The Savages of Yellowstone

Without warning a violent earthquake strikes just inside Yellowstone National Park. It is August of 1959, peak of the summer season in the park. YOUNG WORKERS AT YELLOWSTONE Park call themselves "savages." Through their dialogue and activities, they exhibit the mores of the day. They provide organized entertainment, write a "savage" newsletter, go 'hotpotting' in thermal pools, hang out at West Yellowstone Bar and Grill, and hitchhike in and around the park. But it is the action in a tender love story that transports readers to the 1959 Yellowstone summer. The park is adapting to a different world after World War 11 and the Korean War. The Grand Loop road passes directly through the Villages and the impact of tourists with automobiles is taking its toll on natural phenomena. Outdated caretaking, such as open garbage pits, has not changed. Tourists and young workers risk daring visits to the pits at night to view grizzlies attracted by free food. The bears ingest glass and metal objects along with the rotting morsels. Modernization is long overdue. Ellie Sue Clayton, a young girl from southeastern North Carolina, is lured to Yellowstone Park by her cousin. As a bus driver in the park in 1958 he tells stories of adventure that she longs to experience. By securing a waitress job at Old Faithful, she literally runs from the life she knows, seeking independence and courage to start anew. She is not disappointed on arrival. Boiling water shoots from the ground. Mud pots gurgle. Huge waterfalls take her breath away. But there are obstacles to her goals. She finds herself dealing with two older adults who have unnerving issues of their own and two very different boyfriends who vie for her attention. Beyond that, her mother reacts dubiously to her newfound freedom and independence. Just as she begins to resolve these relationships in earnest, a terrible tragedy occurs-one of the strongest earthquakes in recorded United States history. The epicenter is 25 miles from Old Faithful. Communication is cut and no "savage" seems to know exactly what happened or what to do. A merciless horror dominates all. Nature's violence claims the summer season, reshaping the earth when Hebgen Lake shifts and a mountain falls and dams the river. Inside Madison Canyon, the survivors beneath the mountain are now faced with a threat of death by drowning. At Old Faithful, the lighthearted spirit of summer is overtaken by a heavy weight of disaster. North and West Entrances are closed. Tourists at Old Faithful stream toward the South Entrance. Most park services are directed toward rescuing people trapped in the canyon. The needs of "savages" must wait. Fearful accounts of the calamity reign down on all who remain. Stories circulate about people who disappear beneath rocks and water. There have been horrible injuries and more deaths among some who initially survived. The story of Ellie plays out, with friends saying hurried goodbyes, or forgetting to say goodbye at all. Ellie is n...