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CASCADIA #1: 1700 Cascadia Earthquake - The most epic natural disaster you've never heard of


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Curious Cat's special CASCADIA series begins with the 1700 Cascadia Earthquake.

It is the most epic natural disaster you've never heard of!

The Cascade Mountain Range runs north into Canada and south through Washington, Oregon and into California. Sitting on the legendary Ring of Fire, this chain of 19 mountains was born in the belly of the Earth, a byproduct of the friction between the Juan de Fuca and CASCADIA plates. Three-hundred years ago the entire west coast of North America quaked. When the Juan de Fuca plate became unstuck, it slipped beneath the CASCADIA plate, and jarred an entire continent, devastating coastal communities, and forever etching itself into the oral histories of native peoples. Stories of a battle between good and evil, the thunderbird and the whale are still retold today. 

That was over three centuries ago, and we know the exact time it occurred.

Let’s go back a moment in our mental time machines. The year is 1700. You are a member of one of multiple indigenous tribes that reside in the mouthways of streams and rivers along the North American coastline. It is January and though the sun was filtered through clouds for most of the day, it’s long since slipped below the horizon. The community fire is dying out. The young are rubbing their tired eyes and clinging to the laps and legs of their mamas. The community quietly tucks away, beneath warm layers to sleep. All is quiet. The scent of lingering woodsmoke, salty ocean spray and traces of the day blur into dreams. 

Then suddenly the land beneath shakes and rolls. While some remain asleep, the shaking infects their dreams, but others grow alert thanks to the rush of adrenaline.
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Episode Sources and Materials:

https://hakaimagazine.com/features/great-quake-and-great-drowning/

https://www.amazon.com/Orphan-Tsunami-1700-Japanese-Earthquake/dp/0295998083

https://www.wired.com/story/the-long-lost-tale-of-an-18th-century-tsunami-as-told-by-trees/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1700_Cascadia_earthquake

https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/ghost-fore

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Curious CatBy Jennifer Hotes