A section of the Terrace-Kitimat Highway was reduced to rubble Friday when an upheaval of the earth wiped out approximately 600 yards of road area.

Tremors shook the earth, moving huge masses of oozing blue clay and broken trees for a distance of one and a half miles. Large fissues opened, some 10 to 12 feet across and 30 feet deep.

The slide occurred about 13 miles south of Terrace between Granite and Furlong Creeks.

Power poles snapped off like toothpicks causing power outage in Terrace between 5 and 6 p.m. while B.C. Hydro crews made the switch to local auxiliary sources.

Road building equipment was overturned and partially buried in the muck.

A logging truck owned by Kennedy and Aguire of Terrace was lifted with a full load of timber and smashed down on a car belonging to R. Hedstrom of Terrace. Drivers of both vehicles had abandoned them in a attempt to outrun the quaking earth.

No one was injured in the slide area.

Mr. And Mrs. N. Booth of Terrace were caught in the midst of the strange melee and forced to leave their car. Saturday morning, wreckers removed their vehicle from the scene unscathed except for minor paint scratches.

Highways Superintendent Carl Shaw had work crews on the scene immediately in an attempt to push through a passable "tote" road for emergency traffic.

Standed Terrace-Kitimat motorists were able to return to their homes via the CNR which ran special passenger service beginning Saturday at noon.

Farwest Bus lines continued operations by re-routing to Johnson's Cabin on Lakelse Lake and boating passengers to connecting points beyond the slide area.

Helicopters hovered above the scene transporting press and radio operators and B.C. Hydro officials.

Authorities have not as yet determined the exact cause of the landslide, which occurred in an area with a volcanic history. However, geologists from Victoria arrived here Sunday to begin a detailed analysis.

Officials could not even venture a guess at the cost involved in equipment damage and planned re-construction of the road.

Land Upheaval Awesome Sight;
Hair-Raising Experience for Many.

By RUTH HALLOCK, HERALD STAFF WRITER.

It was an awesome sight. I have been warned that it was unbelievable but somehow this was a bit too much to pay heed to until I had actually planted my rubber boots in some of the dirty blue ooze.

After getting clearance from authorities in Terrace, Sid Sheasby of Sid's Plumbing and Heathing drove me out to the slide area Saturday morning. Armed with cameras and boots we left the truck at the department of highways barricade and trudged half a mile down into the upheaval section.

We could smell it before we saw it - a sickly, sour muskeg smell that lay thick on the morning air.

When we reached the scene of the destruction, I realized that it was indeed weird and unbelievable. Huge cracks had opened in the earth to swallow road equipment - a grader, bulldozer and a "21" (similar to a Tournapull).

Hank Bennett, an operator for Peter Kiewit Construction Company walked over to us and said, "Did you see the "21" with the tree across it? I was in it. When I saw that tree coming down it was time to jump.

I asked him if he'd ever been scared like that before and he replied, "There were a lot of people scared out here last night. We all figured it was the end of everything."

Mrs. Norman Booth stood along what was once the roadside watching a Skeena Auto wrecker ease her car out of the rubble.

"It was terrible," she said, "we couldn't run away from it. The earth kept opening up with every step we took. We couldn't see how widespread the quake was and I thought it was the whole valley caving under, Terrace included."

A Kitimat man stared at the car squashed beneath a logging truck and exclaimed, "Nobody can get insurance for a crazy thing like this!"

Cables pulled up into curly strands lay helter skelter amidst the oozing clay. Trees swayed dangerously in the light morning breeze. Worried men spoke hurried worried words as they tried to assess the damage, dollarwise.

A jaunty sightseer came upon the scene and quipped, "Man, the frost heaves are sure terrific out here this morning!"

On the homeward haul we saw animals running toward the lake. A frightened young deer, skittering "camprobbers" and a clumsy, fat black bear ignored our truck completely in their frenzied flight.

There was an eerie pall over the green bursting valley.

I asked the driver, "Do you suppose those animals know something we don't know?"

"Could be," he said, "could be."

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