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Show Volume I , Issue XII The OGDEN VALLEY NEWS Page 19 September 1999 A Cloud Burst By Rose Fuller Storey Friday, August 13, 1923 40 Years Ago My husband, E. N. Storey and baby boy E.J. (not yet two years old), and myself left our home in North Ogden by way of Dodge car, to spend the weekend in the mountains. Glancing back at Ben Lomond, our highest peak, happy in the thought that we would soon be basking in its shadow and enjoying its cooling breeze, relief from the heat and humidity of the past week. We were to be the guests of Eph’s sister Maggie and her husband George Roylance at their homestead on the north fork of the Ogden River. Driving east up beautiful Ogden Canyon, north through Liberty, then west into Cutler Canyon, a branch of the North Fork. The climb was exhilarating with fresh mountain air . . . smell the pines, and the wild flowers and mountain scrubs. The clear cold water was rushing over the rocks in Cutler Creek and birds twitter[ed] their afternoon songs. Arriving in middle afternoon, we were greeted by Maggie and her two younger children, Richard age 9 and Norma age 5. A niece, Helen Storey and her friend Dorothy Cortez were also vacationing in the mountains with Aunt Maggie. George and the older boys, Victor and Clyde had left their mountain retreat early that morning for their home in North Ogden to harvest some hay. The boys would go to band practice that evening, and they would all return tomorrow with groceries. After enjoying our evening meal Eph took the shot gun and said he would scout around the area for gophers and squirrels, but was soon retracing his footsteps back to the cabin when a large cloud, black and thunderous, covered the Ben Lomond Peak. Soon the entire sky darkened, a quiet hush with a ghastly sulphurous smell filled the atmosphere, not unlike the odor of the blasting of rock and the uprooting of trees. There was lightning and thunder and rain began falling. Maggie asked Eph to go across to the creek and get a mess of fish George had caught for us and to bring the milk before the creek began rising, as it looked like a bad mountain storm. “What is that continuous roaring? It is unlike anything I have ever heard before.” Eph, having gone half way across the canyon wade[ing] in water past his ankles, the creek had already over run its banks. Looking up the canyon, he could see an avalanche of water and debris surging downward. Turning on his legs as fast as possible, he reached the cabin, closed the door and said, “It is a flood.” We were thankful for the short warning given us by Eph going for the milk. Decisions had to be made quickly; with a river of water on one side of the narrow canyon and a steep mountain wall on the other, there was little choice. Maggie said, “Let’s all make for the stable, the pine poles are large and securely planted.” I said, “I suggest we run for the car, maybe we can take down the canyon and beat the onslaught.” “No,” said Eph, bracing himself against the cabin door. “All make for the sleeping tent, it is on higher ground, and fastened to an alcove on the wall of the mountain.” We waded in cold water half way to our knees to the tent just above the cabin. Eph picked up the sleeping baby at the last minute, snatching a quilt from the bed and wrapping it around him. From the tent we watched the first wall of water surge down the canyon. A wash basin, tipped off its stand by the torrent, floated on the racing stream like a tiny sailboat on an ocean. Although it was but seven o’clock in the evening, darkness suddenly overtook us completely. Water covered the tent floor. Eph raised the back flap of the tent and said, “We will have to climb for our lives.” To the helpless forlorn little group the task would have been a trial in daylight and dry weather–now, with torrents of rain overhead and water underneath with continuous blackness, [the] cracking and banging of huge boulders, and with the roar of water, mine are not words to speak the language of that terrible storm. The scriptures tell us that in the last days the devil will have command of the waters, and he had full sway that night. “Is this the great and dreadful day?” we asked. But we found that the Lord will lead His children if they are prayerful and ask for His help. We felt we were truly guided by His Hand. The mountain was thickly wooded with scrub oak and small trees giving us an anchor to pull, climb, crawl or hang on to. We slowly made our way upward, shouting at the top of our voices, trying to keep contact one with another with an additional flash of lightning to guide us, not knowing at any minute the entire mountain side would be swallowed up, or one misstep plunge us back into the raging torrent. November 1, 1959 - Four members of the Marching Band. Marlin Jensen, Thomas J. Hoggan, Cleora Meyerhoffer and Fae Stauffer putting in a little extra time rehearsing horn and clarinet passages. “Down” in a creek without a paddle. Vehicle careened off of North Hwy. 162 in Eden near North River Drive. No one was seriously injured. Comstock Financial Services, Inc. • • • • • • • • • Best Rates and Closing Costs - Guaranteed Stated Income & No Doc Loans 100% Loans Lot Loans Construction Loans Great to Not So Great Credit Debt Consolidation Purchase or Refinance Loans to $2,000,000 Free Consultation and Pre-Qualification Call JENNY GOOD 745-3778, 791-0881 |
