Ear: Cascadia

Today is the 323rd anniversary of the last time the Cascadia Subduction Zone slipped, causing a massive 9.0 earthquake and tidal wave. Diarist James Swan (pictured), the first schoolteacher at the Makah Reservation at Neah Bay, Washington, wrote down what is believed to be a narrative of the event, as told by Native American Billy Balch, in his July 12, 1864 diary entry:

“… the water flowed from Neah Bay through the Waatch prairie, and Cape Flattery was an island. That the water receded and left Neah Bay dry for four days and became very warm. It then rose again without any swell or waves, and submerged the whole of the cape, and in fact the whole country, except the mountains back of Clayoquot (on the west coast of Vancouver Island, British Columbia ).

“As the water rose, those who had canoes put their effects into them and floated off with the current, which set strong to the north. Some drifted one way and some another, and when the waters again resumed their accustomed level, a portion of the tribe found themselves beyond Noothu (Nookta, also on Vancouver Island) where their descendants now reside, and are known by the same name as the Makah or Quinaitchechat.

“Many canoes came down in the trees and were destroyed and numerous lives were lost. The same thing happened at Quillehuyte, and a portion of that tribe went off either in canoes or by land and found the Chimahcum tribe at Port Townsend.”

“There is no doubt in my mind,” Swan noted, “of the truth of this tradition.”