Swept Away - California - Signs of History on Waymarking.com

Swept Away — A Story of Stormy Waters

Better Beginnings
You are standing on the site of the historic town of Dyerville. In the late 19th century, timber gave rise to a booming community that served outposts and lumber camps up and down the Eel River. Dyerville boasted several hotels, mercantile stores, saloons, a school, and a baseball diamond carved from the river bank.
Today the field along with the rest of Dyerville is gone, swept away in 1955 by the river on which it relied.

Unforgiving Floods
Due to heavy rains and unstable geology, the Eel River ranks as one of the most erosive rivers in the United States. Settlers in the 1800’s observed periodic floods, and avoided construction too close to the bank. Unfortunately, a thirty year period of dry weather encouraged settlement closer to the river’s edge.
Beginning in the 1930’s, Dyerville experienced a series of catastrophic floods, that culminated in the “perfect storm” of 1955.
“All day long I watched barn after barn, house after house going down the river”. — Dave Stockton, a Humboldt native.
Bye the time the record-breaking flood of 1964 came along, there was nothing left of Dyerville to sweep away. The train trestle is the only remnant of this once thriving community.

Group that erected the marker: California State Parks Address of where the marker is located. Approximate if necessary: Dyerville Overlook URL of a web site with more information about the history mentioned on the sign: Not listed

Visit Instructions:
Take a picture of the marker, preferably including yourself or your GPSr in the photo. A very detailed description of your visit may be substituted for a photo. In any case please provide a description of your visit. A description of only "Visited" or "Saw it while on vacation" by anyone other than the person creating the waymark may be deleted by the waymark owner or the category officers.

Recent Visits/Logs:

Date Logged Log   09/20/2013 Volcanoguy visited it