Water - a lot of it. 40 to 100 inches of rain fall each year on the north coast. Rivers swell and sometimes flood with devastating impact. Landslides destroy roads and rail lines. The ocean’s unrelenting force carves a rugged coastline and occasional tsunamis explode onto the land wiping out whole towns. Cushing House at High Tide Crescent City - 1853Crescent City was founded in 1853 as a shipping and trade center, supplying miners who had come to this northwestern coastal town after the discovery of gold on the Trinity River in 1848. When the Battery Point Lighthouse was completed in 1856, Crescent Bay opened up as an important harbor.
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Front Street Crescent City 4th of July - ca. 1857On March 27, 1964, Anchorage, Alaska’s Good Friday earthquake, the largest ever recorded in North America measuring 9.2 on the Richter scale, shot waves down the coast. Four of them slammed into Crescent City, destroying hundreds of buildings and killing 12 people.
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Mattole Wharf - 1908The Mattole Valley is just south of Cape Mendocino and historically very remote from the Redwood Empire communities of Ferndale, Fortuna, and Eureka. Until a long and winding road that could handle engine-powered trucks was built in 1919, the only commercially viable way in and out was by boat. The Mattole Wharf, built in 1908, was located on a particularly rough patch of the sea, buffeted by drifting logs and debris, heavy pounding waves, and strong currents. The road and railway that connected the wharf with the town of Petrolia was regularly damaged by floods and landslides. The wharf finally closed down for good in 1918.
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Downtown Klamath - 1939The Christmas flood of 1964 that wiped out the town was part of a much bigger flood event that encompassed about 200,000 square miles (roughly the size of France), left thousands homeless, caused 47 deaths, and $540 million in damage. A series of atmospheric rivers battered areas in Oregon, Idaho, Washington, Nevada and Northern California, producing as much as 15 inches of rain in 24 hours.
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Douglas Memorial Bridge after the flood on the Klamath - 1964The Douglas Memorial Bridge opened for traffic in 1926, driving the ferry near the mouth of the Klamath River out of business. It was named for Dr. Gustave H. Douglas, an important proponent of a bridge across the Klamath that would link Del Norte with the roads of Humboldt County and southward.During the massive flood of December, 1964, two sections on the south side of the bridge were battered by huge logs and the sheer force of the river’s current. They were washed away as was the northern approach and the town of Klamath.
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Last updated: October 12, 2022