Mount Baker Wakes: Smoke, a New Rent, and an Earthquake at Dawn
Smoke rises a thousand feet from the Twin Sisters and Mount Baker, a fresh quarter-mile crack opens in the mountain, and a predawn shock rattles Whatcom County residents.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
WHATCOM, Dec. 12 — One of the Twin Sisters, north of Mount Baker, was observed at 11:30 a.m. emitting a huge volume of smoke, which arose apparently to the height of 1,000 feet. The smoke was soon lifted to the north and disappeared. About 2:30 p.m. a column of smoke also arose from Mount Baker, and other mountains showed the same phenomenon. A rent was observed in the main Sister which had never appeared before, and which was apparently a quarter of a mile long, running from the top of the mountain toward the base. The mountain has never been surmounted, the top being a precipitous mass of chrome iron and about 9,000 feet high.
In the early morning a distinct earthquake shock was felt. William Spears, who is a well-known citizen and who lives on J street, was disturbed about 5 a.m., as was also William Sanders, who lives at the corner of J and Fifteenth streets, and many others. At about the time of the first eruption the mayor and a number of his family were likewise startled by a distinct shock.
“A rent was observed in the main Sister which had never appeared before, and which was apparently a quarter of a mile long, running from the top of the mountain toward the base.”
Mount Baker is an active volcano, and the Northwest sits atop the Cascadia fault — the settlers reading this page felt the ground move long before science could explain why. Their matter-of-fact account of smoke columns and a brand-new quarter-mile crack reads like a modern hazard bulletin written by people with no word for 'subduction zone.' The mountain they could not climb is still the one that watches over Bellingham today.
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