306th Cascadia Quake Anniversary

306th Cascadia Quake Anniversary 306 years ago, on the evening of January 26th, 1700, a huge magnitude 9 earthquake occurred along the west coast of North America. Such earthquakes have happened many times before at intervals of several centuries and are expected to happen again (Click here for details.) The 1700 earthquake and resultant tsunami were very similar in size to the Sumatra earthquake and tsunami of December 26, 2004. Some of the links in this article go on to describe the physical evidence for Tsunami's and state that there is no written record of any of the prior Tsunami's on the Pacific coast of Canada. Natural Resources Canada does state that "The [physical evidence] agrees with some legends of first nation people. One legend describes a severe ground shaking on a winter night accompanied by huge waves that destroyed a coastal village. This legend is likely reporting the effect of the last megathrust earthquake." In Robert Brown and the Vancouver Island Exploring Expedition (an account of travels on Vancouver Island written in 1864) there is a description of a tradition of the natives of Barclay Sound. The 'tradition' describes the tide ebbing out of the Alberni Canal for four days and then rushing back in to cover the entire region with the exception of very high ground. The author is unsure if this is a biblical 'great flood' tradition, an account of a great spring tide, or an account of an earthquake tidal wave. To my mind it is certainly the latter.