This is a tale about fate and the Lariat Cafe disaster in Monticello, Utah, near the Colorado state line, on Aug. 13, 1956. It was posted on Family Search website.
By Richard Ross
When I was a young boy my parents and I took several nice vacations that included the National Parks in Utah and the surrounding states. The one that I remember most and the one that had the biggest impact on my life occurred back in 1956.
I was 9 years old at the time. My parents decided to take a short trip to Mesa Verde National Park. We got off to a slow start and didn’t leave Provo until about 2 p.m. We also didn’t eat lunch because we thought we would stop somewhere along the way.
By the time we reached Monticello, Utah we were really hungry. We decided to stop at the locally famous Lariat Café to get some supper and then we would travel on to Cortez, Colorado, to stay overnight.
As we pulled up to the café and got out of the car, my mother looked troubled. My dad asked what was wrong. Mom took another look at the café and stated, “I don’t think we should go in there.” I remember fussing a bit. After all we had only eaten a few snacks since breakfast, but my mother had made up her mind and my dad knew that he must drive on.
We got back in the car and headed for Cortez, about an hour and a half away. Approximately halfway to Cortez we began seeing emergency vehicles. Police cars, ambulances, and fire trucks passed us frequently as we traveled. We knew when we got to our motel that we must turn the television on and find out what had happened.
Upon checking in to the motel we immediately turned on the news. We were shocked to find that the Lariat Café in Monticello had exploded because of a gas leak. At least 15 people were dead and another 30 or more were injured. Some of the bodies were blown right through the wall.
The roof of the building was blown up “above the tops of the trees” and then came back down on top of people that were in the building. All of the walls were blown outwards as well. There was literally no building left after the explosion.
Strangely enough, there were people that were blown in the air and landed outside but were not hurt. There were a couple of cases of eggs found in the rubble. Not one egg was broken. Nevertheless, it was the worst day in the history of Monticello.
When I was a young boy my parents and I took several nice vacations that included the National Parks in Utah and the surrounding states. The one that I remember most and the one that had the biggest impact on my life occurred back in 1956.
I was 9 years old at the time. My parents decided to take a short trip to Mesa Verde National Park. We got off to a slow start and didn’t leave Provo until about 2 p.m. We also didn’t eat lunch because we thought we would stop somewhere along the way.
By the time we reached Monticello, Utah we were really hungry. We decided to stop at the locally famous Lariat Café to get some supper and then we would travel on to Cortez, Colorado, to stay overnight.
As we pulled up to the café and got out of the car, my mother looked troubled. My dad asked what was wrong. Mom took another look at the café and stated, “I don’t think we should go in there.” I remember fussing a bit. After all we had only eaten a few snacks since breakfast, but my mother had made up her mind and my dad knew that he must drive on.
We got back in the car and headed for Cortez, about an hour and a half away. Approximately halfway to Cortez we began seeing emergency vehicles. Police cars, ambulances, and fire trucks passed us frequently as we traveled. We knew when we got to our motel that we must turn the television on and find out what had happened.
Upon checking in to the motel we immediately turned on the news. We were shocked to find that the Lariat Café in Monticello had exploded because of a gas leak. At least 15 people were dead and another 30 or more were injured. Some of the bodies were blown right through the wall.
The roof of the building was blown up “above the tops of the trees” and then came back down on top of people that were in the building. All of the walls were blown outwards as well. There was literally no building left after the explosion.
Strangely enough, there were people that were blown in the air and landed outside but were not hurt. There were a couple of cases of eggs found in the rubble. Not one egg was broken. Nevertheless, it was the worst day in the history of Monticello.
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