The Hermit in the Hollow Pine: Loony Bill Comes Back From the Dead
Given up for drowned after his log raft broke apart in the Columbia rapids, an eccentric backwoodsman turns up alive — living inside a giant hollow stump.
A report was current some time ago that Loony Bill had attempted to float down the Columbia on a raft of logs, but while shooting the rapids below Hellgate his raft was broken up, and Bill was only saved by the chance appearance of a man in a boat. It is said that when Bill was placed on the shore he at once started over the hill and has not since been seen in this part of the state.
Correspondence published in one of the Sound papers leads us to believe that Bill is in the land of the living, but still maintains his queer character. The writer gives a perfect description of Loony Bill, and tells how the 'queer genius' has fitted up a cozy home in the hollow stump of an immense pine tree. A running stream of water ripples by close to the front door, furnishing drink; a series of traps among the low limbs provides food, and an occasional beaver — usually observed in these streams — furnishes an elegant dress. Grouse and mountain berries are often found on the wild man's table.
“The writer gives a perfect description of Loony Bill, and tells how the 'queer genius' has fitted up a cozy home in the hollow stump of an immense pine tree.”
Long before 'off-grid' was a word, the Northwest had men like Loony Bill, dropping out of town life to live off the land in a hollow stump. The hermit who keeps resurfacing in the papers — presumed dead, then spotted again — is a reminder that this region has always made room for people who chose to vanish from the grid.
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