Today we go outside of Bellevue and take a look at a windstorm in Happy Valley 100 years ago. This description comes from the composition book of 10-year-old Olga Carlson.

The Wind

One night I heard a great roar outside. I looked out of the window and saw the trees all bending down nearly to the ground. The leaves were all over the ground, too. One tree fell right on the porch, and the leaves were all over the porch. The flag-pole was against the house, and it broke one of the windows. The shingles of the barn were on the ground, so there was no roof on the barn. The roofs were off the chickenhouses, too.

The buckets on the fences were blown down. They fell right in the water and got wet. The [laundry] tub on the bench was full of water and fell right on our cat.

We had all our clothes out on the line because we had just washed. They were all scattered over the yard. The gate flew open, and the cows came into the yard and chewed all the clothes, so we had to wash them over again.

There was a ditch right straight through the grass, and the grass [was] bending down right in the ditch, so we could get no water. The bark of the logs and trees was off. The flower-garden gate was open, and the cows had gone in the garden and ate all the pretty flowers. We had our milk out on the porch and it was tipped over and all the milk was on the ground, so we had no milk for the morning.

Some leaves I picked and put in a vase and put it on the porch to take to school to my teacher were all blown down on the ground. So I did not have any leaves for my teacher. I wondered to myself who ever could have done all these dreadful things.

Heritage Corner is a feature in the Bellevue Reporter. Material is provided by the Eastside Heritage Center. For more information call 425-450-1049.