Thistle Lake, Part 2
Doug Harrop Photography • July 17, 1983
At the time, the Thistle, Utah landslide of 1983 was the most costly natural disaster in United States history (exceeding $220 million). The flow of water saturated soil slid down a mountain north of Thistle, and closed the Denver & Rio Grande Western, US Highway 6, and blocked the flow of the Spanish Fork River.
The small D&RGW railroad town of Thistle was destroyed. The natural slide was over a mile long and 1,000 feet wide. The dam was 200 feet wide and 300 feet high.
With the help of construction contractor WW Clyde, the D&RGW built the "Thistle Line Change" in just 90 days. The project included six miles of new double track mountain railroad, and a 3,000 foot curved tunnel through Billies Mountain. The replacement for parallel US Highway 6 required an additional five months to complete.
The short lived "Thistle Lake" formed behind the new dam, which only existed for 130 days. The lake was completely drained due to seismic concerns of the natural dam's lack of stability.
Doug managed to make his way trackside, even though there were no roads to get there. He caught Amtrak's new California Zephyr train No. 6, passing the lake shore on July 17, 1983. This was a once in a lifetime photo opportunity, and Doug made the trek to capture the history on Kodachrome.
Thistle Lake, Part 2
Doug Harrop Photography • July 17, 1983
At the time, the Thistle, Utah landslide of 1983 was the most costly natural disaster in United States history (exceeding $220 million). The flow of water saturated soil slid down a mountain north of Thistle, and closed the Denver & Rio Grande Western, US Highway 6, and blocked the flow of the Spanish Fork River.
The small D&RGW railroad town of Thistle was destroyed. The natural slide was over a mile long and 1,000 feet wide. The dam was 200 feet wide and 300 feet high.
With the help of construction contractor WW Clyde, the D&RGW built the "Thistle Line Change" in just 90 days. The project included six miles of new double track mountain railroad, and a 3,000 foot curved tunnel through Billies Mountain. The replacement for parallel US Highway 6 required an additional five months to complete.
The short lived "Thistle Lake" formed behind the new dam, which only existed for 130 days. The lake was completely drained due to seismic concerns of the natural dam's lack of stability.
Doug managed to make his way trackside, even though there were no roads to get there. He caught Amtrak's new California Zephyr train No. 6, passing the lake shore on July 17, 1983. This was a once in a lifetime photo opportunity, and Doug made the trek to capture the history on Kodachrome.