Thistle: The Utah Town That Disappeared In The Historic Landslide of 1983

[@JayCrash450]

Man I miss reporting like this. No injected or underlying politics. No attempt to manipulate perception of a disaster. Just straight up information.

[@JohnNorris411]

Then they learned they could manipulate the population through the news into attacking and blaming each other rather than the government.

[@lloydjenkins2190]

What about climate change!?! We need propaganda in our reporting!

[@vinylsp]

We lived about a mile below the Thistle dam. I remember helping move families out of their homes. One 90 year old woman had been born in that house, as had her father and grandfather. Some of the houses shown were not in their original location. As the water receded, they settled wherever they were.

[@bomma2694]

What caused the land to rise? Was it the water pressure or did that come later? 🤔

[@vinylsp]

@@bomma2694 We had a heavy snow winter with a warm spring. On top of the warm spring, we had a lot of rain. The ground could only absorb so much moisture. The mountain was so saturated that it started sliding. It did not slide as one would expect. The road, river bed and train tracks were on top of the dam, not under it. As the mountain slid, it pushed the valley floor up, not covering it. It rosé so quickly that they lost a bull dozer (I think it was a D9 Cat) that got stuck in the mud and slid under the water before they could get equipment to pull it out.

[@bomma2694]

@@vinylsp That's crazy! Thanks 👍

[@quantumsneak1773]

Deep

[@Filling_tags]

And yet they built in the same exact spot.

[@therealjizzwizz]

"This is a Hell of a way to run a desert." Beautiful.

[@williamb2642]

I worked on that job..crazy time..the water came right up to I-15 between Spanish Fork and Provo. They’ve built houses and businesses all through those flooded areas now. Hope they don’t have a repeat this year

[@davidswanson5669]

I imagine you’re retired by now? What company did you work for back during that time? I live in Orem and I’ve only heard of the stories, since it happened a year before I was born.

[@BEdmonson85]

"40years ago" ... "in 1983"... Good lord, where has all the time gone?!

[@alidycepaisley3829]

I've actually been through there a few years back on 89 and noticed some submerged structures. The entire landscape in that vicinity seemed off, as though something happened, enough that I wiki'd Thistle, UT. The slide and resulting flood were mentioned but now I've got more of an explanation and footage to boot. Thanks for that.

[@georgepaust8416]

I drove through thistle on the way to salt lake from price. I noticed the road had moved and was bumpier than usual. I came back that way the next day and those little bumps had turned into small hills. That evening I heard that the road was closed. I would have to find a new way to get to salt lake the next weekend because the town of thistle was now thistle lake.

[@jobbyjones4595]

The road had been known to do that for a long time prior to that final slide. They were constantly doing repairs to the road and tracks through but never fully understood why - until the final slide.

[@mumblesbadly7708]

Wow! That section of Route 6 near Spanish Fork is an important truck route. Taking it saves truckers traveling between the Northwest and the Dallas-Fort Worth area over 100 miles AND allows them to avoid potential bad weather and highway closures in Wyoming during colder months.

[@ashtenlastname4045]

this news channel makes me want to move to utah

[@teddyl7006]

I worked for the company who supplied the pumps. The company engineers oversaw the installation of the pumps. Wish I would have had a chance to visit that worksite. Also ate at the Thistle diner a few times long before the slide.

[@candicehanson9587]

I remember this. Was one of the last car over the road before they closed it.

[@chemicloud6443]

Yeah with all this snow and water get ready for another one!!

[@crystalmiller1713]

I was on my way to Moab with my son and his friend. I was driving my little Pontiac sunbird and hit where the highway was buckled into the air . What a ride! I stopped in Helper for breakfast and was told the highway was closed. That's quite the memory!

[@traceywatchman4903]

Mother Nature doing her thing.

[@crystalcollins8452]

When this happened I was working for UDOT. I was on a survey crew & we were up there & saw this all happen.

[@bogywankenobi3959]

I was there when this happened and they are not reporting it correctly. The cause of the slide was an incessant months long drizzling rain that finally saturated the loose dirt up that side canyon. It was just enough rain to soak into the ground and not enough to run off in rivulets.

[@mattywho8485]

Really? the news got something wrong ??? Say it ain't so

[@jobbyjones4595]

Actually you're not quite correct either. That portion of the mountain had been moving for along time prior to the final slide. It wasn't quite enough that our human eyes could see it, but was more than enough that animals could sense it and would not go onto that portion of the mountain.

[@bogywankenobi3959]

@@jobbyjones4595 perhaps. But without that rain that dirt would still be up that canyon and the "town" of Thistle would still be there.

[@AlstonCrosby]

Had Craig Wirth as a professor 2 or 3 years ago. Great guy

[@centredoorplugsthornton4112]

"It stopped Amtrak and coal train traffic." Actually, the Denver & Rio Grande Western was still running its own Rio Grande Zephyr between Denver and Salt Lake City. Amtrak was a week away from shifting its California Zephyr to the Rio Grande line. The Rio Grande Zephyr was cut back to Grand Junction, last trip April 24, Amtrak stayed on its old route over Union Pacific through Wyoming til June.

[@jobbyjones4595]

The coal they are referring to was coming from Carbon and Emery County in Utah. There is no other direct route from that region to Salt Lake City except through that canyon.

[@goobot1]

This is how lakes naturally form

[@archstanton_live]

A very timely story to retell.

[@charlesmartin623]

Government still allows building in dangerous areas still. Home owners are left to pick up the mess and a lot of money lost today.

[@alpine1600s]

My paternal grandmother had family in Thistle and Spanish Fork. Sadly, she passed away the same year Thistle became a lake.

[@shawnhuff3920]

I was nine i just had my birthday on April 2nd and I remember when this happened and we used to dive to thisle and look at all the houses and cars barried in the mud ...

[@dieselzoo]

Man has been playing with the weather since the 50s.

[@chemicloud6443]

Yes also earthquakes, volcanoes, tsunamis, lighting storms we can create any and all of yhem!!!

[@profhortsunlover1536]

we've been cloudseeding, and causing pollution via wars for profits

[@beaumershon3066]

I've been through there a few times back in the early 2000's when I was on a fire crew going from one fire to the next. Always wondered about that area. Cool to know the backstory now.

[@TheTrueGrimReaper]

4:26 why does he sound like kermit the frog im dead

[@josiatokirina1788]

Another lesson to learn. Humans cannot control the elements. Gravity is the most powerful force in the universe.

[@yurmabeechaudits3522]

No it's not. You wouldn't be able to stand up if that were true. Gravity doesn't even move things as fast or as large as water does. Gravity can't force itself through anything whereas water will.

[@josiatokirina1788]

@@yurmabeechaudits3522 Think about it. The water does what it does because of gravity. Without gravity water would just disperse all around. It is gravity that gives water its ability to seep into the soil and it is gravity that gives water its weight. Put that together and you get a landslide.

[@groundzero6662]

"This is no way to run a desert." LOL!!!!

[@indyjones7550]

We were out visiting family in Payton when this happened. To return home we had to take Provo canyon and take US40 back to I-70.

[@thomasdykstra100]

"The extreme case" moved heaven and earth, resurfacing the entire world in 55 weeks just 4,500 years ago... Nobody 'remembers', so it will be a fire, next time. Maranatha! Come, Lord Jesus! Come quickly...

[@k1m625]

If it happened today it would be blamed on global warming

[@GrandpappyJim]

I was in a head-on collision halfway thru that canyon not long before the landslide happened. that was a nasty Thistle experience.

[@lindabriggs5118]

Oh Lordy, so we'll remember that particular year. I was living in Emery County at the time. At one point, not only could we go to Provo and beyond, but we also could get to Manti or to Richfield since all three were blocked off from a number of other mudslides. So we had to drive to Grand Junction, Colorado to do any major shopping. But like Utahn's we waited and mostly didn't gripe until eventually there was a road over Hwy 6. First it was dirt, then gravel, and lastly, I was paved. And the road was very nice. Has the State Street River started again? 😳

[@bomma2694]

😅 it was the year before I was born 👍

[@randallrun]

@@bomma2694 So?

[@jobbyjones4595]

Ummmm I grew up in Emery County and you only had to go to Price to get groceries. Also, the road over Huntington Canyon was the detour route we often took to get to my grandma's in Payson.

[@kimwiser445]

I can’t believe it’s been 40 years.

[@Seattle808]

Ohh so when Mother Nature wants to build a dam herself we don’t like it so much?

[@chemicloud6443]

Well you can blame mother nature but we control the weather and earthquakes now adays

[@Rich-mw9ye]

​@@chemicloud6443 nah not true

[@chemicloud6443]

@@Rich-mw9ye it is 100% true 👍 sorry bout it

[@rickfisher1987]

I created a tornado because I flushed the toilet - MAN MADE TOILET'S 🤘

[@HalfWarrior]

So, after awhile, maybe you could go fishing in your living room; I guess, if you had scuba gear....😮🤿

[@tymz-r-achangin]

They didnt say if everyone got out of the town. Was everyone accounted for after the town was flooded? Just wondering if their can be bodies in the houses under the water

[@erberIsSillyhawk]

how many hundreds of houses are there now?

[@jobbyjones4595]

This story incorrectly creates the impression that one season of bad weather alone is what caused the slide. Had the journalist done their due diligence, they would have told the true story that the mountain had been moving for quite a long time before that. There were several instances where the road and rail line were affected by the shifting mountain. Ranchers had long told stories about how animals would not go into that section of the mountain.

[@BillyTheKidder]

1:18 In a what way?!

[@laprovidenciaelectricadela5587]

03:16 Is here Vladimir Kara-Murza reading the ABC News?.

[@raymondcava4669]

Nature is awesome😂

[@FromAgonyToLight]

How many ancient civilizations are buried under mountains and lakes? Only the Lord knows.

[@rickfisher1987]

Witch Lord hey Zeus or cho Mo brigham young 😂🎉😂

[@richardmartinez6057]

Never mes with mother nature!

[@watchgoose]

that is just crazy.

[@Spamandrice]

The Lord is my Shepherd, there is nothing I shall want, except tacos

[@isingon2]

Just goes to show that nature is truly unpredictable. No matter how hard we try to predict what will happen, mother nature had other plans.

[@ShavinMcCrotch]

Now let’s see the videos of scuba divers looking for historical treasures.

[@jobbyjones4595]

It's largely been drained now.

[@shanechostetler9997]

Of course there is no computer models, Gods in control👍. Thankfully!

[@profhortsunlover1536]

mother nature

[@jobbyjones4595]

Well and they incorrectly thought it was only about the rain when it was also about that section of the mountain.

[@Sunflower00001]

Wow!! Lol that is amazing!!! Humans do not always have control , Mother Nature does.

[@lissfirefly9517]

OOf, that Craig Worth's voice could make me run screaming. He sounds like he swallowed a frog.

[@jamesmcintyre4243]

Wow thats some serious climate change back in 1983 😵

[@adamgitmed3779]

At the end there the narrator slowly turned into Kermit the frog.

[@dontask8979]

Interesting.

[@sketch6995]

I made it thru about an hour before it broke loose......now going over billys mountain is way fastet........but thistle is gone

[@heyhey8554]

Nature brought water to the desert and you guys screwed it up. Happy anniversary.

[@profhortsunlover1536]

LOOKS LIKE A JOB FOR HEAVYDSPARKS!

[@Fordgroup00]

So nature cycles

[@outdoorsandmuchmore]

Looks like every 40 years we have some kind of weather anomaly around the west area. If we keep following dates, we are going to find what's really is Global warming Climate Changes Inc.😉

[@tvviewer4500]

It's not an anomaly... these science people aren't very smart

[@sharon94503]

Those computers tho.

[@Trevor-wm9su]

Lol they could of easily kept the river flowing. They literally made it a damn on purpose

[@jobbyjones4595]

Not true. They had been baking that section of the mountain for quite a long time. The mountain came down faster than they could clear it that final time. Because that entire portion of the mountain had been shifting for quite some time they had no idea where solid ground actually was and where or when it would finally stop.

[@thomasbedford1258]

knowing now how America works wouldn't surprise me if this was deliberate act

[@quantumsneak1773]

Mudfllood

[@necowhite8528]

This guy sounds like Kermit the frog

[@rflemal]

Looks like modern manufaterd coins and no cheering. Quit wasting people's time

[@chuckychuck]

That was in 1983 but today, the Son of God is coming to judge the 18 nation with the mystery of his 7 churches.

[@sagesufferswell]

Sounds spooky

[@richardlazine1713]

Well ok pilgrim, if you say so.

[@mattywho8485]

That sounds like a nice fairy tale

[@yurmabeechaudits3522]

​@@mattywho8485 that's because the best fairytale mimic reality.

[@curtisraduege553]

TRUTH IS ALL WE CARE ABOUT abc Woke is not truthful.

[@sirduckmiester420]

I'm just saying if your religious person seems God added that place for a reason