WISE RIVER - It was almost 100 years ago when the old, leaky dam at Pattengail final broke sending a wall of water rushing down this valley toward the town of Wise River destroying ranches and lives along its path.
“It was catastrophic for the people at the time. It’s deepened the Wise River, the bed, down by two meters, so we’re still suffering the ramifications of that flood today,” said historian and Wise River native Matthew Stanchfield.
It was the morning of June 14th, 1927, when a dam that was built by the Montana Power Co. broke. A rancher in the area named Chris Norton, who was a former Marine and World War I veteran, heard the break. He got into his truck and went to warn people in the area.
WATCH: The Loud Boom That Changed Everything: Remembering Wise River’s Tragic Flood
“When he hears that loud boom, he said it was louder than any cannon he’d heard on the Western Front. He just started roaring down the valley, shooting a pistol in the area and yelling. Kind of the Paul Revere, the British are coming, only this is, ‘a whole ton of water is coming!’” said Stanchfield.
Some ranches along the Wise River were washed away, along with three members of the Trueman family and William Ferguson. Stanchfield, who has been researching the flood for years, said records were not well kept and more could have died.
“I think that there were probably more than one person along the river that washed away and we’ll never know about it,” he said.
Some buildings, like the Wise River Hotel, survived the flood, and it remains standing today as the Wise River Club.
Stanchfield, whose kin lived in Wise River at the time, says the former Montana Power Co. is responsible for not properly maintaining the dam. He said an old trapper named Benny Osborne noticed the dam leaking years before the break and tried to warn people.
This thing is not safe. Because he wouldn’t let his daughter and my grandmother go play on it, he’d say, ‘don’t go play on the dam, it’s not safe,’” said Stanchfield.
He believes the flood was an injustice.
“I wish there’d been a coroner’s inquest, and I wish there would have been a public trial, and I wish someone would have been held accountable at that time,” he said.
