Surfing's Origins - Wood
Scotia and the north woods. Part 2
About a year ago, I got a comment that said, “This movie should be free, like surfing.” So, I give you all the gift of this movie. It’s given me so much, and I hope it brings you the same joy that it has brought me. Addicted to Joy….the film and all the interviews are now FREE.
I hope you all get a chance to read part 1 of the story of Scotia. I’ll start this time where I finished, in the town of Scotia on December 23, 1964. The Eel River crested at a height of 72 feet and over 18 million board feet of redwood logs and 23 million board feet of lumber were washed out of the sawmill into the river and came to rest scattered for miles downstream, a horrible loss of precious resources.
Scotia recovered from the flood and kept harvesting the forest around the town. The company, PALCO, continued to support the town until the 1992 Cape Mendocino earthquakes caused widespread damage in Scotia. Three major earthquakes occurred in less than 24 hours. The first was a 7.2 quake at 11:06 a.m. on April 25, causing extensive damage to the main mill. The second quake a day later was a 6.5, at 12:41 a.m. This quake was devastating. A fire in the Hoby's Market shopping center exploded, with firefighters trying to extinguish the fire for the rest of the night. The entire shopping center was destroyed.
The earthquake also caused extensive damage to the North Court area of Scotia, with numerous homes damaged and gas leakages from a damaged gas line. Pacific Gas & Electric responded to repair the gas line in North Court while all the residents were gathered on a grassy hill for the entire night. The third quake occurred later at 4:26 a.m., measuring 6.7, and compounded damage from the previous two quakes. Scotia was temporarily without water and electricity. PALCO eventually rebuilt the shopping center that had been destroyed.
In 2008, PALCO filed for bankruptcy, throwing the entire town into a confusing cauldron of legal issues. Nobody owned anything except the town which was not really a town. At present the town has come a long way towards building a community. Right now, the town is run by a President, and it’s also an LLC. They are trying to sell the properties to the people living there, but it’s messy. It’s an amazing example of a Company town and all of the trappings that come along with it.
On a trip north to look at some promising redwood slabs for surfboards, I was traveling with Larry Fuller and Tom “Pohaku” Stone. At some point just south of Humboldt, we stopped to look at the ocean. Tom to me is a Holy Man of surfing, and surf culture. Sitting on a bluff, Tom me the story of how ancient Hawaiian kings would assign a warrior to sit on a bluff and watch for logs from California floating in the water to be made into surfboards - remember only Royalty could surf.
Tom and I sat on this bluff maybe 500 feet above the Pacific Ocean for over an hour and talked story. Tom was watching how the waves break, he explained how to see the rip tides and so much else about the ocean., I knew that I was sitting at the feet of true surfing royalty, Mahalo Tom, thank you.
I’d like to thank Frank Shaw Bacik, the President of Scotia for the use of the images.
I’d like to thank you all for reading Wood Water Soul. I’d like to announce we have moved Addicted to Joy to a new streaming service, we have some very cool things planned for the future, (check out the shirts, coffee cups, tote bags and water bottles )and we’re excited to share them with you. We will donate $1.00 of the sale of each shirt to SHACC Surfing Heritage and Culture Center. Please share this Blog with a fellow surfer, or with a friend that needs some Joy in their lives. I invite you to watch, Aloha.