4A • March 23, 2018 | Cannon Beach Gazette | cannonbeachgazette.com
Views from the Rock
Dogs allowed, but
what about kids?
E
HENRY FOUNTAIN/CROWN BOOKS
The damage on Fourth Avenue in Anchorage after the March 27, 1964, earthquake.
When Alaska rattles,
Cannon Beach prepares
O
n March 27, 1964, a magnitude 9.2 earthquake
struck Alaska — the second most powerful in
recorded history, behind Chile’s 1960 magnitude
9.5 quake.
In Cannon Beach, described by author Henry
Fountain in his new book “Quakeland,” as “a
sleepy town in Oregon,” participants in a late-night poker
game ignored one telephone call warning them of the pos-
sibility of a wave.
“A second call a short time later relayed that a wave
had just hit the shoreline,” Fountain writes. “Some houses
floated away and a bridge into the town was destroyed, but
everyone, including the poker players, survived.”
Cannon Beach author Peter Lindsey recalls in his mem-
oir, “Comin’ In Over the Rock” that after the wave, Elk
Creek bridge washed away and pipelines swept away with
the bridge. The town was without water for a week. One
home drifted off its pinnings and stumbled up Elk Creek.
Elaine Trucke Murdy, executive director of the Cannon
Beach History Center and Museum, described the 1964
tsunami as hitting the north end of town hardest. “Tsunami
debris was distrib-
uted throughout the
town,” she wrote
CANNON SHOTS
in the Gazette.
R.J.
MARX
“Though Cannon
Beach did not expe-
rience the fatalities
or devastation of
other coastal com-
munities, it was a shocking occurrence that changed how
those who live at the coast react to a tsunami.”
Trail of destruction
“Quakeland” paints a picture of the people and the land-
scape, which fell on a Good Friday at 5:36 p.m. “The day
had been an ordinary one, overcast but not too dark and not
too cold,” Fountain writes.
To one eyewitness, “it was as if the earth were swallow-
ing everyone.”
A family car disappeared into the water, taking every-
one with it. The high school basketball coach and teacher
vanished with his two preschool-aged sons. An elementary
school was a total loss and a hospital narrowly escaped
destruction when land gave way.
Near Sherman Glacier, Alaska, the top 500 feet of a
4,300-foot-high mountain broke away during the quake.
The ensuing landslide hurtled 25 million cubic yards of
rock at 200 miles per hour.
In the city of Valdez, Alaska, pipes from the city’s sewer
system spouted into the air, reaching heights of 20 feet
or more of water, mud and sewage. The ground rose and
fell about three to four feet with every wave that passed
through.
When a tidal wave is out in the deep ocean, Fountain
writes, it has little or no effect on the surface. Not so as it
nears land. Waves grow taller and can slow to a fraction of
their initial speed. Large waves, some more than 20 feet
high, left a trail of destruction southeastward along the
North American coast to Oregon, California and into Mex-
ico. Waves spread out across the Pacific, to the Hawaiian
Islands five hours after the quake and Japan a few hours
later. Tidal waves spawned by the ground movement along
the fault traveled across the Pacific at hundreds of miles an
hour, reaching the Antarctic Peninsula 10,000 miles away.
At the southern edge of the Olympic Peninsula, high
water washed away a bridge in the town of Copalis Beach,
Washington. ‘Boats sunk in Santa Cruz, California, and
10-foot-waves carried off fishing boats near Catalina
Island.
Four children were swept away in Newport as waves hit
in two surges; only one body was recovered.
In Crescent City, California, 10 miles south of the Ore-
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Author Henry Fountain and his book “The Great
Quake: How the Biggest Earthquake in North America
Changed Our Understanding of the Planet.”
‘…IT WAS AS IF THE EARTH WERE
SWALLOWING EVERYONE.’
One eyewitness to the earthquake that
struck Alaska on March 27, 1964
gon border, the waves proved most lethal.
The 1964 Alaska quake killed 139 people; 13 of those as
a result of waves in California and five in Oregon.
xpedia, the travel giant, recently released a report
calling Cannon Beach “one of the best places in the
U.S. for a child-free getaway.” Whether or not this is
something the city of Cannon Beach was actually aspiring
to, it’s really good news for adults on vacation who would
prefer to limit their exposure (if not avoid it altogether)
to screaming, laughing, crying, frolicking, squealing
children.
According to the report, Expedia said they analyzed
hundreds of thousands of social media conversations to
determine that conversations about child-free travel lo-
cales has increased
over 100 percent
in the last year.
Following their
VIEW FROM
own data, they con- THE PORCH
structed a list of 15 EVE MARX
places rated best in
the U.S. for child-
free getaways.
The locations were
selected based on
criteria including
adult-only resorts,
child-free restau-
rants, lodging,
attractions and
activities. Meredith
Castin, a travel
writer for Expedia
who was involved
in creating the re-
port, said, “A place
like Cannon Beach
is attractive because
it offers everything
COLIN MURPHEY/EO MEDIA GROUP
one could want
Bistro restaurant owner/chef Jack
during a child-free
Stevenson decided to offer gour-
coastal getaway:
dramatic, beautiful, met dog food as an option in this
uncrowded beaches, canine-friendly community.
and luxurious ac-
commodations that cater to an adult clientele.”
Although I am a parent of a 30-year-old person, and I
like children, especially when they’re not my own, I can
definitely see the appeal of taking a holiday in a relatively
child-free zone. Many people feel cranky being around
young kids when they’re trying to relax and enjoy them-
selves. Partly it’s a legal issue. For starters, the presence
of children cuts into one’s enjoyment when you’re trying
to enjoy your craft beer and craft smoke. And while many
adults well into their middle age and older will share how
much they enjoy time spent in the company of, say, their
grandchildren, other children get on their nerves, tax their
patience, and make them want to tell the parents of unruly
kids to…well, you know what.
While of course there are children in Cannon Beach
(it is, after all, more than a vacation community. Plenty of
families with children do live in town), it’s true that unless
you’re at Mo’s, it’s a rarity to see kids in Cannon Beach’s
myriad restaurants and coffee shops. During the peak
summer months, you might encounter children around
Haystack Rock and on the beach, but if you’re looking for
a fun travel destination to do with your kids, Seaside is a
lot more copacetic.
Reading this Expedia article, got me thinking. There
may not be many vacationing human children in Cannon
Beach, but fur children? When it comes to dogs, Cannon
Beach is arms open. For such a tiny community, there are
not one, but two, dog related shops. Most hotel and short
term rental accommodations allow dogs. Dogs are wel-
come on the patios of many restaurants and inside many
shops. Dogs are on the beach and all over the sidewalks.
(Unlike Gearhart, Cannon Beach has a stringent leash law,
which I consider a plus.) So if your baby is a fur baby and
not a human one, Cannon Beach is a delightful place to
bring your little one.
Plan ahead
Fifty-four years later, the conversation continues. The
Jan. 23 Gulf of Alaska quake measured 7.9, prompting a
tsunami watch stretching 3,000 miles from the Aleutian
Islands to Canada’s border with Washington state.
The magnitude 7.9 earthquake was recorded in the
Pacific Ocean at 12:32 a.m. on Jan. 23, about 170 miles
southeast of Kodiak, home to one of the nation’s largest
Coast Guard bases.
Close to home, cities throughout the South County mon-
itored events throughout the late night and early morning.
Gearhart City Administrator Chad Sweet and Police Chief
Jeff Bowman received overnight alerts and arrived at Gear-
hart City Hall around 2 a.m.
Management at Camp 18 on restaurant on U.S. High-
way 26 reported more than 40 cars of people trying to
evacuate in their parking lot at 4 a.m.
In Cannon Beach, Fire Chief Matt Benedict and first
responders made the decision to open a joint emergency
operation center for Cannon Beach, Arch Cape and Falcon
Cove, before closing after the tsunami watch was called off
around 4 a.m.
In the aftermath, Tiffany Brown, emergency manage-
ment director of Clatsop County, told the Gazette’s Brenna
Visser she hoped to turn January’s tsunami scare into an
educational moment for the county, cities and people in the
community.
Brown wants to launch a public education campaign
about how tsunami alerts work to address confusion.
She’s also encouraging more people to register with the
local alert system. The majority of the 18,000 residents
registered are on landlines, with only 3,200 registered on
cellphones — a factor that could hinder the county’s ability
to get the word out in an actual emergency.
“This was a great scenario to put us through,” Benedict
said. “With this occurring near Alaska, it gave us some
time. … I’d rather plan ahead than play catch-up.”
CANNON BEACH GAZETTE
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LETTERS
Thank you!
This last Saturday at Coaster Theatre we had a fund-
raiser for the Cannon Beach Academy that was also a
tribute to Bill Steidel, an artist and leading community
member. This truly amazing evening was the result of the
contributions of so many wonderful people.
The talents of Bob “Bobcat” Rice on guitar and gitja
(you really should see this one), Cami Lira on vocals (and
an occasional kazoo) and Margo Dueber on vocals (and
the other kazoo) came together Saturday night, and their
patience and hard work had a huge impact on the suc-
cess of the evening. Bill’s songs of history, love, humor,
tragedy and hope wove magic through the evening and
the audience added to that tapestry by singing right along
with us. The type of community event that makes Cannon
Beach the special village that it is.
Paul Dueber
Cannon Beach
John Orr, our best choice
As a former Republican, I would like to share why
I believe candidate John Orr should be our next State
House Representative for District 32. Even though he is
running for political office for the first time, he is certainly
no “newcomer” to politics. Orr’s progressive views on
finance reform, housing and the environment as well as his
25 years representing his community and helping others,
have always been distinct and have never wavered. I en-
courage everyone to vote, but I especially encourage you
to vote for those who truly care about the future of Oregon
— John Orr is for Oregon.
Phil Hall
Warrenton
THE NATIONAL AWARD-WINNING