The "Big Blow" of 1921

I’ve seen many photos from the Mount St. Helens eruption and the number of trees taken out then was almost unfathomable. Hard to imagine eight times that.

As a nearly life long resident of the Pacific Northwest, I can vouch for our fall and winter wind storms. They get no respect from the national media - a tropical storm or Cat 1 hurricane out in the Atlantic or in the Gulf rates days of breathless coverage, but our not uncommon 50 to 80 MPH storms in the Puget Sound lowlands (and typically more on the coast) that knock out power for days, and nothing. I volunteer on the Pacific Crest Trail, so up in the Cascades, well east of the Olympic Peninsula. Part of what we do every spring is to clear the fallen trees from the trail. The worst years are when we get a storm with winds from the SE, E or NE, not the more typical west or SW. The more common winds bring down a few trees - when blowing from the less common direction, tons come down. Having cut a few 3 to 3 1/2 foot diameter trees with an old school crosscut saw (like they would have used in the 1920's - modern chainsaws aren't allowed in Congressionally designated Wilderness areas) I can only imagine at the amount of effort it took to clear the roads as shown in this episode. Add to that, that cutting "jackstraw" piles of downed trees is multiples more complex than single trees. At times where its too dangerous to cut (say an uprooted tree with a loose root ball uphill from the trail) explosives are used - the USFS still has at least one blaster around here. There is a sawn 6 footer I've hiked past on the (Pacific Crest Trail) north side of Glacier Peak where someone took a sharpie and counted / marked the rings. Something like 700 years old when it came down.

I lived on the Olympic Peninsula for more than 40 years. I knew this story but as usual THG always makes stories come alive. I experienced Mt. St. Helens volcano, having flow over it the day before eruption and the day after. The Columbus Day “storm” of 1961 was really a hurricane and I was the last car to drive across the Hood Canal Bridge the night it sank into Hood Canal. I guess disasters are in my DNA😊. Thanks as always, THG.

The photo at the 9:58 mark of your video is absolutely stunning. I can't imagine the immensity of the portion of the tree that we cannot see.

I’ve been in a tornado next to an old growth forest. The 100’ high trees were snapping off about 40’ up, and the trunk would move about 10 ‘ off and then fall directly to the ground, then the tree top would fall over. The “snap” of the trunks was very loud, and the bump and whump of the falling top shook the ground. I was in a basement about 50’ from all of this and the noise was deafening. I can’t imagine the sound of this blow. Stunning.

When the timber companies in the 60s and 70s would log their land, they would refer to it as 21 blow, meaning the forest that came back after the storm. Thick, tall, predominantly fir and hemlock and spruce.

Lifetime Washington resident. Never heard this story before. Thanks for shining a light on our little corner of the world.

Retired meteorologist here. It was a hurricane? I'm sure there are some meteorological analyses that get into that and how it was handled. The west coast has always been prone to fast developing cyclones or bombs. Many lives lost at sea as well.

Good Monday morning History Guy and everyone watching

Several decades ago, I read an album review that began, "This is going to sound like a love letter." On that note, I begin: [For your ediifcation, I discovered your channel about a year ago and I haven't looked back.] I don't know how many of of your listeners know of him, but there used to a be a commentator named Paul Harvey. I discovered him accidentally, one one night, while driving. Now-- Forty-odd years later, I stumbled on your channel. While your on-air style may differ, you have something in common. As with him, the listener is instantly taken into your story. No, not just hearing it, but completely immersed in the tale. When you breathe life into history, you are changing the world for the better. I struggled to find a way to show how much your work is appreciated,. Yet, my best response is a very humble "Thank you". With gratitude, Jim [P.S. I am also rewarded by your enunciation and your articulation. It is exhausting having listen to persons who speak as if they have been administered a copious amount of novocaine.]

I had the Mt. St. Helens eruption in mind throughout your fine presentation, and then to hear towards the end that the loss of trees was 8 times that of Mt. St. Helens just stunned me. I so appreciate your reminding us of our history through your presentations.

I was hunting elk on the Olympic Peninsula during a much lesser 1980 windstorm. Even then, there were so many trees dropping that we cut our hunt short and decided to get out of the timber. A few hundred feet from a paved road, an big alder dropped across the logging road; lacking an axe or saw, we had to shoot the trunk in half so we could escape. Another hunter shot an elk in a clearcut. The rest of the herd ran for the timber just in time for a bunch of big trees to drop in front of them. They turned back into the clearcut and bedded down near the dead elk. A person in a campground was killed when a big fir landed on their tent. After the storm cleared, we checked out the damage in a nearby campground. Tree trunks had twisted so violently they exploded and threw splinters the size of my leg for a hundred feet. It was one of the scariest days I've spent in the woods--and I went through a couple of the 1980 Mt. St. Helens eruptions. It's mind-boggling to think the 1921 windstorm was way, way worse.

I grew up where the "Columbus Day Storm" blew down 2 giant oak trees and spun the top off of a 3rd. There were 5 trees that surrounded the house, none hit it. The house did have some damage through, 5 singles blew off. My Aunt and Uncle lived in it at the time. The story goes, that when the storm hit, she was in town 5 miles away, with her children at home she drove like a mad woman with giant fir trees falling across the road behind her. A different Aunt's father across the valley lost power and ended up having to milk 80 head of cows twice a day, for days.

I was 3 years old living in coos bay oregon when the Columbus day storm happened. My mom had put me down for a nap. And she kept putting more blankets on me, because of the storm she thought i was getting cold. Then she said i woke up crying and when she came to check on me. I was crying because i couldnt move because of the weight of all the blankets. 😂 but after. There was so much damage all around our area. My dad was a carpenter. So he had so much work for months after that storm. So many lost roofs, out buildings. And damage from trees. We lived in a really old house that we rented. It had a wooded back yard. But we were lucky that we were at the bottom of a hill that was protected from the wind. But mom said the tops of those old firs were just whipping back and forth. She was just waiting for them to break. Ive lived through quite a few big wind storms in my 64 years on the oregon coast. They are always really scary with all the large trees we have here.

Reminds me of the 1983 "Enumclaw Hurricane". I was home on leave for Christmas..no power, no cooking Christmas dinner. Lots of property damage 120 mph plus winds. Also THG did a fair job of pronouncing our often-confounding place names.

I grew up in the area. Seeing the wind blowing through a massive group of trees with thick branches bending back and forth quickly is like witnessing a violent tide underwater. Everything moves. Birds desperately flee and wildlife hunkers down. It is a sight to behold. Mother Nature is powerful.

Thanks! Hope you can do a video on the Dieppe Raid of 1942. Most historians only focus on the failure of not establishing a beach head and ignore the various successes of the raid. As one example British commandos were able to place over 100 German speaking spies behind German lines. These spies would later pass on vital info about the German army. A number of other objectives were accomplished. Men sacrificed their lives to achieve them.

I Can see St. Helens from my Portland home and last week we had a similar arctic blast that took out a 120 foot Blue Fir literally 5 feet from my front door. I watched gale arctic blast winds blow this healthy 4-foot thick fir tree right over (away from my house thank god) and many MANY trees took out power lines all over the area and we had no power for the entire week up til last saturday and a sheet of frozen ice covering everything. Portland has no road crews to speak of, no salt or sanding crews and PGE electric company was just not ready. The tree is still on its side in my yard and it took out the porch of my neighbors house and a fence and scared the living shit out of me!

The storm that I remember is the Colmbus day storm in 1962 that hit the Oregon coast and swept thru the Willamette Valley and into Sw Washington. This affected the 3 largest cities in Oregon.

Thanks, today is my brother’s 82nd B’day. I’ll share this story with him over dinner.