Keywords
Teton Dam, flood, sugar city, lyle moon, evacuation
Abstract
Lyle H. Moon, mayor of Sugar City, Idaho, was a petroleum man. He drove trucks for the greater area of Southeastern Idaho, supplying all their petroleum needs. On June 5, 1976, his route took him within a mile and a half of the Teton Dam. Unbeknownst to him, the dam had sprung several leaks that morning. Two bulldozer crews labored through the morning, trying desperately to plug the holes. While on his route, radio operators called him and told him to drive away from the dam as quickly as possible. Thinking it was a joke, Moon quipped, “Tell me another one!” before switching off his radio.1 However, it was not a joke. The Teton Dam was breaking, and over the next seventy- two hours flood waters traveled as far as one hundred miles southeast of the dam.2 Moon immediately drove home and evacuated the area with his family.
Recommended Citation
Wilks, Brooke
(2024)
"“No Finger in the Dike Could Have Stopped It” The Effects of the Governmental Failures Surrounding the Teton Dam Flood,"
The Thetean: A Student Journal for Scholarly Historical Writing: Vol. 53:
Iss.
1, Article 10.
Available at:
https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/thetean/vol53/iss1/10
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