Sixty Years Ago, On Good Friday, The Earth Shook

 March 27th, 1964 Brought The Largest Earthquake Ever To Alaska 

Valdez Residents Fled North To The Copper Valley 

Prince William Sound – a hundred miles south of the Copper River Valley – was the site of a devastating four and half minute quake on March 27, 1964. It was Good Friday. And the earthquake was immediately dubbed "The Good Friday Quake." 

It was the largest quake in the history of the United States. 

Historic House From Old Town Valdez, Transplanted Into The Current Town. (Photo by Copper River Country Journal) 

The quake devastated Anchorage. Houses slid off their foundations into the ocean. Fourth Avenue cracked open. Seward was struck, too. 

But the quake struck Valdez with a vengeance. A little town had sprung up during the 1898 Copper Valley Gold Rush at the base of Valdez Glacier, at the end of the harbor. 

This was the wrong place for a town. A tsunami-like wave rushed in, and of the 115 people who died in the quake in Anchorage, the Kenai, Kodiak and Prince William Sound, 74 were from Valdez. 

Seward, Also Struck By A Good Friday Quake Tsunami, Now Has These Signs All Over Town. (Photo by Copper River Country Journal) 

Valdezians fled to the north, into the Copper River Valley, and were taken in by their distant neighbors in our community. 

Exhibit At Valdez Museum. (Photo by Copper River Country Journal) 

After the quake, the entire city of Valdez was moved to a safer spot. The former town site ("Old Town Valdez") has been turned into an empty, windy, grassy historical site, with informational signs about the place as it was for so many years. 

"Old Town Valdez" Historical (And Now Abandoned) Townsite At The End Of The Harbor. (Photo by Copper River Country Journal) 

Some of the old buildings were brought over into the new town. 

On one of the anniversaries of the quake, Alice Craig of Copperville recalled what it was like in a Country Journal interview: