Our
parakeet lived in a cage that hung from a floor stand. Our cat enjoyed bumping the pole to make the
cage rock and the bird squawk.
One
night in August my brother and I were awakened by shrieking from our bird. His cage was swinging, but no cat was there
to take the blame. The next morning we
learned of a massive earthquake in the Yellowstone Park
area about 300 miles away.
(news
photo of a highway in the quake zone)
The
quake measured 7.6 on the Richter scale.
It was said to be the largest known earthquake
ever to hit the United States
in recorded history.
Fast
forward (ahem) several decades.
On our
return home from West Yellowstone, Montana,
DH
took the route past Hebgen Lake
so
he could check out the formation of ice on the water.
Fishermen are peculiar, but aren’t we all in
our own way.
Not
far down the highway is another lake called Quake Lake. It was created that night in August when the
earth shook and big hunk of of Sheep Mountain
broke loose
and
swept across the narrow valley,
filling the canyon and damming the Madison River.
The
face of the mountain is still void of most vegetation.
Trunks of trees that once grew high above
the river
can still be seen rising out of the water of Quake Lake.
Several
groups camping along the river were buried so deep that no attempt was made to
find them. Twenty-eight, (give or take
two or three depending on how they are counted) people lost their lives in the
Yellowstone Earthquake.
A
visitor’s center is built on the dirt and rocks deposited by the land slide. Near the building is a huge rock that bears a
plate with information and a memorial to those who lost their lives in the
catastrophe.
The
area still shakes with earthquake tremors.
DH tells of standing on the ice of Hebgen Lake
trying to catch fish when the low rumble of seismic activity rolls across the
valley and the ice cracks and rattles.
