Tweet
Last night, Stu, Crystal and I found ourselves driving out to Thistle, UT, located in Spanish Fork Canyon, at 39°59′29″N, 111°29′54″W. Its was a cold, dark, raining night. The wet earth cast amazing glows of light all over the canyon. After taking some wrong turns and doing a little mudding, we finally found Thistle. A few small homes are still standing. One of them we decided to explore. The home was sunk to the doorbell level in mud. After searching around the house, we decided to go in. I rolled up my pants, grabbed my photo gear and headed in. With different lights casting eerie shadows on the wall, two+ feet of water covering everything, and rain dripping through the roof, it was quite a ghostly sight. Most of the home is in ruin. Little remains inside. I set up my camera andtripod and after a few test shots, I was amazed at what potential was there. Stuart hopped in the sickly water with me and posed for some shots while Crystal lit from outside. The results were very intriguing.
A little about Thistle:
(courtesy Wikipedia)
On April 14, 1983, a massive landslide (known as a slump) moved part of the mountain and blocked two creeks, forming an earthen dam. The citizens were evacuated as nearly 65,000 acre-feet (80,000,000 m³) of water from the creeks backed up, flooding and destroying the town. Thistle was unable to recover from this natural disaster; to this day it remains a ghost town. Very little of the town is left; only the roofs of some buildings are still visible.
The landslide closed the railroad for months. U.S. Highway 6 was closed for almost a year. Both road and railroad were rerouted by blasting through the Billies Mountain to the north. Mitigation infrastructure was also put in place to redirect water flow past the landslide area, though a small pond remains. Two adjacent rest areas pay tribute to the town and the residents who lost everything.
The Thistle landslide is so far the only federal disaster area declared in Utah. The slide is considered the most costly single landslide in U.S. history.[1] In addition to destroying the town the landslide was devastating to the economy of Southern and Eastern Utah. With the major transportation arteries cut, it was infeasible to transport goods in or out of the area. Many coal miners, farmers, tourism and transportation workers lost their jobs. Estimates placed the damage to Utah's economy at 200+ million U.S. Dollars.[2]
A little about Thistle:
(courtesy Wikipedia)
On April 14, 1983, a massive landslide (known as a slump) moved part of the mountain and blocked two creeks, forming an earthen dam. The citizens were evacuated as nearly 65,000 acre-feet (80,000,000 m³) of water from the creeks backed up, flooding and destroying the town. Thistle was unable to recover from this natural disaster; to this day it remains a ghost town. Very little of the town is left; only the roofs of some buildings are still visible.
The landslide closed the railroad for months. U.S. Highway 6 was closed for almost a year. Both road and railroad were rerouted by blasting through the Billies Mountain to the north. Mitigation infrastructure was also put in place to redirect water flow past the landslide area, though a small pond remains. Two adjacent rest areas pay tribute to the town and the residents who lost everything.
The Thistle landslide is so far the only federal disaster area declared in Utah. The slide is considered the most costly single landslide in U.S. history.[1] In addition to destroying the town the landslide was devastating to the economy of Southern and Eastern Utah. With the major transportation arteries cut, it was infeasible to transport goods in or out of the area. Many coal miners, farmers, tourism and transportation workers lost their jobs. Estimates placed the damage to Utah's economy at 200+ million U.S. Dollars.[2]
Comment