You're welcome srdjan,
But I should point out that what can be seen of the water falls in that picture, is only a very small part of its over 1/2 mile
stretch (length) that splits the Snake River in to two channels until reuniting about a half mile from that spot down stream.
Another bit of historical importance about that particular spot I chose to take the picture at:
In the early summer of 1976, 50-60 miles north of my Home Town, the earth fill design Teton Dam, that was newly finished and just
reaching full capacity, developed wet spots on the earth slopped face that engineers quickly tried to repair by driving two
large bulldozers up the face pushing more earth and gravel up to cover in an attempt to stop the, by then, small stream of water that
was eroding away the face of the dam.
During the effort, the larger of the two bulldozers became stuck in the crevice that had now developed and was getting bigger.
In a brave attempt to save the bulldozer and its operator, the smaller bulldozer operator hooked a heavy chain from his bulldozer
to the stuck one, that was in serious danger of being toppled into the chasm that was now threatening to swallow the larger earth
machine whole and sweep it down the valley in the rapidly increasingly flow of water that needed both machines efforts to stop
the rapid destruction that threatened to release all of the millions and millions of gallons of water held behind the dam.
But suddenly the "leak" had eaten enough of the earth dams face away and the leak opened up to a river flow and the last bit of
earth the two bulldozers had under them disappeared and then, so did the two bulldozers and their brave operators.
(the bodies were never found as far as I know, the bulldozers were located 20 something miles "downstream" weeks later, one
was found by my father after the water and mud receded enough to allow civil engineers (my Father was one) to asses the damages.)
The details I described above were only known a day or two after the dam broke because a tourist was visiting the site and luckily,
was no longer below the dam and taking pictures from a higher viewing point and he captured the evolving dramatic events
one frame at a time over the course of 8 minutes that it took to go from a leaking wet spot to 9/10ths of the dam being
deposited down in the Snake River plains below.
I was 16 years old that summer and thought we all were going to die when the city alarms sounded and emergency vehicles went racing north
to start rescue efforts and block road traffic from heading right into a land locked tsunami that was estimated to be over 60 feet
in height all the way down the narrow canyon the dam was built in.
Once out of the canyon's constraints, the water spread out on to the farm lands that was the Snake River Plains and although
the waters height diminished greatly to an average of 8 to 16 feet - and still 32 feet in low land areas, its speed was over
45 MPH for most of its travels, due to the flat farm lands developed on the plains until the water reached the Snake Rivers channels
and was slowed down by all of the twists and turns the river makes through the valley plains (and the reason why it is called the Snake River,
not because there are a lot of snakes here
which there are also, the North American Diamond Back Rattle Snake. ).
The dam water was of course, heading our way by meeting the waterways of the Snake River and adding its mass to the rivers
already high spring runoff flow.
We had about 8 hours of time to prepare our city for what was coming and me and two of my younger brothers joined the volunteers
that were making and placing sandbags along the river front areas of city center where the falls is also located the next morning.
I almost did get severely injured (or killed) that day due to nearly falling out of a speeding pickup truck heading back to the sand dunes south
of the city that we thankfully had naturally available to fill the sandbags, with sand.
Some old guy (to me he was, but probably was late teens or early twenties of age) had good reflexes and got a hold of my shirt
and then pant leg as I was flung over the bedside by the force of a sharp turn the driver made in his haste to get to the sandbag
filling area set up at the dunes (actual name is "Sandy Downs" and location of horse racing events now).
Now to the present, the spot I took that photograph at was under 12 feet of water in 1976 and where I had another close
incident
when I slipped off the top of the sandbag wall on the wrong side. After being pulled downstream a few yards, I was again saved
by a total stranger. And that is probably why I enjoy helping others so much and resolved to "do the right thing" when the need arises.
(PS. Don't tell my Mother about any of that please, she still does not know how close I came to being taken, twice, that day.
)
The water was overflowing the sandbag walls we made and continued to stack them higher until the wall was over eight feet in
some locations. I wish I still had some pictures (newspaper clippings) from that days news coverage. Then everyone could see
that the water (filled with natural and human made debris) first made a natural dam on the rocks the falls is made of, then with such
a noise I never want to hear again, piled all of the trees and material built up behind the blockage in to the lower channel seen in
the background behind my bicycle, filling it and instantly overflowing the banks covering the spot where my bicycle is sitting
with yards of water and flotsam for a couple of weeks or more. The water was halfway up the buildings seen on the other side (East) of where I took the pictures.
But there was a more immediate danger to our cities infrastructure just a few hundred yards downstream from where the
bicycle is shown at, The Broadway Bridge. It spans across the two channels by having a center anchored dual arch design
that rested on the same lava rocks that made the falls and was the first and only bridge over the Snake River for many
decades (and used to be a toll bridge until others were built that did not charge for usage).
But it is to this day, is a main point of crossing the river and center most of the bridges that are spread far apart on the rivers
passage through the city.
There was no way all of that water and debris was going to easily make it under the bridge, and it didn't, it started building up and
blocking the flood water again and everyone within a few hundred yards heard the bridge "scream" in protest and move a few inches
downstream breaking the mountings the bridge had on the lava rock in the river center. Logs and large branches from smashed trees
started going over the guard rails and taking sections of the guard rails with them once the water also crested over the road surface
of the bridge. It was a very strange moment(s)? at that time as everyone stopped working and could only stand there watching
and waiting for the bridge to scream maybe once more and start breaking and crashing into the lower (very deep) channel and be gone forever.
So, in case your wondering how it all turned out;
After my Grandfather brought a self propelled, tracked diesel scoop shovel from the cities construction yard and dug a large
trench in the ground and road way on the west side of the Broadway Bridge that allowed a lot of water to bypass trying to
get under the bridge and relieve, as it turned out, just enough pressure of water and debris building up on the bridge that
afterwards it was determined that the bridge could be repaired and remain in use, and still is to this day.
(I remember watching Grandpa swing that bucket shovel back and forth so fast and a city official screaming at the top of his
voice for him to stop doing what he was doing because he was weakening the bridges Western anchor point, but Grandpa
just kept going and ignored him. But he did stop once or twice to jump from the cab and scramble down to where he was
just digging, and then (still ignoring the city official) hopped back into the cab and continued making a bypass trench for the water. This story and event has been in my mind lately because my Mother this summer showed me a very old soda pop
bottle that has the emblem of a bottling company that was the first one in this area, and that Grandpa had known there
used to be a garbage dump on the South side of the Broadway Bridge/Road area he was now digging through. Every time
he jumped down to the spot he was digging, he wasn't inspecting his work or seeing if there was danger of breaking any
water, sewer or gas lines (he knew exactly where all of that stuff was buried), but was collecting anything he saw uncovered
that was not already broken and saving it from being lost forever. My Mother was showing the bottle he left her at a local
antique trade show and was offered $700 for the bottle and the collector said it was only the third one he has ever seen intact. It is from the 1800's and Mom still has it safely stored in a display hutch.
)
My Grandfather (John Bartlett) was credited for the bridge being saved by his own decision "to do something" and get the
scoop shovel, without authorization, and dig the trench across Broadway street, again without authorization.
He was so good at running the shovel that even the water and sewer lines he exposed and had to dig around and under, leaving
them spanning the trench unsupported, survived long enough to be repaired
without loss of water services to half of the city during this catastrophic event that could have easily made matters much worse. The cities clean water supply came from a large water tower just South of the Bridge and on the East side with only
the one main water line carrying water in a pipe attached to the southern side of the bridge to bring the water to the Western
half of the city and its residents.
There (were) only 3 bridges that connect the East and West sides of our city and the loss of even one would have been a
severe hardship for the whole community, but by the citizens hard efforts and a few's special actions, we kept the damage done
to a level much lower than anybody expected. Sadly, the communities North of us that had no warning and got hit by the full force
of the water/debris, suffered almost complete destruction of every home and building in the waters path.
There are a few "Miracle Stories" of property and lives spared amidst total destruction around them, but I think this
is enough of a history lesson for such a innocent appearing photo, yes?
As it turns out years later, from the Federal Investigation into what caused the Teton Dam to fail, it was known by geologist
who surveyed the canyon that the ground and canyon walls rocks was porous and had bad strength properties and they
reported such to the contractors and advised and advised against a dam of that type being built at that location, but someone greedy didn't
listen or care and pushed the project through suppressing the geological survey reports.
A BIG scandal it was and lifetime imprisonment for the guilty parties for the disregard of safety to human life and
actual loss of human lives it caused.
Thanks again srdjan, and I hope everyone enjoyed the history story and now looks at the photo as I do,
with total wonderment of nature and mans occasional sever stupidity and in opposition, our occasions to rise
to the challenges, no matter how great they are.
Lesson learned, we all hope, Robert.
And in case you're wondering, why put the products on the bicycle?
It is a Road Test after all.
and they are road worthy.
(although, I doubt it qualifies as a Road Test completed, and I will still have to write the review on them.
)
