Then and Now: Mount St. Helens

Then and Now: Mount St. Helens

It’s the 41st anniversary of the most devastating volcanic eruption in modern U.S. history, and since we didn’t get to commemorate it properly for its 40th (thanks to COVID), I’m posting this new Juxtapose composite with links to previous MSH material I’ve written. If you get the chance, get up to the mountain this year to experience the awesome and terrible power of nature, and learn about how the mountain

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The 1910 Wellington Train Disaster

The 1910 Wellington Train Disaster

Just after one o’clock in the morning, on a frigid, starless night in March 1910, more than a hundred souls aboard Great Northern Railway’s Spokane Local No. 25, a passenger train, and Fast Mail Train No. 27 slept tightly bundled in their cars. They’d been stuck near Wellington in King County, Washington, for almost a week…waiting as railroad crews attempted to clear the tracks of snow, which had been accumulating

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Earthquakes in the Pacific Northwest

Earthquakes in the Pacific Northwest

Two weeks after Valentine’s Day, 2001, a magnitude 6.8 earthquake struck the south sound region of Washington state near where the Nisqually River empties into Puget Sound. It was nearly 11 a.m. on a Wednesday, and the state legislature was in full swing. The violent tremors lasted nearly a minute, rocking the state capital of Olympia and the nearby cities of Lacey, Tumwater, Nisqually, DuPont, and Shelton. The shocks registered

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The Wreck of the S.S. Catala

The Wreck of the S.S. Catala

I’ve spent a lot of time in Ocean Shores, Washington, over the years…hiking around Damon Point, rock-hopping at the north jetty and exploring the Coastal Interpretive Center (which is absolutely worth seeing, if you ever get the chance). But one of the more memorable moments in my Ocean Shores experience was getting to “discover” a shipwreck as the tempestuous weather began shifting the dunes and slowly exposing its hull at

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The Deadliest Bridge Collapse in Washington State History

The Deadliest Bridge Collapse in Washington State History

On Wednesday, January 3rd, 1923, Cowlitz County Commissioner-elect Benjamin Barr sat in the back seat of his vehicle, when his driver – Arleigh Millard – felt an unsettling shudder through the springs in his seat. Miller glanced nervously at Barr through the rear-view mirror, unable to move the vehicle forward. The pair were stuck atop the Allen Street Bridge here in Kelso, Washington, when seconds later it all came crashing

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The deadliest bridge collapse in Washington State history

The deadliest bridge collapse in Washington State history

 On Wednesday, January 3rd, 1923, Cowlitz County Commissioner-elect Benjamin Barr sat in the back seat of his vehicle, when his driver – Arleigh Millard – felt an unsettling shudder through the springs in his seat. Miller glanced nervously at Barr through the rear-view mirror, unable to move the vehicle forward. The pair were stuck atop the Allen Street Bridge here in Kelso, Washington, when seconds later it all came

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