The Night the Wind Shook Olympia

The storm which raged last night was the most severe in this section of the country since August 1, 1882. The wind lashed structures of every kind. Trees were blown down, woodsheds toppled over, and houses rocked like cradles. Wires were down in every direction, railroad traffic delayed, washouts made the tracks unsafe, and fallen trees added danger to the rails. Many people were actually scared, trees were uprooted in all parts of the city, bulkheads caved in, and things today wore a generally dilapidated appearance. Two immense gulches have been eaten into Columbia Street leading to the Northern Pacific depot, and two trees were torn from the high embankment and laid across the street. Signal Observer Olney says the storm was so severe that all wires are down, and he is unable to obtain reports from outside districts. While the wind blew at a good rate after nightfall, it increased at 1:30, and ranged all the way from 33 to 40 miles an hour. At 8 o'clock this morning it was still blowing at 33 miles. In 1889 the velocity reached 34 miles, but on August 1st, 1882, it was 48 miles, the highest on record in this vicinity. This, by the way, is only a zephyr on the plains of Dakota or Kansas.

The most serious obstructions were encountered on the Northern Pacific Railroad. The line was blocked with fallen trees and washouts, and the 1 a.m. train for Portland failed to come through. In fact, so dangerous was the roadbed left, that Superintendent McCabe, who was in the city this morning, has decided to take the 1 a.m. train off altogether and make other arrangements for reaching Portland. Near the Nisqually is an immense embankment nearly 400 feet long and about 60 feet high, which the constant rains have rendered unsafe. In order to avoid a calamity the night train will be withdrawn for the present. During the interval passengers for Portland may take the Port Townsend Southern train at 9:40 and connect at Tenino with the Northern Pacific road.

DAMAGE ON THE WATER. Along the water front small crafts were torn from their moorings and lashed against the shore. The water was high, and beat severely against the wharves. A small steam tug, the Eliza A., hailing port unknown, is on beam's end at [name unclear] wharf.

THE COLBY SINKS. A small slender masthead above water at the north step of Horr's dock this morning was all that was visible of the steamer Colby, which made its first run to Shelton yesterday after having undergone a thorough overhauling at the shops of the Olympia Foundry and Machine Company. New engines were placed in her, and yesterday she looked as slick and clean as a new coin from the mint. She returned from Shelton last night at Horr's dock. While the wind was blowing so furiously, the tide was also receding, and it is supposed the rope became entangled and tilted her over. With the incoming tide she rapidly filled and now lies on the bottom. The officers think that but little damage will be done, and efforts will be made to raise her at once. The proprietors have recently expended $1,500 on her.

FALLING TREES. On the west side several trees were blown down and the new school house on West Fourth Street came within an ace of being demolished. At about 7 o'clock this morning residents of the neighborhood were alarmed by a terrible crash. A large fir, 254 feet through, had fallen across the woodshed alongside the school building and cut it as cleanly in two as a whistle. Ten feet more to the north and it would have worked equal danger to the school building. The wind abated this morning with intervals of rain and sunshine.

ELSEWHERE. The prospects are that near Cle Elum, on the other side of the mountains, people will experience the greatest depth of snow in several years. At Fish Lake, twenty miles above there, the snow is eleven feet deep on a level. At Lake Cle Elum it is eight feet, at Easton seven feet and at Cle Elum about two and one-half feet. The snow is still falling and slightly drifting.

The weather conditions and general forecasts for this morning from San Francisco were as follows: The storm is advancing from the ocean toward Western Washington, and rains and brisk to high southeast winds prevail on the Oregon and Washington coasts, a maximum velocity of forty miles per hour being reported from Fort Canby. The rain in Western Oregon and Western Washington will extend eastward over these states and into Northern California. The Sacramento and San Joaquin valleys will also doubtless receive some rain.