March 30, 1904 Tsunami: Washington-Oregon, United States

March 17, 4:20 GMT and March 30. Oddone (1907, p. 92) remarked, "March 30 an earthquake must have caused the floods of the rivers Queets, Quinault, Wishkah and Hoh at their mouths" citing newspaper reports. The Hoquian Washingtonian (March 17, p. 1) reports dishes rattled and nervous people frightened at 8:21 P.M. March 16, but there was no mention of water activity and no mention of earthquake or waves in the March 31 edition. The Seattle Star mentions the earthquake on March 16 but there is no mention of rivers on this date or on March 30 or April 2. The Seattle Post (March 30, 1904, p. 9) mentions a great scarcity of marine news for the last two or three weeks due to the severe weather and the strike of marine engineers. The March 16 earthquake apparently occurred in the Puget Sound area as it as felt at Victoria, B.C., Port Townsend, and on ships in Seattle but there is no mention of river blockage.

The Aberdeen Herald (March 21, p. 2) mentions that south Oregon had been suffering from disastrous floods and swollen streams but no mention of waves. The South Bend, Washington Journal states (March 25, p. 1) "The barkentine Addenda which loaded lumber at this port for San Francisco had a very rough trip down the coast from Willapa Harbor. Off Cape Blanco a storm struck her and heavy seas swept her fore and aft." The earthquake was felt by few, and kerosene sloshed in lamps, but nothing related to water activity was mention in the April 2 edition. Reid's Catalog (undated manuscript) for March 16 and 17 reports "Rivers west of Olympia said to have ponded up but this seems doubtful as no further news has been received."

The Port Townsend Weekly Leader (march 23, p. 2) reports the barometer dropped very low. There was no mention of wave activity in the March 31 or April 1 editions. The Monthly Weather Review (March 1904, pp.105, 106) reports, "the severest storm of the month appeared on the North Pacific Coast on the night of the 9th and on the morning of the 10th the barometric pressure was below 29.00 inches on the Washington and Oregon coasts. The gales which attended this storm were severe from British Columbia to San Diego and heavy rain fell on the coastal districts. The storms that appeared on the north Pacific Coast on the 10-11th and 19th were sufficiently severe to prostrate trees...Aberdeen received 15.66 inches of rain and South Bend received 12.88."

This event perhaps was the result of landslides triggered by the March 16 earthquake and the torrential rains as Reid's dates seem to fix the time. There were no accounts of wave activity. Validity 0.

Above from reference #237.

March 30. There was an earthquake in the State of Washington, as a result of which, it appears, the water rose in Grays Bay, and in the mouths of the Queet Quinault, Wishkah and Hoh Rivers (Reference #415).