LDS Women and the Teton Dam Disaster of 1976

Authors

Emily Willis, Brigham Young University

Keywords

Teton Dam Disaster, ruin, southeastern Idaho, women, Disaster relief

Abstract

June 5, 1976, started like any other spring day in southeastern Idaho. After the cold winter, most of the residents of the numerous farming towns that lie throughout the Upper Snake River Valley found the beautiful Saturday ideal for farm work, gardening, or spring cleaning. About twenty miles northeast of Rexburg, the largest town in the area, the Teton Dam neared completion. A Bureau of Reclamation project, the dam promised to stop the annual flooding that so often decimated portions of farmers' fields along the Teton River. Around 11 o'clock that morning, however, came a terrifying report: the Teton Dam would break at any moment. Once the report was confirmed, concerned neighbors and panic-stricken family members hurriedly spread the word to friends and loved ones. Wilford, the first of many towns in the torrent's path, lay decimated by noon. Sugar City followed by 1:00 pm, and Rexburg's downtown felt the brunt of the wave by 3:00 pm. By 6:30 that evening, the flood slowed from the torrent that engulfed Wilford and moved languidly through Menan and Roberts, leaving in its stead stinking cesspools. Eventually, the flood moved through Idaho Falls, Firth, and Blackfoot, until it finally came to rest three days later in the American Falls reservoir. In its wake, it left once thriving farms and towns in ruins.

Recommended Citation

Willis, Emily (2010) "LDS Women and the Teton Dam Disaster of 1976," The Thetean: A Student Journal for Scholarly Historical Writing: Vol. 39: Iss. 1, Article 11.
Available at: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/thetean/vol39/iss1/11