Our most recent snowstorm brings much-needed water to the Beehive State, but new snow can also increase the danger of avalanches. The Utah Avalanche Center is currently reporting that the avalanche danger along the Wasatch Front is considerable.
More than 80 years ago, a devastating avalanche swept through a Utah town with disastrous results.
When ore rich in gold, silver and copper was discovered in Bingham Canyon in the 1800s, people began to flock to the area, and the mining town of Bingham was born.
Public Domain/Wikimedia Because the canyon was so narrow, Bingham only had one street. Homes lined the street all the way up the canyon for seven miles. Unfortunately, this narrow topography would prove to be deadly in 1926.
In mid-February, a large snowstorm dumped several inches of snow in the canyon, and on February 17, 1926, disaster struck.
Don…TheUpNorth Memories Guy/Flickr A huge avalanche crashed down the canyon, burying everything in its wake. The avalanche destroyed 14 homes and a three-story boarding house. This avalanche still holds the record as the most devastating avalanche in Utah history. The disaster made national news.
Miners frantically began digging through the rubble to uncover homes and find survivors.
Nicolas Vigieir/flickr 39 people died that day, including a young boy who had been playing in his yard when the avalanche swept him away. Many others were injured, and 15 were hospitalized. Due to the cold, people were huddled inside by their stoves that day. As the wall of snow and debris ripped through the homes, the stoves caught the rubble on fire, and many of the dead were burned beyond recognition. The homes that took the brunt of the avalanche were reduced to splinters, and 25 families and 200 miners who were staying in boarding houses were left homeless.
Had you heard about this horrific disaster? Here’s another Utah disaster that took many lives and devastated a small town.
Public Domain/Wikimedia
Because the canyon was so narrow, Bingham only had one street. Homes lined the street all the way up the canyon for seven miles. Unfortunately, this narrow topography would prove to be deadly in 1926.
Don…TheUpNorth Memories Guy/Flickr
A huge avalanche crashed down the canyon, burying everything in its wake. The avalanche destroyed 14 homes and a three-story boarding house. This avalanche still holds the record as the most devastating avalanche in Utah history. The disaster made national news.
Nicolas Vigieir/flickr
39 people died that day, including a young boy who had been playing in his yard when the avalanche swept him away. Many others were injured, and 15 were hospitalized. Due to the cold, people were huddled inside by their stoves that day. As the wall of snow and debris ripped through the homes, the stoves caught the rubble on fire, and many of the dead were burned beyond recognition. The homes that took the brunt of the avalanche were reduced to splinters, and 25 families and 200 miners who were staying in boarding houses were left homeless.
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