Document text
Folklore
Circumstances of Interview
STATE: Washington
NAME OF WORKER: Verna L. Stamolis
ADDRESS: Post Office Box 112, University Station, Seattle, Wish.
DATE: December 22, 1958
SUBJECT: Pioneers
1. Name and address of informant: Mrs. D. W. Morse,
4350 Pasadena Place
Seattle, Washington
2. Date and time of interview: December 16, 1938, 2 P.W.
5. Place of Interview: Home of informant.
4. Description of home: Two—story house, well furnished, large yard, piano, etc.
Folklore
Personal History of Informant
STATE: Washington
NAME OF WORril: Verna L. Stamolis
ADDRESS: Post Office Box 112, University Station, Seattle, Wash.
DATE: December 22, 1938
SUBJECT: "The Flood at Port Angeles".
NAME AND ADDRESS OF INFORMANT: Mrs. D. TN Morse,
4350 Pasadena Place,
Seattle, Washington
1. Ancestry: Irish
2. Place and date of birth: 78 years old.
S. Family: One son, two daughters
4. Places lived in; Port Angeslea and Seattle.
5. Special interests: Local history of Washington
6. Community and religious activities: The Presbyterian Church.
7. Description of informant: Very tall, thin, alert, voluble.
Folklore
THE FLOOD AT PORT ANKLES
"In 1861, the custodYhouse for Washington, Oregoniand Idaho was established
at Port Townsend. President Lincoln sent his personal friend, Victor Smith, as
collector of customs. Smith sent reports to the President that he considered
Port Angeles a better site for the custom house, as it was forty miles nearer the
Straits, and had a remarkably deep harbor. The next year, 1862, the custowyhouse
was removed to Port Angeles.
"In 1863 a great flood, such as never happened before or since, swept away
most of the houses of the town and demolished the custos0ouse. No one could
figure out what caused the flood, but the Indians said the rains had melted long
accumulated snows in the mountains, which gave way all at once and rushed down
through the rivers and creeks and valleys, a great wall of rushing water.
dr
"Afterward, when they dug up the debris of the customyhouee, they found a
large Bible which had been used to take the oath by witnesses in law cases at the
custom house.
"Here is the Bible. (She lifted the old volume from a near -by table). You
see that though every page is mud -stained an the margin, not a single word of the
text itself hai been besmirched."