Sunday History Bite! Today, water, water, everywhere! This has been a weird summer. Eastern Utah has certainly had its fair share of rain. Okay, in some places weve had a couple of years worth of our share. Did you know Utah is the second driest state in the country? Could have fooled me this year, I have mushrooms in my yard! We have seen a large number of devastating floods in our area but not all of the floods that Eastern Utah has experienced in the past were the fault of heavy rain. On Sunday, June 24, 1917 the Mammoth Reservoir, or Gooseberry Dam, 20 miles west of Scofield broke, sending a wall of water down the canyon. The break was reported to the Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad about 2:00 pm and officials were urged to plan for the worst. Despite their efforts, the cost to the railroad was reported at nearly $1 million dollars or nearly $19 million dollars in todays money. The coal mines in operation reported equal losses as they depended on the railroad for the transportation of their coal. Eight steel bridges were lost. Railroad officials suspended all operations west of Helper, estimating that at least 20 miles of track would have to be rebuilt. The town of Castle Gate, situated in a narrow part of Price Canyon suffered as well. The flood destroyed numerous residences and destroyed the railroad depot. The railroad was shut down for 10 days. Several trains full of coal and two large Mallet engines were stranded between Colton and Helper. Over a 1,000 men from the surrounding mining camps came to the aid of the railroad to begin reconstruction. Freight wagons were called into service to bring supplies and aid from Colton to Castle Gate and Helper. Some areas were covered with over 6 feet of mud and debris. Although the railroad was reopened within a few weeks, remaining cleanup took months. Sadly, one person lost their life in the flood. Young Hattie Peacock and her family along with many others had gone to the river banks near present day Carbon Avenue in Price to view the flooding. As a large swell of water rushed down the river, the family scrambled to get out of the way. Hattie tried to jump onto the family car to escape but slipped and fell into the rushing water where she was carried away. The dam was not rebuilt on its original site and today a few remains of the old Gooseberry Dam are still visible. While the 1917 flood is only a memory, almost 100 years later we still havent figured out how to cope with large amounts of water in a short period of time. Ahh, the joys of living in a desert state. Well, it looks like it is going to rain again, damned El Nino.
Posted on: Sun, 28 Sep 2014 18:39:07 +0000
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