KGY live broadcast, circa 1940s. ~Jerry Craig private collection.

This is the M.D. Pharmacy on Adams and Fourth after the 1949 earthquake. ~Olympia Heritage Commission.

One of KGY's highlights was when station owner Tom Olsen was to meet with President Harry S. Truman (waving in the photo) for a broadcast. He missed his date because he contracted the mumps from his daughter, Barbara, who is the station's current station owner. ~Jerry Craig private collection.

On March 13, 1959, a 15-car runaway freight train destroyed almost half of the Fourth Avenue business district. One man was killed and 20 others injured, according to a story in The Daily Olympian. An estimated $250,000 in damage occurred. ~The Olympian files.

Father Sebastian Ruth, left, and Tom Olsen look through an early program book for KGY radio. ~Courtesy Lacey Museum.

Between the years of 1948 and 1958, nearly 90 Tumwater homes were removed to allow for the construction of Interstate 5. ~Courtesy Betty Shoblom.

The Hotel Kneeland had extensive damage in the 1949 earthquake. ~Courtesy of Naishmith family private collection.

This photo shows the construction of the Interstate 5 Corridor. ~Courtesy of Betty Shoblom.

Our Memories; continued

Disasters

Disasters

July 3, 1869 -- An earthquake reported in the July 3 Olympia Transcript involved a "strange phenomena. An Indian woman near the residence of Mr. Jeal discovered a multitude of fish of all kinds floating on the water at the north end of Boston Harbor at Jeal's Point. Mr. Jeal, Mr. Ball, and "Captain Harry" all went to the door and saw the surface of the bay literally covered with fish for as far as they could see. Floating dead fish are known to be a common effect of earthquake-induced submarine landslides."

September 1870: An earthquake shook Olympia.

December 1872: Another earthquake rattles Puget Sound.

January 17, 1895: The highest tide in 17 years occurred in the bay and flooded the lower end of town and backed up the sewers. The water in the Northern Pacific tunnel was a foot deep. All the houses on lower Main Street (Capitol Way) were flooded. The long wharf was submerged and water covered sidewalks on Third (State) Street.

December 22, 1900: An unprecedented storm struck Puget Sound. Small buildings and miles of fencing were blown down. Roads were blocked. The wagon bridge across the Nisqually was badly damaged.

March 1903: An earthquake shook buildings and people ran out into the streets for safety.

April 13, 1949: A magnitude 7.1 earthquake reminded residents of the forces of nature.

Barbara Kerry, owner of KGY radio, remembers it vividly. "It was moments before lunch at Olympia High School when it began. We ran out and found the lunch room roof had collapsed. We were all very lucky."

Jack Goldsby, who was outdoors in his uncle's yard on Black Lake Blvd. when the earthquake struck, told another dramatic earthquake story to Steve Palmer. "During the earthquake there was a sound like machine-gun fire, which were the nails popping out of the siding of the nearby houses. Also, loud roaring sounds (were heard). The large fir trees were whipping back and forth so much I thought that they would snap. It was a clear, calm day, but during the quake 2-foot waves were stirred up on Black Lake."

Goldsby continued his story: "A few minutes before the earthquake, a soldier passed by on the road, walking north and trying to hitchhike to Olympia. A few minutes after the shaking stopped the soldier returned to my uncle's place. He claimed to have been on the pavement when the ground failed and the roadway collapsed. He said that he had ridden a coherent block down the slope. From the look of fear in the soldier's eyes, no one doubted his story."

Attorney Ray C. Gruhlke was sitting in his downtown office when the earthquake hit. A letter written to his children includes a description: "We have just had a very severe earthquake about two hours ago and it did tremendous damage in Olympia, probably over a million dollars. I was sitting in my office by the window when it started and just sat there and watched bricks fall across the street and glass crash. Lots of my books fell off the shelf and a bookcase tipped over. The phone went out so I couldn't call home, so I drove out home lickety split and mom was crying. She thought I had been killed.

"The whole building swayed and I really thought several times it was going over. Every building in town is damaged and all stores and businesses closed. The old Capitol building is badly damaged and may be abandoned and so are the Insurance Building and the Temple of Justice. Schools are closed. Mottman's building is badly damaged and countless plate glass windows smashed and chimneys down all over town."

Immediately after the 1949 earthquake, one-way traffic was instituted on Fourth and State as a temporary measure. There was rubble lying in the downtown business district and the subsequent shoring and scaffolding of damaged buildings severely restricted the street width available for moving traffic. This "temporary" measure, in combination with increasing traffic volumes, led the city government to make the change to one-way streets permanent.

First Radio

In 1914, Father Sebastian Ruth, a science teacher at Saint Martin's College, began experimenting with his wireless radio broadcasting and became the audio transmitter in Puget Sound. He received his first license under the call letters 7CM. Father Sebastian broadcast from his small transmitter of five watts for the next five years as a telegraph station. In 1921, he began experimenting with voice transmission that were heard in 23 states, Canada and Hawaii.

"Where the cedars meet the sea" were the words that came across the airwaves. However, the little station attracted so much attention, the federal radio inspector in Seattle told Father Sebastian to quit broadcasting until the proper license could be obtained. On April 4, 1922, the license came through with the call letters KGY (Kan't Get You). KGY broadcast for the first time on April 18, 1922, and continues today.

Grandma's Days

Virginia Spinning Biscay wrote to us, relaying information passed on to her by her parents. "Grandpa would row to Olympia from Harstine Island to have a midwife for my grandma when their children were born, then would row back to the island the next day. When they later moved to Olympia they lived on State Street, near where the new fire department is now located. Grandma would go out the back door and throw her garbage into the tidal inlete, where Plum Street is today. You can judge from that how much of downtown Olympia is on fill. Grandpa painted all the buildings in downtown Olympia, so he knew every building inside and out."

Biscay says she watched the paving of Adams Street, which was paved with wood rectangles dipped in tar and laid in a pattern like bricks. She still has one of the wood bricks.

In those days, communicating could be a little tough.

"Did you know that telephones used to be scarce? Anyone who lived outside the city limits shared their phone line with nine other residents. A 10-party line -- unthinkable today."

The Olympian Copyright 2000

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