134 years ago this week, on February 3, 1892 Salem experienced an earthquake. The following day, the Oregon Statesman featured an article on the front page titled: “Salem’s Earthquake Shock”. People in what is now Oregon experienced Cascadian earthquakes and tsunamis long before European Americans settled in this area. In 1987- U.S. Geological Survey geologist Brian Atwater found the first on-the-ground evidence for a subduction zone quake in southern Washington. Based research and testing, magnitude of the quake at 9.0 and determined that the date and time of the event was nine o’clock on the evening of January 26, 1700. We are continuing to compile the scientific and archaeological evidence of the effects of these catastrophic events to better understand our history and prepare for the future. There are also compelling indigenous oral traditions and stories about significant earthquake and tsunami events in Oregon that speak to this resilience. Jason Younker, a member of the Coquille Indian Tribe has shared his story was published as part of the Summer 2007 Oregon Historical Quarterly Special Edition—Great Cascadia Earthquakes and Tsunamis.

100 years ago this week, the front page of the Capital Journal had an article titled: “Cook insists on discovery of the North Pole”. The article describes a letter written by Frederick a. Cook (who wrote the letter from a federal prison Leavenworth where he was serving time for mail fraud) where he challenged the claim that Admiral R. E. Peary had reached it first. Cook wrote that Peary did not actually reach the pole, and that his logbooks documented that his location was actually far away from the actual North Pole. Dr. Cook stated that future explorations would demonstrate that his claim is accurate. In 1988, when a re-examination of his records commissioned by the National Geographic Society, a major sponsor of Perry’s expeditions, concluded that Peary's evidence never proved his claim and suggested that he knew he might have fallen short. If you want to learn more, in addition the books published by Cook and Peary- The Library of Congress has the Frederick Albert Cook Papers If you want to see a silent film created in 1912 by Frederick Cook – you can find it on YouTube- if you search for “The Truth About the North Pole”. Peary’s original papers, including his 1909 expedition diary are held at the National Archives in Washington DC.

The first week of the New Year on January 5th in 1885 there was a train wreck just south of the first Salem Train Depot as it was crossing the wooden bridge over south Mill Creek during a snow storm. While the steam engine made it over the bridge, the passenger coaches derailed and tipped on their side. There is still evidence today of our connection to the steam engine. In 2016, ODOT found evidence of the foundation for the water tower- which provided water to run these engines.

To see photos of the Salem 1885 steam engine derailment please visit Salem’s Oregon Historic Photo Collection site here.