Uploaded October 2019 | Updated September 2026, 6 hours ago
This stretch of highway 6 east of Diamond Fork Road climbs towards Soldier Summit before turning south on to highway 89 in Utah County, Utah. Highlights include dramatic mountain scenery, road cuts, and flood areas. Watch closely to catch a brief glimpse of structures in Thistle, Utah that still remain underwater.
Thistle is a ghost town in Spanish Fork Canyon in southeastern Utah County. During the era of steam locomotives, the town's primary industry was servicing trains for the Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad. The fortunes of the town were closely linked with those of the railroad until the changeover to diesel locomotives when the town started to decline.
In April 1983, a massive landslide dammed the Spanish Fork River. The residents were evacuated as nearly 65,000 acre feet (80,000,000 square meters) of water backed up, flooding the town. Thistle was destroyed; only a few structures were left partially standing. Federal and state government agencies have said this was the most costly landslide in United States history as the economic consequences of which affected the entire region. The landslide resulted in the first presidentially declared disaster area in Utah.
U.S. Route 6 (US‑6), U.S. Route 89 (US‑89) and the railroad (now part of Union Pacific Railroad's Central Corridor) were closed for several months, until they were rebuilt on a higher alignment overlooking the area.
For more info on the history of flooding and mudslides in Thistle and Birdseye, Utah, visit:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thistle,_Utah
fox13now.com/2019/07/26/part-of-u-s-89-closed-in-utah-co-due-to-flash-flooding
Soundtrack by:
Talisman & Hudson
"Leave Planet Earth"
This stretch of highway 6 east of Diamond Fork Road climbs towards Soldier Summit before turning south on to highway 89 in Utah County, Utah. Highlights include dramatic mountain scenery, road cuts, and flood areas. Watch closely to catch a brief glimpse of structures in Thistle, Utah that still remain underwater.
Thistle is a ghost town in Spanish Fork Canyon in southeastern Utah County. During the era of steam locomotives, the town's primary industry was servicing trains for the Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad. The fortunes of the town were closely linked with those of the railroad until the changeover to diesel locomotives when the town started to decline.
In April 1983, a massive landslide dammed the Spanish Fork River. The residents were evacuated as nearly 65,000 acre feet (80,000,000 square meters) of water backed up, flooding the town. Thistle was destroyed; only a few structures were left partially standing. Federal and state government agencies have said this was the most costly landslide in United States history as the economic consequences of which affected the entire region. The landslide resulted in the first presidentially declared disaster area in Utah.
U.S. Route 6 (US‑6), U.S. Route 89 (US‑89) and the railroad (now part of Union Pacific Railroad's Central Corridor) were closed for several months, until they were rebuilt on a higher alignment overlooking the area.
For more info on the history of flooding and mudslides in Thistle and Birdseye, Utah, visit:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thistle,_Utah
fox13now.com/2019/07/26/part-of-u-s-89-closed-in-utah-co-due-to-flash-flooding
Soundtrack by:
Talisman & Hudson
"Leave Planet Earth"
