Teton Dam

Whenever 1976 is mentioned, the first thing that comes to mind, is the Teton Dam breaking.  The day started out as an ordinary day but around noon, Jess came in excited.  He had heard on the radio the dam had broken and he knew he needed to get his airplane out of the hanger and onto higher ground.  I drove him straight to the airport and as he was taking the plane out of the hanger, a group of men stood there talking.  One of them told Jess the water wouldn’t get high enough to flood the airport.  Jess had seen what happened when a canal broke or the river was high and he knew the airport would be covered.  One man wasn’t convinced but Jess finally talked him into moving his airplane.  Later that man thanked Jess for insisting that he move his plane.  The airport was totaled.  Hangers were destroyed by the logs, that rammed into them.  Our own hanger had to be rebuilt.   

  Jess flew up over the surging water and said it rolled and boiled as it destroyed everything in its path.  After Jess had his airplane safely in Idaho Falls, we came and got our family and drove over the dry farm to Rexburg.  We parked up above the college and watched the water standing all over the city.  It was a sad sight.  There were houses moved off their foundations, dead cows, uprooted trees and debris over everything.  Later that night when Jess heard how high the water was in the river by Idaho Falls, he worried about the airplane so we drove down to look the situation over and thought of moving the plane farther south but decided it would safe.    

    An announcer, from a main newspaper, sent a helicopter to fly over the flooded area and give reports of the damage.  The announcer kept saying Ririe flooded, instead of Rexburg flooded.  We were listening to the report on the radio and smiled, knowing many people would be excited thinking the Teton Dam water had reached Ririe.  Little did we realize that Randy, who was on a mission, in Korea, would get the report about Ririe and all telephone lines were down and he couldn’t phone home.