Calamity

In the middle of a cold winter night on March 26, 1951, two earthen dams in the hills above Sidney, Montana, collapsed. Millions of gallons of water and gigantic blocks of ice were sent roaring downhill into the unwary town as it lay sleeping. The only apparent fatalities were members of one family, the family of Herman and Ruth Foell who lived in a basement home on the outskirts of town nearest to the dams. Their home was totally destroyed, transformed into a tomb beneath the icy flood waters in a matter of minutes. This story is about that family, gleaned from the pages of Ruth Foell’s own journal, recovered after her untimely death. Her unfinished chronicle contained entries up to only a few weeks before this catastrophe nearly swept their town into oblivion.