I recently found a bunch of my grandmother's manuscripts, and in one she mentions camping in Washington State about 1905 and waking one morning to a orange sky, with people mentioning that one of the mountains erupted. My guess is that this was Rainier, but where can I find an (online) historical list of eruptions of Rainier, St. Helens, etc ? Thanks,
Ross Smith

rocky Ross

Hi Ross,

It sounds like you have quite a resource there in those manuscripts. Probably the best place to start looking for Cascades Volcano information would be the Cascades Volcano Observatory's home page:

http://vulcan.wr.usgs.gov/home.html

They might even want to take a look at the manuscripts too.

As far as I know the Smithsonian, which has the best data base on all eruptions, hasn't put the list on line. If you don't mind looking in books, check out:

Volcanoes of the World, by Tom Simkin & Lee Seibert
Volcanoes of North America, by Chuck Wood & Jurgen Kienle

Good luck searching!

Sincerely,

Scott Rowland

Response by Chuck Wood

Ross Smith -

Thanks for asking us about the unusual observation your Grandmother made in about 1905. There is no known eruption from 1905 in the western states, but it is quite possible that one occurred and wasn't reported. As I look through the Smithsonian eruption list that Scott Rowland mentioned I find that there is a report of on uncertain eruption of Mt St Helens on Sept 15, 1903. In other words there is uncertainty if an eruption occurred at all. Your Grandmother's letter could be very important in confirming this eruption. I would be pleased to look at a photocopy of the letter to see exactly what she said. Also, the date needs to be refined if possible, and where was she camping? Please contact me if you would like to further investigate this mystery.

Chuck Wood 

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Charles A. Wood, Space Studies, Univ. of North Dakota    Phone 701-777-3167
Grand Forks, ND 58202-9008                                 FAX 701-777-3711
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Here's the passage from her manuscript: [from earlier in the same doc....]
I cannot go back beyond the time I must have been only four or five years old, and my father.... ...as we went out into the country which was near in that early city of Tacoma, Washington [end] My father was an Outdoor man, loving the mountains, and the forests, and one of his joys was Camping Out. He had a cousing who shared his pleasure and the two families use to "go camping: whenever the weather or time permitted. I remember my first time, when the men pitched three big tents on the grey brown prairie, and we campled for several days. This was of course a brand new experience to me, and I followed the men about as they pounded in tent pegs, and crushed the grass into a lovely fragrance. I remember only probably our first night, when we lighted lamps in the Dining Tent, a still cool evening, with the whistel of the little tree frogs, "zee-ing" everywhere, and the sing-song crackle of crickets in the thickets around us. There was no other sound. How difficult it would be today to camp safely in that spot, not too far from town, for the first place, and in such silence, with no cars, airplanes, or motor cycles to break that stillness. I remember how almost frightening it was to see our great shadows on the tent walls and the roof, and then the novelty of sitting on the long bechnes as the table where our mothers set out bowls of dry cereals and milk, I can even remember that the cereal was called "Force". Snuggled down in a folding cot, with blankets tuched in tight, I lay in the darkness, except for the light in the next tent, listening to the crickets and the tree frogs, and the low talk of our elders near. It was on that camping trip, that we awoke one morning to an eery orange light which was weird and a bit frightening. "What was it!" even the Grown-ups were alarmed. By noon it was as dark as night, and it was finally said that some mountain miles away had "erupted" (what-ever that meant to me) and that was ash.

REPLY by Ross
Sure - I'd love to investigate. I am originally from NJ, and now live in Redmond, WA. From what I can gather so far, my grandmother was born in Tacoma around 1898. She moved to the east cost around 1920, and I am trying to piece together her life in WA state in a search for relatives, etc. The letter is at home, I will send an exact copy of the text tomorrow - it is part of a draft of her autobiography, writtent approx. 1980. She passed away in 1989. I can send you a photocopy if you want, but either way, I'll send out the text tomorrow.

Thanks, Rosss

Response by Chuck Wood

Ross - Your Grandmother was an excellent writer! I think that if you have many letters like this you should try to get them published!

As for the volcano. If an eruption was so big as to make noontime be dark, then it would be a very large eruption, which should be very well documented. It appears that they were camping within what is now Tacoma? or some other city, so I assume there must have been a town within a few tens of miles; people there must have also witnessed the eruption. But there is no report in the literature. It seems unlikely that such a large eruption occurred and is unknown. But...behaps you can do some sleuthing since you are in Seattle. Your Grandmother was apparently about 5 years old when this camping trip occurred, so presumably you can figure out what year it was. You should show this letter to Don Swanson at the Univ. of Washington in Seattle. Don worked at Mt St Helens during the 1980 eruption and knows the Cascades very well. He might be able to suggest what to do next. Don's email is given on the cc list above. If you find out more about this event please let me know! Chuck 
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