50th year anniversary of Evel Knievel’s Snake River Canyon Jump
By Joseph Downs
Published: Aug. 30, 2024 at 9:48 PM MDT
TWIN FALLS, Idaho (KMVT/KSVT) —”I remember it, like, when I was a kid,” says Enzo Felice, a tourist visiting from Novi, Michigan.
“It was like “wow, this guy’s going to try to do this thing on a motorcycle,” says Brandon Jacobs, a tourist from Houston, Texas.
“This jump help put Twin Falls on the map,” says Dr. Russ Tremaine, a noted Magic Valley historian.
It’s not much to look at these days. A dirt road, leading up to a pile of dirt. However, 50 years ago, this was the site of a worldwide happening. As Evel Knievel, one part daredevil, one part “outlaw”, and one part American flag, was coming to town.
“Back then, we used to try to jump our bikes over everything, right?,” says Felice. “I remember trying to jump garage to garage with a bicycle. He was a big deal back then!”
“Every kid in the neighborhood tried to pop a wheelie, right?,” says Jacobs. “In 1974 or 75, if you popped a wheelie on your bike, you’d yell “Evel Knievel”. He was part of our upbringing.”
Knievel was planning the biggest stunt of his illustrious career. The man who would go onto sustain the Guinness Book of World’s record for most broken bones in a lifetime, would attempt to jump the Snake River Canyon.
“This event was a national event,” says Tremaine. “It was on “Wide World of Sports”. Got a lot of coverage that was the purpose of Evel Knievel, to draw attention. He was very good at it. This is pop culture is one of the most significant events in Magic Valley history, no doubt about it.”
Dr. Russ Tremaine is one of the foremost authorities on Magic Valley history.
He was a freshman at Boise State University back in 1974, and while he missed the actual jump, he remembers the fanfare, as well as the darker side to the circus Evel Knievel brought to town.
“Woodstock event without the music,” says Tremaine. “The county prosecutor, the sheriff were openly about “you better stay off private property or you have permission to shoot these people. Bikers were down in the Canyon, a beer truck went down to the Shoshone Falls. They raided the beer truck and took the beer. They left town with unpaid bills. There was nudity, heavy drinking and marijuana. And it very much left a bad taste in mouths of the Twin Falls community.”
On September 8th, 1974, on 300 acres of land he leased from the state of Idaho, Knievel attempted to soar into history. However, a parachute malfunction cut his ride well short of landing on the Jerome County side of the Canyon.
“When I heard him try to do this, I was like “Wow! A canyon?”, says Felice, “And then they said how long it was, I was like “Wow! It’s even further than I envisioned”. I was disappointed about the malfunction. He went a quarter of the way up and then floated down and you see him land. Everyone was like “Is he ok? Is he ok?”. He was, which is good. But unfortunately, he wasn’t able to complete the jump.”
“When he did it, it wasn’t like today, where it was on the news,” says Jacobs. “No one really knew what went wrong. It was like a mystery. He failed, or he didn’t make it to the other side. But it was always like, really, what happened.”
“There’s sort of an urban legend about what happened there,” says Tremaine. “I chatted with a gentleman just this morning. He was sitting right at the base of this jump and he swears that Evel Knievel pulled the rip cord for the parachute before he got off into the jump. So there’s sort of this notion that it was all just kind of a show and he was bailing out early. Of course, the story that you have with other people, that the rocket didn’t fire correctly, so he didn’t get high enough. My theory always was that they didn’t figure the wind , and so he went up but he didn’t have enough power and he didn’t get high enough.”
After that, the site returned to its dusty natural, with little interest, and it might have stayed that way if not for a local organization.
“The Preservation of Twin Falls was contacted a few years ago about what to do with this pile of dirt outside of town,” says Tremaine. “That’s what it was. I would say that not many people came to see it. There’s been a historical marker here, and when you go on the website. You look up Evel Knievel or Twin Falls, this is one of the places that’s highlighted. So people can come look at it. So, it’s not really the site, although it’s interesting. It’s the story.”
Since then, thrill seekers, like Enzo Felice of Michigan and Brandon Jacobs of Texas have come from all over to see this piece of pop culture Americana.
“When my wife mentioned the Snake River Canyon”, says Felice, “it was like something popped in my head. I said, “I think Evel Knievel jumped or tried to jump the Snake River Canyon”. We got here, and I asked the gentleman “Is this anywhere near where Evel Knievel jumped?” and he said, “It’s like a mile and a half up the trail”, “I said wow, awesome!”
“We’re on a little bit of a road trip”, says Jacobs, “and when we heard that this is the site, we had to come see it. When we learned it was the 50th anniversary, it became something really special.”
In 2016, Hollywood stuntman Eddie Braun successfully replicated jump, however for true Knievel fans, nothing beats the original.
“Evel Knievel was an icon,” says Felice
”He was truly an American hero,” says Jacobs
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