I graduated from EHS in 1964. I had some fishing and drinking buddies who were from Ferndale, during the Eel river flood I spent a lot of time helping dairy farmers escape the roof of their barns as they watched their cows drown. Some just started crying. It was a massive amount of destruction. I still remember. Hope my old buddy Nate is doing ok. This picture moved me. Thanks. McE.
I was 13 years old when Ferndale flooded that Christmas in 1964. My Dad was with the Sheriff’s marine posse with his 17 foot boat with a 45 house power motor. Every day he helped with rescue, I waited to see if he would make it home. The seven mile road from Ferndale to Fernbridge was lined with dead milk cows when they started to clean up the farms when the water receded. It took about two weeks to get back over the bridge. The town took in anybody displaced by the flood locally. We pulled together to take care of each other. We had neighbors staying with us because we were above the flood waters. A fire place was our kitchen stove and heat. A few memories…
My grandfather Albert Porter is the one digging in the ground at 16 minutes. My grandmother was one of the 5 that drowned in the Pepperwood flood of 1964.
Susan Spatz I am sorry to hear your grandmother was one of those lost at Pepperwood. I was 6 years old and lived in Bull Creek during the 64 flood. Later lived in Weott, Fortuna, Redcrest (on The Robert/Richard Child’s farm sons were Robin and Steven)and Yreka before moving to Orick in 1972 where I met my wife Carmen Castenada Barbosa .. after graduating HS in 1976 and 3 years in the Army we moved to Texas,3 children 5 grandchildren we still reside here. My heart has always ached for our home .. Nor Cal .. A lot of my family still live there and we do get to visit occasionally. I remember the 64 flood vividly!
@@dennisbaker4255 Thank you for responding back. I remember when my Dad went next door to my Uncle George Johnson's house in Larabee to listen to the news. My uncle had a generator and was the only one to be able to watch t.v. My Dad was trying to find out news about his Mother Florence Porter. Was so sad when he came home crying, I remember that so clearly. We were basically stranded for about 3 months. I was about 12 years old at that time. We lived up on the hill above the Eel river so we were far enough to not be affected by the high waters, but our neighbors below us lost their houses, and our grammar school went down the river in the flood.
I was 5 years old; we were at my Great Aunt's house in Reo Dell for Christmas. I remember watching houses going down the Eel River. The bridge between Scocia and Reo Dell dropped into the river just after Dr. Munchheimer crossed it. After the storm was over, the Goodyear Blimp showed up and hovered overhead for a couple of days. My dad had to hire a pilot to come rescue us and fly us home. The pilot landed on the main road in Reo Dell.
My mom and her family were in this flood. She was 11 when it flooded. Thanks for a great video. Her and I both enjoyed watching it. She's full of stories about the area. She lived in Larabee at the time with her parents and brothers and sister.
I remember everything about that flood, only because I lived through it with your Mom. Our Mom took the kindling stick to me and Jackie because our uncle George told her that we were wading in the mud leftover after the water went down, Hey we were having fun, Oh, this isnt Laura, its your Aunt. Was sad that our school building went down the river though. The sad part of it was when our Dad came home after listening to the news and finding out our Grandmother Florence Porter drowned along with 4 others in Pepperwood.
Recently visited and was curious about the history after living through a mild representation in Vermont 2011 after hurricane Irene dumped 11 inches of rain. Thank you for posting. Its amazing what humans can do when pressured by nature. We are incredibly resilient, but my heart goes out to those whose lives were swept away in an instant, surreal. Reminds me of when PBS was only informational.
It is ironic that the timber industry was painted in such a positive light in this film. Later review of causes of the disaster found that erosion caused by clear cut logging had raised the elevations of the river bottoms, thus raising the elevations of the flood waters. High tides and lots of rain and melting snowpack, yes--but human actions accelerated the damage.
When the Murphys ran Pacific Lumber they used to replant after logging the area. There was a hostile takeover by another company. The new company didn't replant new trees. They left the land bare after logging.
And then the dope smoking hippy liberals came in and turned Humboldt into drug infested wastland where crime is rampant and filth is everywhere. I was born in Arcata in 1969 and watched Humboldt become the disastrous dead zone t is today.
I was 7, living in Fortuna. Friends of my parents had to get rescued by helicopter out the roof of their house in Ferndale. I remember gathering toys and clothes for their kids. Heavy, heavy rains.
I remember that flood well, but had no idea of total destruction. When the town and bridge at Klamath were gone I recall driving my hot rod 58 Chevy onto a barge that was pushed by boat to ferry back and forth.
Thank you for putting this video on RU-vid. I was looking for something else when I found this! I am so glad to have gotten to see some of our History! Thank you again.
I grew up in Humboldt County, moved there in 1953 at age 7. My dad was a California State Park ranger and we lived first at Patrick's Point State Park, then Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park, then Richardsons Grove Redwoods State Park, and finally my dad was assigned to Fort Humboldt in Eureka where I graduated from high school in 1963. Saw the results of many of the floods back then. Assume the climate zelots would call all those floods man-made "climate change" if Mother Nature caused them today.
I’m sure that the timber company, forestry ,cutting new trails brought out the Sasquatch species when Jerry Crew found tracks in 58 all over the CAT equipment. Then 1967 Bob Gimlin & Roger Patterson encounter a female hominoid species in Bluff Creek .The flood cleaned out a lot of the area
not a single one has been found. Not a bone, not a scrap of fur, not a video in any of the thousands of game cams out there in the woods. Security cameras now too. they don't exist
I was born in 64 and never heard of this until now. Things like this don't get public attention - meanwhile, nature goes on doing what it does. Seems a better idea to make this part of mainstream(no pun intended) news and education and possibly come up with solutions and prepare. Probably more profit in building new dream homes and selling them to the lemmings.
I wonder IF Army core of engineers have since rebuilt stronger infrastructure that would be more resilient to withstand another catastrophic event (?) I'm a native Floridian & unfortunately after every hurricane ZERO changes are made & developers come in & build affluent home's (pushing out local natives) for those looking to relocate. Rinse repeat after every high impact hurricane 😕
yep, they had enough old-growth to keep logging until..... about 1990 or so, if they'd have kept cutting it. Imagine if they'd cut the timber in the parks, there wouldn't be any of this "beautiful preserve" left at all. Just a big, sterile, even-age, monoculture treefarm. Takes a while to grow back to those old-growth conditions
Yup. Dope smoking hippiey derelicts, now there is nothing but crime and drugs. Liberals have destroyed Humboldt. I was born in Arcata in 69 and was raised in and around there. My parents still live there and. what a bombed out s hole. I hate that place, frigging tweakers EVERYWHERE!
