Susan Parish Collection, Washington State Archives

by Jamie Hale | The Oregonian, OregonLive

When we talk about cataclysmic natural disasters in the Pacific Northwest today, we're almost always talking about the Cascadia subduction zone earthquake that's certain to come any day. Back in 1930s, however, the talk wasn't about a quake but a Biblical flood – and the ark that was supposed to withstand it.



Throughout the late 1920s and early '30s, reporters and filmmakers flocked to the Olympia Harbor to meet William Lound Greenwood, an eccentric loner who was busy building what he dubbed "Noah's Ark the Second," an extremely top-heavy, 60-foot vessel built on top of an old schooner. The ark was meant to survive a massive tidal wave he predicted would hit the northwest in 1934.



"I figured it out from the Bible," he told Oregonian reporter Edward M. Miller in 1931. "And the tidal wave will extend back to the Cascades. You see, we have a climate similar to that before Noah's time. In the old days they had no storms, just a steady, easy rain–"



"An Oregon mist," Miller suggested.



"You've got it. That's it. Now the rain will be very heavy in 1932, that will be a sign, but the real flood will not be until 1934."



Greenwood, who did the interview dressed in a cutaway frock coat and silk top hat – one of many costumes he kept on the ark – said the wave wouldn't mean the end of the world, but predicted that in 1937 the battle of Armageddon would begin, ushering in a reign of 1,000 years of prosperity for all who survived.

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It's easy to dismiss his apocalyptic prophecies – which obviously didn't come to pass – but what's strange is the big event that did line up with Greenwood's predictions.



On Oct. 21, 1934, a devastating windstorm hit western Washington, blowing in with 90 mph gusts. The storm and the tide were so strong that they flooded nearby Aberdeen and other small towns along the coast, destroying buildings and killing at least 19 people. The surge didn't reach the Cascades, but locally it was a disaster.



Still, the events didn't match up with Greenwood's prophecy of end times. Undeterred, he continued to make predictions of a coming flood, pushing back the date of the big day. In 1936, he told reporters that the flood would come in 1938. When that year passed uneventfully, he said it would come in 1941.

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Oregonian Archives

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His ark, meanwhile, was fast falling into disrepair. An Associated Press reporter got a tour in 1936, and gave a vivid description, painting a sad picture of a man trying to hold on to a fading dream:



"The motor lies rusted now in the big, moldy hold. Inscriptions on the ark are dimmed by time. The painted stars are faded and the roof and upper deck caved in. In one room is an old piano, holding up a pile of junk topped by a can of dog meat … He patches diligently, buying materials with his $17 monthly old-age pension, stopping only to make additional prophecies."



In 1942, city officials finally ordered Greeenwood to get rid of the ark, in an effort to clean up the Olympia harbor. He offered to sell the boat for $300 – or a trade it for an old school bus – but after no buyers came forward, the city burned it.



The prophet finally relented and moved south to the small town of Rochester, where he died in 1958.



His flood prediction might not have come true, but Greenwood was pretty spot on about that "battle of Armageddon." In July, 1937, Japan invaded China initiating war in the Pacific. Two years later, war broke out in Europe, battles on both fronts spinning off into what would become World War II – a veritable Armageddon of our time.



Meanwhile, the old prophet dutifully patched his ark, waiting patiently for a tidal wave to sweep in and swallow the world. He built his boat with a motor but no rudder to steer, because as he saw it, beyond building the ark and spreading the word, his fate was entirely out of his hands.



"The Lord will guide the ark," he said. "A man trying to steer it would only throw the ship off the Lord's course."



His fate was out of his hands, as it turned out – it just didn't involve the end the world.



--Jamie Hale | jhale@oregonian.com | @HaleJamesB

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Susan Parish Collection, Washington State Archives