Research the archive

• “crater” ×

1. Four Men Spend the Night in a Boiling Crater: An 1883 Assault on Mount Rainier

   A climbing party from Olympia reaches the summit of Mount Rainier and bivouacs inside the crater, where the ground itself is too hot to touch.

   Aug 24, 1883Seattle Daily Post-IntelligencerMount Rainier, Pierce CountyStrange But True

2. Discovery of a Hidden Crater Lake

   Two hunters stumble upon a mysterious, glacier-fed lake deep in the Olympic Mountains.

   Nov 4, 1892The Seattle Post-IntelligencerHoodsport, Mason CountyStrange But True

3. The Lead Plate on Rainier's North Peak

   A letter from Yelm corrects the record: five people had already stood atop Mount Rainier's north peak, and two had left a lead plate and tin reflector on the rock.

   Jul 24, 1894The Seattle Post-IntelligencerMount Rainier, Pierce CountyStrange But True

4. A Steam-Heated Night Inside Mount Rainier

   A local professor and two students discovered steam-filled caverns and potential new plant species while spending a harrowing night inside the crater of Mount Rainier.

   Aug 7, 1903The Evening StatesmanMount Rainier, Pierce CountyStrange But True

5. Sixteen Seattleites Climb Rainier, With Carrier Pigeons and a Night on the Crater

   Two members of a Seattle climbing party return from Mount Rainier after the rest push on to the summit, where they plan to camp amid volcanic steam and signal the city with bonfires.

   Jul 21, 1894The Seattle Post-IntelligencerMount Rainier, Pierce CountyStrange But True

6. The Night They Slept in Rainier's Ice Caves

   A Seattle climbing party returns from Mount Rainier after a storm-bound night in the summit ice caves—and Tacoma greets them like a circus.

   Jul 25, 1894The Seattle Post-IntelligencerMount Rainier, Pierce CountyStrange But True

7. The Steam-Heated Ice Caves of Mount Rainier

   A mountaineering party discovers the natural comfort of volcanic heat at 14,000 feet, sleeping in ice chambers kept warm by the mountain's own breath.

   Apr 24, 1892The Seattle Post-IntelligencerRainier, Thurston CountyStrange But True

8. They Climbed Rainier First—and Slept in a Sulphur-Scented Ice Cave

   In 1870, Hazard Stevens and P. B. Van Trump reached Mount Rainier's summit after a brutal 10½-hour climb, then spent a freezing night beside volcanic steam vents.

   Jan 6, 1895The Seattle Post-IntelligencerMount Rainier, Pierce CountyStrange But True

9. The Boom Era's Bitter Hangover

   New tax assessments reveal that local property values have cratered to one-fourth of their peak as the Grays Harbor economy struggles to adjust to the end of a speculative bubble.

   Aug 9, 1894Aberdeen HeraldMontesano, Grays Harbor CountyBoom & Bust

10. Expedition Into the Olympic Wilds

    A trio of adventurers treks into the heart of the Olympic Mountains, documenting a 'land of promise' where cattle have never trod.

    Aug 2, 1889The Seattle Post-IntelligencerPort Angeles, Clallam CountyBoom & Bust · Strange But True

11. Mount Rainier Was Smoking, and Olympia Noticed

    In January 1895, a correspondent watching through a glass saw great volumes rising from the summit — and wondered whether the mountain had awakened.

    Jan 31, 1895The Seattle Post-IntelligencerOlympia, Thurston CountyStrange But True

12. The Hop Bonanza in the Puyallup Valley

    An account of the massive agricultural boom in the Puyallup Valley, highlighting the success of local hop farmers and the looming shadow of the volcano.

    Feb 13, 1883Seattle Daily Post-IntelligencerTacoma, Pierce CountyBoom & Bust

13. The Myth of the Unclimbable Mountain

    Defying widespread reports that Mount Rainier had been rendered impassable by avalanches, two men successfully summit the peak to set the record straight.

    Jul 29, 1903The Evening StatesmanMount Rainier, Pierce CountyStrange But True

14. A Winter Expedition Saw Steam on Rainier—and Asked if the Mountain Was Awake

    In December 1895, a Post-Intelligencer party climbed to 9,000 feet, reported smoke and steam from the summit, and left the public demanding proof that Washington's sentinel was an active volcano.

    Jan 18, 1895The Seattle Post-IntelligencerMount Rainier, Pierce CountyStrange But True

15. A Seattle Expedition Sets Out to Map Mount Rainier's Glaciers—and Find a Hidden Volcano

    Major Ingraham's party leaves Seattle for three weeks on the mountain, hoping to name glaciers, test mineral springs, and locate a smoking volcano seen from the foothills.

    Jul 13, 1894The Seattle Post-IntelligencerMount Rainier, Pierce CountyStrange But True

16. The Boomtown Blueprint: Seattle's 1877 Real Estate Pitch

    As lumber prices cratered and labor became cheap, local papers urged investors to stop building shoddy shacks and start constructing 'neat, commodious cottages' for high-interest returns.

    Mar 6, 1877The Daily IntelligencerSeattle, King CountyBoom & Bust

17. The Great Rainier Climbing Debate

    A classic Pacific Northwest squabble over who actually reached the summit of Mount Rainier first.

    Jun 22, 1888The Seattle Post-IntelligencerTacoma Hotel, Tacoma, Pierce CountyStrange But True

18. A Christmas on the Ice King: The Climb That Saw Rainier Smoking

    In 1894, Major Ingraham led six men, seven homing pigeons, and a camera onto Mount Rainier’s glaciers. They came back with frostbite, a story of steam and smoke rising from the crater—and one pigeon missing.

    Jan 6, 1895The Seattle Post-IntelligencerMount Rainier, Pierce CountyStrange But True

19. A Weather Station on the Roof of the Cascades

    A scientist's proposal imagined a summit hut on Mount Rainier, heated by volcanic steam and measuring what might be the windiest place on earth.

    Apr 6, 1895The Seattle Post-IntelligencerMount Rainier, Pierce CountyStrange But True

20. The General Who Conquered Rainier First

    A century after his perilous climb, Gen. A.V. Kautz recounts the first recorded ascent of Mount Rainier to a Seattle reporter, correcting the historical record on glaciers and glory.

    Jan 30, 1889The Seattle Post-IntelligencerSeattle, King CountyStrange But True

Download all 20 as a spreadsheet (CSV)