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Author of upcoming book about Teton Dam disaster looks back on its contentious backstory
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January 15, 2026
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20:24Now Playing#eastidahonews #tetondam #tetondamdisaster
REXBURG — Don Ellis overlooked the Teton River as he watched a wall of water break through the newly-completed Teton Dam.
It was 11:55 a.m. on June 5, 1976, and the local radio personality was broadcasting live on KRXK as the 3,100-foot-long flood mitigation dam, about 15 miles northeast of Rexburg, collapsed.
“The whole north side of the dam is caving in!” Ellis reported. “People downstream better get out!”
Funding for the $100 million Teton Dam project had been approved by Congress five years earlier. The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation broke ground on the project in 1972.
Despite concerns about the dam’s design before and during construction — it sat on a foundation of compacted dirt that covered porous and unstable canyon rock — the dam was completed and rushed into operation without any testing. The reservoir was initially filled at the standard rate of 1 foot per day and was later doubled at the request of engineers to keep up with spring runoff. The fill rate was doubled again about a month later.
Hours before its collapse, the reservoir was nearly filled to capacity and the dam was operating without a functioning outlet works or spillway gate. Without a mechanism to control water flow and pressure, the dam’s failure was imminent.
Two contractors were on site that morning. John Calderwood and Owen Daley tried in vain to plug seepage holes on the downstream face of the dam.
Nathaniel Gee, a dam safety expert and author of an upcoming book about the Teton Dam, explains what happened.
“They were there pushing stuff in the hole (with a bulldozer) as the dam was falling around them. Daley’s bulldozer got stuck. He ran to get another bulldozer to try and pull his out. As he hopped out to get it, his bulldozer fell in and (the water) washed it downstream,” Gee tells EastIdahoNews.com.
Undeterred, Gee says Daley quickly ran to another bulldozer at the top of the dam and started pushing dirt on the other side.
At 11:52 a.m., three minutes before the dam’s collapse, the torrent of water had increased, and Daley abandoned his efforts.
Following Ellis’s live report, the studio announcer confirmed with local law enforcement what was happening and urged people in the area to evacuate.
“Evacuate your homes immediately! Just go!” the announcer said.
READ THE FULL STORY HERE
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