Rain fell over northern Utah all afternoon on Aug. 13, 1923, but life went on. Mary Ward settled into her son’s Willard home, having arrived only the day before. Almost 500 tourists enjoyed the midway at Lagoon. Even campers carried out their plans – Mr. and Mrs. W.J. Wright of Ogden, married less than a year after meeting as missionaries in Hawaii, pitched a tent up North Fork Canyon for a delayed honeymoon. Four boys from Salt Lake made a camp in Farmington Canyon, and just over the hill from them nine Scouts led by George Bergstrom readied their six tents for a wet night.

Well after dark, the Scouts were settled into a single tent listening to a ghost story. The rain stopped abruptly, and in the sudden silence from the skies the boys heard the thundering sound of a flash flood. Before they could move, a wall of water swept them and their tent into a deep torrent dozens of yards wide. Continue reading Willard Flood, 1923 (Utah history) →