Old guys love to share stories, so I can tell mine.? I was a 5-year-old when the 1959 earthquake hit SW Mt. We lived on the corner of Babcock and 10th (now the Urgent Care parking lot), and our old juniper still stands on the corner. Back then our two radio stations, KXXL and KBMN, both gave news on the hour but they didn't have much to report first thing that morning—they only reported that an earthquake had occurred.? We only received one TV channel in Bozeman (KXLF Butte) but it had no news when it signed on at 7AM (it signed off nightly at midnight), so no-one knew quite what had happened, or the extent of damage.? My mother's formal china was on a display shelf in our kitchen that had collapsed, and she was an unhappy lady that morning picking up the pieces. A couple of framed photos on the walls had fallen to the floor and were broken. My dad (who later became N7HEU)? did a house inspection and learned that our chimney had a big crack that would need to be repaired. My mother put my brother and me into the tub for our morning bath and the water was swishing from side to side. To our delight our rubber ducks were very active. The MSU fieldhouse was under construction at the time and the neighbors were all questioning if it had survived. Dad decided to drive up to see if it had collapsed. He bundled the whole family into our Nash Rambler, and we drove up to campus.? We parked across 11th street at the chicken farm (now the site of Bridger Brewing and MSU alumni buildings). He did a walkaround and couldn't see any structural damage, so we returned home to report to the neighbors. I don't think the news outlets were able to learn exactly what happened for a day or two because there was no communication or access in or out of West Yellowstone.? The roads in every direction had deep and broad cracks and were impassable.? Power and telephone were out in the town.? I learned years later that several local hams were able to get to West Yellowstone with equipment and provided initial reports and communication to the outside world.? ?

I suppose the upshot is that southern Gallatin County is on a major fault line and located in a volcanic caldera. The Bozeman/Three Forks areas also sit on large fault lines.? ?

Jim? WA7MKN