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Over Labor Day weekend, Twin Falls, Idaho, held a 50th anniversary celebration of the September day in 1974 when Evel Knievel tried to jump the Snake River Canyon in a steam-powered rocket. Twin Falls is a city of about 50,000 people in southern Idaho, but in 1974 it was less than half that size, and it was bracing for—and dreading—the arrival of tens of thousands to witness Knievel’s long-deferred attempt, which had been promoted in the manner of a heavyweight championship fight. “Heck,” a waitress said, hearing the speculation about invading hordes, “I ain’t never seen more than a thousand in one place. It’s scary.”