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Show Daily Herald Me photo Workers labor to clear avalanche debris from the railroad tracks at Bridal veil Falls m 1924. A few days after this photo was taken, another avalanche killed two workers. Avalanches have deep history By PAT CHRISTIAN The Daily Herald Bill Ferguson lived to see statehood arrive to Utah Territory, but his life was snuffed out by a Provo Canyon avalanche almost a year later. Ferguson had been one of the last toll takers on the Provo Canyon road, and for 6 years had been wintering alone in his house in South Fork. On Feb. 8. 897. he was in bed when an avalanche broke loose from a nearby steep slope. The slide came with a violent force, carrying timber, rocks and brush. A rescue party of 20 men found Ferguson crushed to death in the w reckage. in Avalanches, especially American Fork and Provo Canyon, have been destructive and deadly over the years. On Jan. 9, 906, George Tyng, the owner of a mine in American Fork Canyon, had just walked into his office located at one end of his canyon home, located near the mine. The avalanche came without warning, crushing and burying the house under tons of snow. Tyng was 1 1 104 1 1 found dead, crushed in his home. No one was injured when an avalanche fell at Bridal Veil Falls on March 24. 1924. and a crew cleared the railroad tracks without incident. But another avalanche fell at the same location March 28. so another clean-u- p crew was dispatched. On March 29, five men who had been carrying loads of dynamite were taking a break on the slide when another avalanche broke loose killing two of the v lA.uen. It took five days to dig the victi k .Hit of the snow. A rifleman assigned to warn workers of avalanches had fired his rifle, and all five men left the dynamite and began running from the slide's path. Some ran to the right and some to the left. "All hell broke loose, and we heard a terrible, indescribable noise." said Spencer Madsen. one of three men who survived and who told of his experience in a 1978 interview. He said the noise sounded like what he imagined 10,000 cannons fired at the same time might sound like. Ben Carter, another survivor, was tossed 250 feet by the wind. An avalanche in January 1929 near in Provo Canyon Bridal Veil Falls trapped two men in a truck, but they managed to get out. Then during the first week of February, a road crev working to clean snow from an ei avalanche were chased by an avalancne in Provo Canyon. They managed to scurry out of the way. but two teams of horses were buried under tons of snow. A similar incident happened two weeks later when a clean-u- p crew were pushed into oak brush and into the river by another slide. On Jan. 31.1932, a slide n ( Bridal Veil Falls washed out a power company flume, and at Vivian Park, sta'e road sheds were destroyed. T'icse and other slides that followed cl i.'is Provo Canyon for longer than a1 ,th. One slide was so large, than rather than clear it. a wooden-plan- k road was built over it. During February 1936, there were numerous avalanches in Provo Canyon and the road was closed for 10 days. The biggest came from Slide Canyon, nearly a mile up canyon from Bridal Veil Falls. A smaller one came out of Lost Creek, located from the north of the Canyon at Bridal Veil 4i 3', Falls. And. Utah Power & Light Company sustained about $25,000 damage to a fume on the river. On Feb. 27, 1952, Clyde Kirby was buried in his car when a slide struck in Provo Canyon's North Fork. He and other occupants were able to escape. In Rock Canyon on Feb. 19. 1968. a Boy Scout leader was hiking at Provo' night with three Scouts in fell avalanche Rock Canyon when an face. from a southern Two of the youth managed to scurleader and ry out of the path, but the slide. the struck one scout were by The leader was buried to his waist and and the scout was crushed located buried. His body was finally early the next morning. fell A late slide on March?, 1978. Provo closed and from Slide Canyon Canyon for about three days. over When an avalanche cascaded 1986. it 17. Feb. Bridal Veil Falls other things destroyed a snack bar and an at the aerial tram attraction, doing estimated $150,000 damage. This year, an avalanche on Jan. house ai destroyed the store and tram Bridal Veil Falls. |