Madison River, Montana Report on Flood Emergency Madison River Slide. Volume 1. Main Report
Abstract
On 17 August 1959.9 at about 11:38 p.m. one of the most severe earthquakes in the history of the United states struck the Rocky Mountain region in the vicinity of Yellowstone National Park. The shock was recorded at the University of California Seismological Station at Berkeley, California, with a magnitude of 7.5 to 7.75 on the Richter scale. Several aftershocks, ranging in magnitude from 5.5 te 6. 75 on the Richter scale, were recorded at Berkeley in the next 24 hours. Many more shocks and tremors of lesser and decreasing magnitude were felt in the area. for weeks afterwards. The epicenter was estimated to be in the southwestern part of Yellowstone National Park. Damage was particularly heavy in the upper Madison River valley in Montana. Nine lives are known to have been lost and nineteen other persons known or thought to have been in the area have not been accounted for, and are presumed to have perished under the slide at the mouth of the Madison Canyon. This report covers the activities of the Corps of Engineers, under the authority of Public Law 99, 84th Congress, lst Session, in appraising the situation and in removing the hazard to life and the threat of flood damage caused by the earthquake. The Madison River heads in Yellowstone National park and flows northwest, then northward to the vicinity of Three Forks, Montana, where it joins the Gallatin River on the east and the Jefferson Tiver on the west to form the Missouri River. Hebgen Dam, a water storage project of the Montana Power Company, is located at the entrance to Madison Canyon in the Madison Mountain Range. From the dam, the river flows west about eight miles to the mouth of the canyon, where it begins curving northward into a broad, open valley. Hebgen Lake formed by Hebgen Dam in a wide valley above the canyon, has a capacity of 345,000 acre-feet. The area from the west boundary of Yellowstone National Park to and including the mouth of Madison Canyon is within the boundaries
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Sep 01, 1960
- Accession Number
- ADA638028
Entities
Organizations
- Omaha District, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers