Today, the center provides interpretive services for more than 50,000 visitors annually. In 1967, the Forest Service’s Earthquake Lake Visitor Center opened its doors for the first season of operation. Twenty-eight people lost their lives in the event. At the time it was the second largest earthquake to occur in the lower 48 states in the 20 th century.
This earth-changing event, known as the Hebgen Lake Earthquake, measured 7.5 on the Richter scale. The slide moved at 100 mph and in less than 1 minute, over 80 million tons of rock crashed into the narrow canyon, blocking the Madison River and forming Earthquake Lake. It was near midnight on August 17 th, 1959 when an earthquake near the Madison River triggered a massive landslide.
