September 10, 1899 Gulf of Alaska Tsunami - Russel Fjord Narrative
Passage from Lander (1996):
"Among the widely reported effect was the account of two groups of miners on
Russell Fjord. The first group consisted of three men, Capt. Tom Smith, S. Cox,
and Dr. D.A. Cox, who were camped on a glacier outwash fan about 1000 feet from
the water on the north shore near its entrance to Disenchantment Bay and about
fifteen feet above the water level. They were about one and three quarter miles
southeast of Hubbard Glacier. About a mile further to the southeast was the
second party of five men - A. Flanner, Dwight Stevens, Jack Fultz, Jr., Tom
Boland, and A. Anderson. The two camps were separated by a swift and unfordable
glacier stream known as Johnson Creek.
The men had been there since before the earthquake of September 3, which they
felt, and they reported aftershocks continued until September 10 with varying
intensity. At 9 A.M. on the 10th there was a violent shock so severe that they
could hardly keep from falling. At about 1:30 P.M. the hardest of all struck.
They reported that it must have lasted two and a half to three minutes. They
heard a terrible roar in the direction of the bay and saw a tidal wave of about
20 feet high approaching. It was preceded by great geyseres shooting into the
air, some of which were several feet across and thirty or forty feet high.
This reported observation is not explained but could have been water geysers
squeezed from compaction of sediments. The men immediately ran for higher
ground. Realizing that the first wave would not reach their camp and needing to
save their supplies to survive in the inhospitable environment, they returned to
their tent. As soon as Capt. Smith reached the tent they heard the second and
larger wave approaching that was twenty to thirty feet high. He escaped just as
the water entered the camp. They reached higher ground, which required them to
jump a number of crevasses.
The other group of miners also had a diffcult time, threatened from the front by
the tsunami and from the rear by the flood from a breached lake. Johnson Creek
briefly divided into a number of channels and the men were able to wade through
it and reach the Cox party. They had not been able to save anything, even coats
and hats in some cases, and their boats were smashed. Their situation was
desperate as they were on the wrong side of the fjord to be able to walk toward
Yakutat, forty-five miles away, and were blocked from walking inland by two
impassible glaciers. The Cox party, on returning to their camp a second time,
found one serviceable boat and a little food. They decided that three should
leave in the morning to find help for the others.
They spent a sleepless night in wet blankets, hearing the continuous crack of
ice and the roar of landslides. Shortly after leaving they found a damaged
Indian canoe and returned for the other five men. They repaired the craft and
all were able to depart at one time after another wet night. It seens unlikely
that a damaged but serviceable canoe would have been abandoned. This type of
canoe could carry as many as eight people. (There is no word of the fate of the
former owners of the boat.) There was little progress the next day, as the bay
was full of ice. The men were forced to camp after making only about five miles
progress. The site proved unfortunate and the nearby streams changed course,
flooding their camp. They took to their boats at 3 A.M. The following day they
were able to make good progress and observed places where the tsunami had left
it mark fully forty feet above the water level in Disenchantment Bay. They
reached Yakutat after another night of camping, surviving by eating the fish
killed by the shock (The Alaskan, Sitka, October 14, 1899).
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