The force of the quake shook this retaining wall loose—threatening the Gibbon Falls Road in Yellowstone Park.(National Park Service)
As the shocks continued, the summons to exodus was clear. Quake-broken roads blocked all the exits from West Yellowstone except the route, 191, through Idaho south to Pocatello. For the rest of the night it was bright with the lights of cars streaming away from the earthquake country to the solid security and comfort of the outside world.
TRAPPED
For trailer and tent campers, attractive Rock Creek Campground, less than a mile from the mouth of Madison Canyon, was a favored site. So much so that it was full most of the summer season. Campers who pulled into the canyon too late to find campsites in the formal, or improved, area just pulled off the road and overnighted on any level spot they could find along the road.
Two vacationing families, the Osts and the Fredericks, felt lucky when they found adjacent campsites at Rock Creek on Monday, August 17. Rev. Elmer Ost, who teaches psychology at Biblical Seminary in New York City and doubles as pastor at Bethany Congregational Church in Corona, Queens, his wife, Ruth, youngsters, Larry, 14, Geraldine, 13, Joan, 11, and Shirley, 6 had been enjoying a leisurely camping vacation in the Northwest.
The Melvin Fredericks family (he’s a biscuit salesman for B & B from Elyria, Ohio) included Mrs. Laura, Melva, 16, Paul, 15, and George Whitmore, 15, who lives with the Fredericks in Elyria, Ohio, while his folks are missionarying in Brazil.
The two families met in Columbia Falls, Montana, at the home of Rev. Ralph Werner, who was a relative of the Fredericks and a college chum of the Osts. They’d both toured Glacier National Park and were headed for Yellowstone Park and the Black Hills, and decided to camp together the next night. Ost told Fredericks that if you didn’t make it to Yellowstone Park before noon, the campsites would all be filled. But, he knew of camping areas in the Madison Canyon, near West Yellowstone, and not too far outside the park where they’d be more likely to find room. The Osts got to Rock Creek Campground at 6 o’clock Monday, August 17, found a site, and stationed Larry by the road to stop the Fredericks.
The two families chose a small open area near the stream and pleasant evergreen trees at the east end of the camp near the entrance.
