Shake, Shake, Shake…The Montana Earthquake of 1959. If you hang around Ennis long enough you will hear about the big earthquake of 1959. It rumbled, bumbled, stumbled in the middle of the night…buried people alive and formed a big lake in the middle of the Madison River. The story of the quake is well known…you can check out the links…but a lot of people don’t realize the stress and anxiety it put on the folks in Ennis, MT. When the mountain came down and blocked the river a huge landslide dam was formed. The fear was the dam would burst and flood out everything down stream. The word went around Ennis to evacuate. Here comes the Big One! The Madison River went dry. Kids were having a field day out in the riverbed netting the helpless trout. Many sunken treasures were found…long lost cameras, fly rods, fly boxes and fishing creels. Parents panicked…the local bars filled up…whiskey was poured…the end was near. What to do? You could climb a tree…get up on the roof…head for the Norris Hill. No cell phones…no email…no texting. The only Tweeting going on was from the yellow warbler in the back yard. Up by the quake, the rescue was on…the local cops and firefighters did their best…the Corps of Engineers started digging…smoke jumpers came down from the sky…the all-clear was sounded…order was restored. Life resumed in Ennis. People calmed down. Water began to flow once again down the Madison River. Have another whiskey. Life is good.
