Remembering the Teton Dam collapse: Inside the failure and fight to rebuild

About this episode

The episode commemorates the 50th anniversary of the Teton Dam collapse, featuring insights from experts and personal stories related to the disaster.

The collapse of the Teton Dam spilled 80 billion gallons of water into eastern Idaho, killing 11 people and 13,000 head of livestock. Many people were made homeless by the disaster and tens of thousands of acres of land were destroyed or heavily damaged. Although there were concerns about the dam’s design from the beginning, construction moved forward anyway with devastating results. Fifty years later, it remains one of the most-studied dam failures in the world, and there’s a proposal on the table to rebuild it. This week on “It’s Worth Mentioning,” Rett Nelson looks back at June 5, 1976, and commemorates the 50th anniversary of the historic failure. Nathaniel Gee, a dam safety expert and author of an upcoming book about the disaster who has ties to Rexburg, discusses the contentious political backstory of its construction. Richard Robison, nephew of the man who oversaw the dam’s construction, says his uncle was the last man standing on the crest of the dam at the moment of failure. He had multiple behind-the-scenes tours while it was under construction, and he shares his memories. Gee and Robison provide their perspective on whether the dam should be rebuilt. Our final guest is…

People in this episode

Host: Rett Nelson

Guests: Nathaniel Gee, Richard Robison, Trent Walker

Topics covered

• Teton Dam collapse
• disaster history
• dam safety
• political backstory
• rebuilding proposals
• personal stories

Keywords

• Teton Dam
• collapse
• Idaho
• disaster
• rebuild
• dam safety
• politics
• history
• personal accounts

Mentioned in this episode

Books & works: upcoming book about the disaster, album about the Teton Dam Disaster

Places: Rexburg, eastern Idaho

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