Peggy Mohan Wilson's story

I grew up on the Springer System. Our house used to sit on the empty land with the tall trees (kitty corner) from the Palmer Golf course. Deland’s house was across the street from us but Gloria Deland’s mom (Irene Lepak) lived there back then.

On March 27, 1964, 50 years ago, (I was 9) I was in my bedroom lying on my bed (it had wheels) reading Flood Friday by Lois Lenski. Mom was lying with my younger sister, Jon Marie, on her bed. Kathleen was somewhere in the house and Mike was over at Kockritz’s.

I remember my bed starting to roll back and forth. I put my book down. Mom told Jon Marie it was a little earthquake and it would be okay. Kathleen came to the doorframe of our room and just stood there frozen. Then the house started shaking and mom said we need to go outside now. Items were crashing in the kitchen and bathroom. By now my bed was now rolling back and forth, hitting one wall and then the other. I had to push Kathleen out the door and drag her with me.

As we stood there we heard a rumble and saw the landslide come down Pioneer Peak. Trees were bending like rubber, back and forth touching the ground.

I looked at Kathleen and she was making the sign of the cross repeatedly and saying, “Oh God!” over and over. Mom looked down at us and said “You damn kids, why don’t you have on some shoes?” then looked down and said “I am not wearing any either!”

We were standing in snow. The house and the chimney were moving back and forth — slamming together with a bang. Then mom was cursing dad — on his way home from Anchorage where he worked for the Alaska Railroad — for never bracing them together. It seemed like it would never stop. Then it was still. Not a sound. Dead silence.

We could hear Mike over at the neighbor’s laughing his head off, and Charlene screaming “That wasn’t funny!” Meantime, dad was on his way home from work, commuting with two or three other men. Can’t remember who now, but I remember they liked to stop at Tip’s bar on the way home. Well, the story we heard later was that they thought they had a flat tire, or maybe all four tires were flat. When they got to the Knik Bridge they knew what happened. The bridge was swallowed up by the landslide. Back then everyone knew everyone else so many of the people just swapped vehicles with someone needing to go the other direction. We didn’t have electricity for a few days (don’t know for sure) we boiled water, had a gas stove to cook on, and we all slept in the living room. I still tense up when we have an earthquake. I can hear/sense when one is coming and I feel a lump in my throat for just one moment.

Reprinted from the March 2014 issue of the Palmer Historical Society Newsletter.