Most communities, whether towns, states or nations, have specific events that stand out in their histories - that are talked about for generations.  For Humboldt County that might be the 1964 "Christmas Flood". 

The history of that event is spectacularly captured by a book in the “Arcadia Images of America” series 1964 Flood of Humboldt and Del Norte by Greg Rumney and Dave Stockton Jr.

        It is illustrated with some 200 unique photographs that Rumney acquired from local photographer Rudy Gillard. In a short but very informative introduction, the authors begin with the factors which led to this "perfect storm" in the Eel and Klamath River watersheds - first a heavy snowfall, then a week of torrential rain, capped by the year's highest tide which forced back the augmented river waters.  

       The book begins with the devastation suffered in Del Norte County then devotes other chapters to Humboldt: Ferndale and Fernbridge, Fortuna, the Van Duzen River and Alton, Rio Dell and Scotia, and the South and Main Forks of the Eel in Southern Humboldt. The photographs are awesome, showing communities damaged or wiped off the map, farmsteads submerged under vast lakes, and timber mills damaged as logs are swept away endangering bridges and littering beaches. The photos and captions also reveal heroic efforts to save people and livestock with communities coming together to salvage and rebuild. 

        Nine years earlier, this area had been devastated by another flood that was billed as a "one in 1000 year event”, so residents were comforted by the thought that nothing could be worse - until the Christmas Flood of 1964 hit.  The impact that these events made on Humboldt County  is also evidenced by the large number of newspapers, magazines and scrapbooks that were saved and eventually donated to the Historical Society archives.

       These and this outstanding book depict the importance of this event, giving us a horrifying glimpse of our past - that we can only hope we will never see in our future.