Thistle
Thistle was a small town located within Spanish Fork Canyon. On April 14, 1983, a massive landslide (known as a slump) moved part of the mountain and blocked two creeks, forming an earthen dam. The citizens were evacuated as nearly 65,000 acre-feet (80,000,000 m³) of water from the creeks backed up, flooding and destroying the town. Thistle was unable to recover from this natural disaster; to this day it remains a ghost town. Very little of the town is left; only the roofs of some buildings are still visible.
The landslide closed the railroad for months. U.S. Highway 6 was closed for almost a year. Both road and railroad were rerouted by blasting through the Billies Mountain to the north. Mitigation infrastructure was also put in place to redirect water flow past the landslide area, though a small pond remains. Two adjacent rest areas pay tribute to the town and the residents who lost everything.
The Thistle landslide is so far the only federal disaster area declared in Utah. The slide is considered the most costly single landslide in U.S. history.[1] In addition to destroying the town the landslide was devastating to the economy of Southern and Eastern Utah. With the major transportation arteries cut, it was infeasible to transport goods in or out of the area. Many coal miners, farmers, tourism and transportation workers lost their jobs. Estimates placed the damage to Utah's economy at 200+ million U.S. Dollars.[2]
A few small homes are still standing and can be explored. Most of them are filled with water and sunk into the earth.
Location
39°59′29″N, 111°29′54″W
Thistle is located in Spanish Fork Canyon. Recommend looking up GPS coordinates first.
