1 U I U I I I I 1 U 1 U TETON ORAL HISTORY PROGRAM. Ricks College Idaho State Historical Society History Department, Utah State University TETON DAM DISASTER Andrea Congdon Interviewed by Doris Shirley June 1, 1977 Project made possible by funds from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation Idaho State Legislature through the Idaho State Historical Society and National Endowment for the Humanities
UTAH STATE UNIVERSITY & RICKS COLLEGE HISTORY DEPARTMENTS COMMUNITY IMPROVEMENT THROUGH LOCAL HISTORY ORAL HISTORY PROGRAM INTERVIEWER AGREEMENT In view of the historical and scholarly value of this information contained in the interview with An (-1 rep' CoDc dcn. 1, pc) r s Shin (name, please print) (interviewer, print) knowingly and voluntarily permit the Milton R. Merrill Library at Utah State University, the David 0. McKay Library at Ricks College, and the Idaho State Historical Society at Boise, Idaho, the full rights and use of this information. Interviewer' Signature p ;v1f2.,) / 7 7 Date ) / 9
UTAH STATE UNIVERSITY & RICKS COLLEGE HISTORY DEPARTMENTS COMMUNITY IMPROVEMENT THROUGH LOCAL HISTORY ORAL HISTORY PROGRAM O INTERVIEWEE AGREEMENT You have been interviewed in connection with a joint oral history program of the History Department, Utah State University, Ricks College, and the Idaho State Historical Society. The purpose of this oral history program is to gather and preserve information for historical and scholarly use. A tape recording of your interview has been made by the interviewer. A verbatim typescript of the tape will be made and a final typed and edited transcripts, together with the tape will be made and a final will then be filed in the Milton R. Merrill Library Special Collections, David 0. McKay Library at Ricks College, and the Idaho State Historical Society in Boise. This material will be made available according to each of the depositories' policies for research be scholars and by others for scholarly purposes. When the final transcript is completed, a personal copy will.be sent to you. * * * * * In view of the historical nd scholarly value of this information, I, a-ocirti C9-y1.9/6 d-ru), do hereby assign full (please prin ṫ ;) full name) and all rights of this material to the Merrill Library at Utah State University, to the Library at Ricks College, and to the Idaho State Historical Society at Boise, Idaho, for scholarly purposes according to each of the institutions governing policies. Interviewee' Signature q / /9 f/-"z Date
ORAL HISTORY INTERVIEWEE: Andrea Congdon INTERVIEWER: Doris Shirley DATE: June 1, 1977 TETON DAM DISASTER S: Would you please spell your name for me? C: Andrea Congdon. S: Where were you born? C: Germany. S: How old are you? C: Eight. S: Do you remember what you were doing Saturday morning, June 5th, just before the flood? C: We had gone to Grandma's and were on our way home. We went to Lyman to this little restaurant and were eating when this guy came in and said, "Have you heard about the Teton Dam flood? The dam broke above Idaho Falls!" Everybody said, "No, we haven't heard." My grandma said, "Is St. Anthony to Idaho Falls going to get flooded? Let's go!" We got in Grandma's car and took off. We got to the Sage Junction Bridge and they stopped us right there. They wouldn't let us go any farther. We turned back and went past Island Park, into Ashton to visit my Aunt Polly, then to St. Anthony to see my cousins. St. Anthony didn't get flooded, so we went to my Aunt Jessie's and stayed there about two nights. I was having a whole bunch of nightmares and kept crying out, "Mom, Mom!" I was scared because we were separated. About three days afterward we went to my uncle's house in Idaho Falls and we got to see our parents there. My sister and I went up to Montana to my other grandma's. We stayed there until Dad got an apartment for us to live in. We stayed there
CONGDON -2- until we got our HUD trailer. We put it on Grandma's property because we didn't have any place else to put it. We stayed there for a long time. The thing I liked about it was that it wasn't far from school and I could walk. It was only a block or two away. Grandma had a dog and we would go over there and visit every day. It was hard to eat in the HUD trailer because the table was for three or four people. Most of us didn't get much food, unless we took some other chairs and set the food on them. The drinks would have to stand on the floor or they would spill in the food that Mom cooked for us. After we got out of the HUD trailer we felt good because we got a new house. When we went to our old house, it was really messy. It was so messy you couldn't believe it. Every time you'd try to walk in it your feet would stick to the mud and you couldn't walk. Some people helped us clean out our house. We got some of the knick-knacks that we got in Germany. We had about three or four wooden dolls, but only one of them was left. In Japan they make every single doll different, even if you wanted them the same. S: What did you lose that you missed the most? C: The Dr. Seus books that got lost. We enjoyed those a lot. They were fun to read. S: Any special toys? C: No, because we had our room upstairs, so I didn't lose any toys. S: You were a little more lucky than some. Can you think of anything else you'd like to tell us? C: I had a clown and I named him "Clownie". I got him when I was one and we went to see if we could find him along with the other stuff. Mom came out and she had all the other stuff, but she couldn't find my clown.
CWGDON -3- I started crying because he was seven years old now. I got him when I was only one so I started crying. Finally, Dad was going through these boxes and found him. I started dancing with him because I was so happy. S: Tell us about Christmas in your HUD trailer. C: We had a dinkie tree. S: Tell us where you got the tree and the ornaments for the tree. C: We made our own ornaments. This one guy was selling little play trees out in the country. One day Mom got the Christmas tree and we decorated it. We put lights on it and Christmas morning we were so happy. We stacked everything in our room. We had to take little steps to get to our room because there was stuff stacked all over. S: Where would you have lived if it hadn't been for the HUD trailer? C: In a tent. S: Thank you, Andrea Congdon.