The Flood of Togiak Alaska 1964, a true tale of some one who was there.

I moved to Quinhagak alaska in may of 1963, i fished for king salmon that summer for king salmon we used drift nets floating down the kaneatok river, as i remember we sold the king salmon to a fellow of the name chet atkins who was anchored in the mouth of the kanetok river he owned a small freezer barge. the fish sold for 2.25 ea. well we stayed that winter in quinhagak which was very hard for me as i was a gosuk tenderfoot, that is another story another day, in the spring of 1964 people flew out to togiak alaska to fish or acquire jobs at the cannery,at the time i didn,t know what i was going to do for the summer to make money i recived word from my wife that there was work at the cannery for me i caught the next flight to togiak fisheries.

I was introduced to Richard Paulson the president of togiak fisheries he gave me a job helping to assemble the cannery as it had been winterised so it was to be put back in operation for the upcoming salmon season, most every one that was working athe cannery at that

time were fellows from seattle washington. i remember almost all of them to this day by memory some by name, wish we could have stayed in touch.

well as the fishing season drew near more folks came in to togiak fisheries for jobs as fisherman or ladies to work in the cannery it was

beginning to get exciting for me i loved that place from the getgo,fishing boats filled the bay with every one getting excited about the upcoming salmon run would it be a big season for them, after the season did get started an fish started being brought in by the hundreds then the thousands Richarh Paulson asked me if i would render the salmon oil from the salmon? sure i was working in a salmon cannery

thousands of miles from north carolina. to make it short to render the oil from salmon heads ,tails, and other parts the parts were put in to a boiler brought up to temperature,cooked shut down cooled ,cold water brought in to the bottom of the boiler in turn oil floa

ts to the top.

so much for my work at the cannery that season, Chris Sharpe of togiak told me that i may be able to acquire the store keepers job for the cannery for the winter months taking care of the cannery also being watchman over the cannery keeping in contact with the owners in Seattle Wash. and sending the required reciptes and invoices for the merchandise sold each month.

I talked with Richard Paulson about the winter job at the cannery he said he would let me know after he talked. the last of august the first of september with the elders of togiak an some other folks, he came to me a couple of weeks later and told me i had the job as the new store manger if i wanted it did i ever, yes i wanted it .

around the last of august the first of september every one left togiak fisheries and went back to their homes in the seattle area, i was in charge of the store and watching over the cannery. i was very pleased with my new job and the surrounding area of the togiak area and

all of its wonderful people. i am sure that some felt me to be an out sider at first but they later came to trust me and treat me as friend.

Every thing was going well we had a two room bungalow next to the cannery next to the store and the office and a living area for Mr Paulson for the summer months. our little two rooms had a stove ,table some crates for cabinets and storage twomake shift beds in the other room for me my wife and two kids ,Diane Marie, Willard JR. yes life was good .

A fellow from togiak gave me seven sled dogs after i recived them one had puppies i moved her to the generator building behind the house so she would be alone. i tied the others to a tall a type radio tower in front of the store, which would later be their death bed

one evening in oct.it started getting real windy i new it was to be a high tide that evening but i didn,t expect it to be any thing out of the ordinary just a high tide with high water.

i had left the river skiff on the beach below the cannery so i could go across the next day and check for mail the wind kept getting stronger and stronger i decided to pull the skiff up farther on the beach but the tide was so strong it was pounding the heck out of it i could not pull it at all by then i was being pounded by waves that were about to knock me down , i decided to return back to the house by then the water was already lapping around my step, i told my wife i was going to open the cannery back door so we could go over there the cannery it self had been built on a floating barge i felt we would be safe there.

as i came back from the cannery to the back of my house i fell off of the board walk leading to my house in to water chest deep within minutes the water had rising two feet i fought through old lumber and floating objects to get to the back of my house, as a looked through the window i could see Diane and Willard jr. sitting in a chair with the water almost up to the seat. i grabbed a two by four and broke out the window, i told my wife to bring me a pillow i placed that in the window and went head first in to the room.

i knew we were in trouble then the house was floating twoandfro with each burst of water i never lost my cool at that time because i knew it was between me and the good lord at that time, i threw my new winchester shotgun on the bed i knew it was lost maybe us with it, I heard a knocking on the beach sidr of the house i figured more trouble i went to the window, looking out i could see the most beautiful sight that i had ever seen in my entire life, beating at my window was an old fishing boat that had been left in years past on the beach below the store. i had never paid much attention to it before now, mind you there was only two windows in the house one i had dove through to get in and this one where the boat was calling us to safety.

I removed that window the kids and wife were bundled up the water was getting higher by the minute i knew it was now or never i picked up a three gallon pot and a walkie talkie , i threw the pot in the boat through the window i placed a blanket in the window frame

picked up my wife got her through and into the boat passing the kids to her. i slid through into the boat reaching up i grabbed the electrical wire running from the generator building and tied us to the house.

within a matter of minutes we were out in the bay heading up the river towards which is now twin hills i thought if that house should sink

it will pull the boat under reaching up i pulled the wire loose from the house it went out of sight it was dark but could still see what was happening, i felt water sloshing against my knees looking around i could see a large hole in the side of the boat, well i had throwed that pot in for a reason i started dipping as fast as i could get the water out i started calling a may day over the waikie to any one i could muster up some one answered my call , thank you lord. i tried telling them what was going on. we told them we thought we heading toward what is now twin hills. the boat stopped or settled down after a long time seemed like days .

we heared a boat in the distance so i kept calling them on the walkie untill they found us it was about 2;00am as i remember they hauled us over to togiak where we were to dry out and have food and hot tea. thank god for those men who came to rescue us i never knew there

names. wish i did.

the next day i flew in to dillingham to call seattle to inform the paulsons of the flood the night before. going back we flew over to survey the damage my house was sitting on the river up toward twin hills half in half out of the river. the boat that had saved us that night was sitting way up on the tundra my hero , my savior thank you lord. i looked on the bow of the boat as the pilot circled i could see the name in big broad letters DIANE.after my daughter.

well Scott hope you recive this ok please let me know.if you could please send me a copy back by email my copier is on the sick side.

ps a fellow brought my shot gun the following fall all rusty said he found it on a mattres way down the beach.