![]() ![]() ![]() After the group escaped to the floating roof, Clawson found a boat to rescue his family and friends. Suddenly, rising waters ripped the Longbranch off its foundation. And then the elder Clawson said, "Let it come." "My dad, I'll never forget, he jumped on the bar, drew himself a beer and he says, 'Well happy birthday to me,'" recalls Gary Clawson. That night they, along with Clawson's mother, fiancée and two employees, returned to the Longbranch to inspect the damage, mop up, retrieve the cash box and have another drink to celebrate Bill's birthday. ![]() Gary Clawson and his father Bill owned a tavern called the Longbranch. So residents and shop owners weren't terribly distressed by the foot of water that flooded the lower blocks of downtown. They had also had their share of tsunami false alarms. But Crescent City residents were familiar with high water. The first wave caused only minor flooding of shops and stores in the small downtown area near the shore. It came by the light of a full moon in a series, it's believed, of four waves. The tsunami struck several coastal communities on that March 27, but its biggest punch was saved for Crescent City, Calif., a small lumber and fishing town of about 3,000 residents just south of the Oregon border. Shifting tectonic plates displaced billions of tons of ocean water and sent tsunami waves rushing at the speed of a jetliner down the coast of the Pacific Northwest. On Good Friday in 1964, the largest earthquake ever recorded in North America struck Anchorage, Alaska. Wallace and Lillian Griffin/Crescent City Printing Co. ![]()
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