This is the first in a series of blog articles highlighting the early history of Washington as a state and territory.  Every week, one article of interest will be chosen from a newspaper.  This newspaper is selected at random from our collection of over 40,000 rolls of newspaper microfilm.

From the desk of Steve Willis, Central Library Services Program Manager of the Washington State Library:

After selecting a box at random,  this mysterious item jumped out at me on page 1 of the Oct. 25, 1888 Big Bend Empire (Waterville, Washington):

 “IS IT A VOLCANO.–Mr. J.C. Bonar, living on the Entiat, on the west side of the Columbia, was in our office last Monday, and is considerably interested in what he believes is a volcano. He settled on the Entiat about a year and a half ago, about  two miles up the river. Ever since he has resided there he has heard frequently at regular intervals a dull heavy explosion accompanied by a rumbling sound which he describes as like heavy cannonading. He has made some efforts to locate the source of the sound but thus far has been unsuccessful further than to locate its direction from his place. We have before heard of this singular sound, but had thought it the imagination of some visionary mind, but Mr. Bonar’s appears to understand himself, is a cool, considerate man, and evidently no coward, and from his statements we are inclined to think there is something in it. It may be there are other settlers who have heard the same sounds and have a theory as to its cause; if so, we would be pleased to publish any information concerning this strange visitation.”

 Now remember,  this reel was chosen totally at random and was just a  small bit of Washington Territorial history that seemed interesting. Imagine how happy I was to later discover a copy of Mr. Bonar’s diary exists in the Manuscript Collection of the Washington State Library! And it covers the time period of this news article.

Mr. Bonar’s diary is not exactly detail-filled, but he does have this entry on April 29, 1887: “Severe Shock early morn & continues nearly all. Spasmodic.” Hopefully he is making a reference to geology and not his own well-being. (see a copy of the actual page below)

So what could be the source of the mysterious sounds? Glacier Peak was 50 miles away, but scientists tell us it hasn’t erupted since about 1700. A more likely explanation could be landslides. In fact in 1872 a massive earthquake caused a landslide so enormous that a bluff slid into the Columbia near present day Entiat, creating a dam that actually stopped the flow for a brief time. Downstream, the river bed was empty.  It could be it took the area a couple decades to really settle down, hence the frequent rock slides which could explain Mr. Bonar’s mysterious sounds.

Bonar’s granddaughter, Irma Shamley, presented the diary at a talk with the Heritage Society in Wenatchee. You can find the article in our Newspapers on Microfilm Collection in The Wenatchee World, July 15, 1977, page 11.

To read more about the life of Mr. Bonar, read the biographical note on the bibliographic record in our online catalog:  http://ow.ly/9olJN