnemuca’s two daughters, Sarah and Elma are buried in this area. Winnemuca, Nevada was named for them.

Erected 2002 by Montana Cultural Trust The Gallatin County Historical Society.

A quiet August night in a popular Forest Service campground just below Hebgen Dam. Nearby Cabin Creek murmurs softly, and the moon filters through the pines.

Abruptly, the ground trembles, then jolts...then with a roar a crack appears, slicing through the campground and across Cabin Creek. The earth shudders like gelatin and trees whip back and forth as the crack widens, the earth on one side drops down between 5 to 20 feet. As the quake subsides, confused and frightened campers gape at the newly-exposed wall of earth and a waterfall!

Subsidence along the Hebgen Fault created a waterfall at Cabin Creek. It was short-lived, within a week the creek had cut down through the scarp.

The Hebgen Lake Fault Block covers some 125 square miles and extends across the West Yellowstone Basin. The earth stretched causing one side of the fault to drop.

The 20-foot cliff in front of you appeared suddenly on the night of August 17,1959. It is a fault scarp created when the Hebgen Lake Fault Block (a large section of the Earth’s crust) dropped. The descent was a rough one, as the bedrock walls of the deep fault rubbed against each other. It may even have dropped in abrupt jerks: several eyewitnesses said it felt as if the ground were repeatedly dropping out from under them.

Scarps such as this one are clues to the dynamic history of the Basin and Range Province. Old scarps throughout this area tell of other earthquakes that created similar displacements.

Fault Types

Geologists classify faults by the direction in which their sides displace.

For example, the San Andreas Fault in California is a strike-slip fault, in which the eastern side of the San Andreas Fault is moving toward the southeast and the western side is moving toward the northwest.

Thrust faults occur when one side pushes up and over the other.

The fault at nearby Cabin Creek Campground is what is known as a normal fault, where stretching of the Earth’s crust causes one side of the fault to drop or subside relative to the other.

It began as an idyllic August night. A full moon soared quietly over Yellowstone country. Along Hebgen Lake and the Madison River, campgrounds and vacation cabins were full to capacity, and scores of families were camped by the roadside.

Waking up to a Changed World

Just a few minutes before midnight, the night’s peace was shattered as the earth began to jolt violently. Shaken awake, people began to emerge from tents, cars and cabins all along the Madison River and Hebgen Lake to find trees thrashing, dust clouds rising, and the night in chaos. It was only the beginning of an ordeal that none would forget.

This magnitude 7.5 earthquake is the largest earthquake recorded in the Rocky Mountains. It affected hundreds of lives: 28 people were killed, over 250 were trapped in Madison Canyon, and hundreds more lost loved ones or friends, or saw their homes and businesses damaged.

August 17, 1959 11:37pm

Earthquake strikes and fault scarps form.

Minutes later

Hebgen Lake begins to slosh back and forth. Waves overtop the dam and damage lakeside buildings.

Destabilized shorelines slide into the lake taking parts of Highway 287.

Minutes later

An 80-million-ton landslide blocks the Madison River and cuts off the exit road for campers.

August 18, Midnight to Dawn

Earthquake Lake, rises rapidly, swallows campsites, as aftershocks continue. People scramble for safety, rescue the stranded, and tend to the injured. Fearing that Hebgen Dam will break, many head for high ground.

Dawn to Noon

Helicopters and planes scan the wreckage and report on the damage.

Just before Noon

Forest Service Smokejumpers parachute in to assist the trapped campers and prepare an evacuation.

Noon to 3:00pm

The most gravely injured are evacuated.

Dusk The remaining refugees begin to leave the area on an emergency bypass road along Hebgen Lake, while rescue workers continue to search the campsites in the canyon.

This Rock has marked the corner since it was a hotel stagecoach stop in 1910 for early Yellowstone visitors

As tourism blossomed during the first decades of the twentieth century, the Union Pacific Railroad considered how to better accommodate travelers. Officials conceived the idea of building restaurants and pavilions architecturally similar to the monumental lodges being constructed in national parks. Acclaimed architect Gilbert Stanley Underwood, whose mastery of the Rustic style set the standard for national park architecture, designed this splendid dining lodge for the Union Pacific. Completed in 1926, it was an intermediate project built while Underwood was designing the world-renowned Ahwahnee Hotel at Yosemite National Park. The Rustic style of this lodge, its wood and welded tuff in grand harmony with the landscape, echoes that of the famed hotel. Featuring mammoth walk-in fireplaces, the multi-level interior is characteristic of Underwood’s designs. As part of a national collection of Underwood’s work, the lodge gains added significance as a rare surviving example of a railroad dining hall constructed to mimic park architecture.

Erected by Montana Historical Society.

This Property Contributes To The West Yellowstone Oregon Shortline Terminus Historic District Listed In The National Register of Historic Places By the United States Department of Interior In Cooperation With The Montana Historical Society

Rail-based tourism added significantly to Montana's economy at the turn of the century with tourists spending $500,000 in the state each year from 1900 through 1910. The railroad-related buildings scattered near the entrance to Yellowstone Park serve as reminders that the town of West Yellowstone was born because of the railroad. This pylon rises from green grass speckled with wild parsley against a wooded backdrop, defining the eastern boundary of the historic district. Its construction and dedication in 1910 marked the completion of the railroad terminus and the beginning of development by the Union Pacific for the accommodation of tourists en route to the park. Two cement shields of the 1904-1912 Union Pacific logo are mounted on a base of randomly placed welded tuff. The same shield, borrowed in 1905 by the newly created U.S. Forest Service, still identifies that agency today. The West Yellowstone marker symbolizes tourism in its infancy when railroad travel made the national parks more accessible to all. (Marker Number 1.)