Seawater-drowned Groves and Indian Legends
Drowned groves of trees occur in several places in the Pacific Northwest. They have been dated within 30 or 40 years of the known date of the earthquake, which is suggestive but not conclusive. However, carbon dating of the tree rings of a seawater-drowned red cedar near the Copalis River in Grays Harbor County show that the tree died between August 1699 and May 1700, that is, in the same earthquake.
Native Americans witnessed this earth-shattering event. Ruth Ludwin, a University of Washington geophysics professor has searched for Indian legends that could refer to the event. She has found many similar tales of plains becoming oceans, mudslides, and the like.
The Hoh Indians of the Forks area of the Olympic Peninsula tell of an enormous "shaking, jumping and trembling of the earth ..." (The Seattle Times). The Makah who live on Neah Bay at the northwest tip of the continent have a version in which a whale is delivered to the mouth of a river and saves the people who had been starving. This legend forms the basis for the tribe's whale hunt.