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94-768: About ten precaldera units have been identified, but none have been attributed to a major edifice like the Mount Baker we see today. Four of the ten units are composed mostly of rhyodacite which is similar in composition to the rhyodacite that was erupted in the climactic eruption. The other six are andesite dikes and scraps of dacite that are outside of the caldera margin; these six are prominent at Barometer Mountain, Slate Mountain, Chowder Ridge, Lake Ann, and Park Glacier . The rhyodacite units can be found at Dobbs Cleaver, Cougar Divide, Deadhorse Creek, and Swift Rainbow divide. Some of these dikes contain pyroclastic material which indicates that explosive activity occurred before

188-451: A low-power FM radio station which broadcast a number of old shows popular many decades ago, as well as programming of general interest to the community. KMRE was housed at the museum in the beginning, but moved to The Bellingham National Bank Building, a few blocks from the museum because they needed more space. The station's license was cancelled on June 20, 2023. Mindport is a privately funded arts and science museum. Whatcom Falls Park

282-588: A beer garden with local breweries held on Bay Street. From May to September, the Downtown Bellingham Partnership runs the Commercial Street Night Market, with local food, artisan vendors, live music and performances. The Whatcom Museum of History and Art sponsors exhibits of painting, sculpture, local history, and is an active participant in the city's monthly Gallery Walks which are pedestrian tours of

376-419: A city named Fairhaven , and Fairhaven residents would not support a city named Whatcom . They eventually settled on the name Bellingham , which remains today. Voting a second time for a final merger of Fairhaven and Whatcom into a single city, the resolution passed with 2163 votes for and 596 against. Bellingham was officially incorporated on December 28, 1903, as a result of the incremental consolidation of

470-420: A confirmed VEI level had a VEI of 2 but two possible eruptions had a VEI of 3. In 1843, explorers reported a widespread layer of newly fallen rock fragments "like a snowfall" and that the forest was "on fire for miles around". These fires were unlikely to have been caused by ashfall, however, as charred material is not found with deposits of this fine-grained volcanic ash , which was almost certainly cooled in

564-619: A desirable and recognized local music scene. The presence of a large university-age population has helped Bellingham become home to a number of regionally and nationally noted musical acts such as Death Cab for Cutie , Odesza , The Posies , Crayon , Idiot Pilot , Mono Men , No-Fi Soul Rebellion , Sculptured , Federation X , The Trucks, Black Eyes & Neckties , Black Breath , The High Mountain String Band, Shimmertraps, Dizzy Spins, and Shook Ones . Local independent record labels include Estrus Records and Clickpop Records . The city

658-554: A large one occurred on July 27, 2007. In early March 1975, a dramatic increase in fumarolic activity and snow melt in the Sherman Crater area raised concern that an eruption might be imminent. Heat flow increased more than tenfold. Additional monitoring equipment was installed and several geophysical surveys were conducted to try to detect the movement of magma. The increased thermal activity prompted public officials and Puget Power to temporarily close public access to

752-509: A male householder with no wife present, and 53.5% were non-families. 35.3% of all households were made up of individuals, and 10.8% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.18 and the average family size was 2.79. The median age in the city was 31.3 years. 15.6% of residents were under the age of 18; 23.5% were between the ages of 18 and 24; 25.9% were from 25 to 44; 22% were from 45 to 64; and 12.8% were 65 years of age or older. The gender makeup of

846-713: A publication of the Independent Writers' Studio, has produced 9 volumes since 2010. The city is home to writers including Steve Martini and George Dyson . The Bellingham Public Library provides free library services at the Central Library, Barkley Branch and Fairhaven Branch. Bellingham's theater culture is boosted by the performing arts department at Western Washington University. There are several theaters and productions in Bellingham: The Whatcom Peace & Justice Center

940-551: A short lived population growth that established the community. Coal was mined in the Bellingham Bay area from the mid-19th to the mid-20th centuries starting when Henry Roeder's agents discovered coal south of Whatcom Creek, in an area called Sehome, now downtown Bellingham, in 1854. They sold the coal-bearing land to San Francisco investors who established the Bellingham Bay Coal Company, eventually

1034-594: A small hydrovolcanic eruption occurred at Sherman Crater, triggering a second collapse of the flank just east of the Roman Wall. That collapse also became a lahar that mainly followed the course of the first lahar for at least 20 mi (32 km), and also spilled into tributaries of the Baker River. Finally, an eruption cloud deposited ash as far as 40 mi (64 km) downwind to the northeast and east. Several eruptions occurred from Sherman Crater during

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1128-740: A subsidiary of the Black Diamond Coal Mining Company . After a hundred years of extensive mining beneath present-day Bellingham, the last mine closed in 1955. In the early 1890s, three railroad lines arrived, connecting the bay cities to a nationwide market of builders. In 1889, Pierre Cornwall and an association of investors formed the Bellingham Bay Improvement Company (BBIC). The BBIC invested in several diverse enterprises such as shipping, coal, mining, railroad construction, real estate sales and utilities. Even though their dreams of turning

1222-445: A total area of 30.511 square miles (79.02 km ), of which, 28.198 square miles (73.03 km ) is land and 2.313 square miles (5.99 km ) is water. The lowest elevations are at sea level along the waterfront. Alabama Hill is one of the higher points in the city at about 500 feet (150 m). Elevations of 800 feet (240 m) are found near Yew Street Hill north of Lake Padden and near Galbraith Mountain. South and eastward of

1316-432: A very high conspicuous craggy mountain ... presented itself, towering above the clouds: as low down as they allowed it to be visible it was covered with snow; and south of it, was a long ridge of very rugged snowy mountains, much less elevated, which seemed to stretch to a considerable distance ... the high distant land formed, as already observed, like detached islands, amongst which the lofty mountain, discovered in

1410-696: A wage earner in Bellingham is $ 49,363, which is below the Washington State average of $ 66,870. In the first quarter of 2017, Bellingham's median home sale was $ 382,763, compared to the Whatcom County median of $ 322,779. Strong job and income growth, along with low inventory of homes for sale, have contributed to a median monthly rental payment in February 2017 of $ 1,526. According to the city's 2021 Comprehensive Annual Financial Report,

1504-679: Is a 10,781 ft (3,286 m) active glacier -covered andesitic stratovolcano in the Cascade Volcanic Arc and the North Cascades of Washington State in the United States. Mount Baker has the second-most thermally active crater in the Cascade Range after Mount St. Helens . About 30 miles (48 km) due east of the city of Bellingham , Whatcom County , Mount Baker is the youngest volcano in

1598-618: Is a 241-acre (98 ha) public park encompassing the Whatcom Creek gorge, running directly through the heart of the city. It has four sets of waterfalls and several miles of walking trails. Popular activities during warmer weather include swimming, fishing, and strolling along the numerous walking trails. On June 10, 1999, the Olympic pipeline explosion occurred in Whatcom Falls Park, killing three boys who were playing in

1692-406: Is a common mineral around these fumaroles. At Sherman Crater, collapses of this weakened rock generated lahars in the 1840s. Around 6,600 years ago, a series of discrete events culminated in the largest tephra-producing eruption in postglacial time at Mount Baker. This is the last episode of undoubted magmatic activity preserved in the geologic record. First, the largest collapse in the history of

1786-644: Is drained on the north by streams that flow into the North Fork Nooksack River , on the west by the Middle Fork Nooksack River , and on the southeast and east by tributaries of the Baker River. Lake Shannon and Baker Lake are the largest nearby bodies of water, formed by two dams on the Baker River. Two ammunition ships of the United States Navy (traditionally named for volcanoes) have been named after

1880-466: Is greater than that of all the other Cascades volcanoes (except Rainier) combined. It is also one of the snowiest places in the world; in 1999, Mount Baker Ski Area , located 9 mi (14.5 km) to the northeast, set the world record for recorded snowfall in a single season—1,140 in (29 m; 95 ft). Mount Baker is the third-highest mountain in Washington and the fifth-highest in

1974-576: Is involved. A considerable amount of research has been done at Mount Baker over the past decade, and it is now among the most-studied of the Cascade Volcanoes . Recent and ongoing projects include gravimetric and GPS-based geodetic monitoring, fumarole gas sampling, tephra distribution mapping, new interpretations of the Schriebers Meadow lava flow, and hazards analyses. Mapping of Carmelo and Sherman craters, and interpretations of

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2068-473: Is preserved today at Lake Tapps 125 mi (201 km) south of the caldera, and at Washtucna, Washington 300 km southeast of the caldera. While rhyodacite took up the bulk composition of the eruption some andesitic pumice can be sparsely found in the rhyodacite bands. After the eruption, subsequent glacial recession removed most of the tephra fallout near the caldera. Eventually stripping away all remnants of extracaldera ash flows. The eruption that created

2162-545: Is rare, although some summers are noticeably drier than others and some normally reliable wells have been known to run dry in August and September. Nevertheless, crops are more frequently ruined by too much rain rather than too little. Bellingham's proximity to the Fraser River valley occasionally subjects it to a harsh winter weather pattern (termed a 'north-Easter') wherein an upper-level trough drives cold Arctic air from

2256-441: Is south of the summit, and its ice-covered floor is 1,000 ft (300 m) below the summit ice dome. This crater is the site of all Holocene eruptive activity. Hundreds of fumaroles vent gases, primarily H 2 O , CO 2 , and H 2 S . Lava flows from the summit vent erupted between 30,000 and 10,000 years ago, and during the final stages of edifice construction, blocky pyroclastic flows entered

2350-698: Is speculated that the eruptive rocks from this volcanic phase formed one or more large andesitic cone now completely removed. [REDACTED] Media related to Kulshan Caldera at Wikimedia Commons [REDACTED]  This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the United States Geological Survey . 48°50′0″N 121°43′0″W  /  48.83333°N 121.71667°W  / 48.83333; -121.71667 Mount Baker Mount Baker ( Nooksack : Kweq' Smánit ; Lushootseed : təqʷubəʔ ), also known as Koma Kulshan or simply Kulshan ,

2444-451: Is the county seat of Whatcom County in the U.S. state of Washington . It lies 21 miles (34 km) south of the U.S.–Canada border , between Vancouver , British Columbia, 52 miles (84 km) to the northwest and Seattle 90 miles (140 km) to the south. The population was 91,482 at the 2020 census , and estimated to be 94,720 in 2023. It is the site of Western Washington University , Bellingham International Airport , and

2538-709: Is the intersection of the territories of many Coast Salishan peoples. The Lummi , Nooksack , Samish , and Nuwhaha in particular fished in Bellingham Bay and shared the hunting and gathering grounds in the nearby forests and prairies. Indigenous people continue to live in and around Bellingham, particularly the Lummi, who have a reservation directly west of the city. The modern city of Bellingham, incorporated in 1903, consolidated four settlements: Bellingham, Whatcom, Fairhaven, and Sehome. It takes its name from Bellingham Bay , named by George Vancouver in 1792, for Sir William Bellingham . The first European immigrants reached

2632-431: Is the largest; it has a surface area of 1,285 acres (5.2 km ). The other large glaciers—which have areas greater than 625 acres (2.5 km )—are Roosevelt Glacier , Mazama Glacier , Park Glacier , Boulder Glacier , Easton Glacier , and Deming Glacier . All retreated during the first half of the century, advanced from 1950 to 1975 and have been retreating with increasing rapidity since 1980. Mount Baker

2726-415: The 2020 census , there were 91,482 people, 39,236 households, and 18,252 families residing in the city. As of the 2010 census , there were 80,885 people, 34,671 households, and 16,129 families residing in the city. The population density was 2,986.9 inhabitants per square mile (1,153.2/km ). There were 36,760 housing units at an average density of 1,357.5 per square mile (524.1/km ). The racial makeup of

2820-520: The Lummi or Halkomelem-speaking peoples , use names for the mountain borrowed from the Nooksack term, as, due to the distance to the mountain from the core homelands of those peoples, only those closely related to the Nooksack might travel to hunt and gather with them at Kwelshán . Thus, the names for Mount Baker in Lummi and Halkomelem are Kwelshan and Kwelxá:lxw respectively. In

2914-786: The Mount Meager massif , nor has it erupted frequently. During this period, four episodes of magmatic eruptive activity have been recently recognized. Magmatic eruptions have produced tephra , pyroclastic flows , and lava flows from summit vents and the Schriebers Meadow Cone . The most destructive and most frequent events at Mount Baker have been lahars or debris flows and debris avalanches. Many, if not most, of these were not related to magmatic eruptions, but may have been induced by magma intrusion , steam eruptions, earthquakes , gravitational instability, or possibly even heavy rainfall. Research beginning in

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3008-560: The Nooksack and Upper Skagit peoples hunted and gathered on the north and south faces of the mountain. For the Nooksack, Mount Baker is extremely important in traditional religious beliefs, and was historically a great source of wealth (in the form of mountain goat wool, a highly prized commodity) and food. Nooksack families would travel via the North Fork ( Nooksack : Chuw7álich ) or Middle Fork ( Nooksack : Nuxwt'íqw'em ) of

3102-468: The Nooksack River to the alpine meadows where they would set up temporary summer camps to dry picked berries and meat. From those camps, people would disperse across the mountain to pick berries or hunt. The high slopes of the mountain were prime territory for hunting deer, elk, mountain goat, bear, marmot, and grouse. Nooksack families held almost exclusive usage rights to the northwestern areas of

3196-498: The Spanish Navy set sail from Nootka , a temporary settlement on Vancouver Island , with orders to explore the newly discovered Strait of Juan de Fuca . Accompanying Quimper was first-pilot Gonzalo Lopez de Haro , who drew detailed charts during the six-week expedition. Although Quimper's journal of the voyage does not refer to the mountain, one of Haro's manuscript charts includes a sketch of Mount Baker. The Spanish named

3290-730: The Strait of Georgia . It lies west of Mount Baker and Lake Whatcom (from which it gets its drinking water) and north of the Chuckanut Mountains and the Skagit Valley . Whatcom Creek runs through the center of the city. Bellingham is 18 miles (29 km) south of the US-Canada border and 50 miles (80 km) southeast of Vancouver. According to the United States Census Bureau , the city has

3384-428: The last ice age (which culminated 15,000–20,000 years ago), by thick ice sheets that filled the valleys and surrounded the volcano. In the last 14,000 years, the area around the mountain has been largely ice-free, but the mountain itself remains heavily covered with snow and ice. Isolated ridges of lava and hydrothermally altered rock, especially in the area of Sherman Crater, are exposed between glaciers on

3478-702: The 19th century; they were witnessed from the Bellingham area. A possible eruption was seen in June 1792 during the Spanish expedition of Dionisio Alcalá Galiano and Cayetano Valdés . Their report read, in part: During the night [while anchored in Bellingham Bay] we constantly saw light to the south and east of the mountain of Carmelo [Baker] and even at times some bursts of flame, signs which left no doubt that there are volcanoes with strong eruptions in those mountains. Most of Mount Baker's eruptions that have

3572-408: The 19th-century lake is now covered by waters of the modern dam-impounded Baker Lake . Similar but lower-level hydrovolcanic activity at Sherman Crater continued intermittently for several decades afterward. On 26 November 1860, passengers who were traveling by steamer from New Westminster to Victoria reported that Mount Baker was "puffing out large volumes of smoke, which upon breaking, rolled down

3666-650: The Canadian interior southwesterly through the Fraser River Canyon. Such an event was recorded on November 28, 2006, when air temperatures of 12 °F (−11 °C) were accompanied by 30 to 48 miles per hour (48 to 77 km/h) winds. Wind chill values reached −10 °F (−23 °C) according to NOAA . Several days into this pattern, local ponds and smaller lakes freeze solidly enough to allow skating. These outflow winds also can collide with Gulf of Alaska moisture and create ice, snow, or heavy rains;

3760-634: The Cascade Range, if Little Tahoma Peak , a subpeak of Mount Rainier, and Shastina , a subpeak of Mount Shasta , are not counted. Located in the Mount Baker Wilderness , it is visible from much of Greater Victoria , Nanaimo , and Greater Vancouver in British Columbia , and to the south, from Seattle (and on clear days Tacoma ) in Washington. Indigenous peoples have known the mountain for thousands of years, but

3854-549: The Electric Corporation of Boston to purchase a large block of shares. In 1890, Fairhaven developers bought the tiny community of Bellingham. Whatcom and Sehome merged in 1891 to form New Whatcom (1903 act of the State legislature dropped "New" from the name.) At first, attempts to combine Fairhaven and Whatcom failed, and there was controversy over the name of the proposed new city. Whatcom citizens would not support

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3948-514: The Mount Baker volcanic field. While volcanism has persisted here for some 1.5 million years, the current volcanic cone is likely no more than 140,000 years old, and possibly no older than 80–90,000 years. Older volcanic edifices have mostly eroded away due to glaciation. After Mount Rainier , Mount Baker has the heaviest glacier cover of the Cascade Range volcanoes; the volume of snow and ice on Mount Baker, 0.43 cu mi (1.79 km )

4042-545: The Native American peoples who continue to call the geographic region their home. In 2015, the Seattle Arctic drilling protests spread to Bellingham when a protester chained herself to the anchor chain of a Royal Dutch Shell ship for 63 hours. In May 2024, students at Western Washington University formed a pro-Palestine encampment outside of Old Main. It has since disbanded after negotiating with

4136-546: The Puget Sound region. Isaac I. Stevens , the first governor of Washington Territory , wrote about Mount Baker in 1853: Mount Baker ... is one of the loftiest and most conspicuous peaks of the northern Cascade range; it is nearly as high as Mount Rainier, and like that mountain, its snow-covered pyramid has the form of a sugar-loaf. It is visible from all the water and islands ... [in Puget Sound] and from

4230-451: The US. Despite this, Bellingham has less overcast days on average than Seattle (SeaTac), Everett (Paine Field) and Olympia. The hottest summer days rarely exceed 90 °F (32 °C) and the warmest temperature on record is 100 °F (38 °C) on August 12, 2021. This is markedly cooler than the record high for Seattle (108 °F (42 °C)) and most other Washington locations. Drought

4324-573: The act of going hunting up on the slopes. The third main name for the mountain is Spelhpálhx̠en , meaning "many meadows," refers to the sheltered meadows below around 5,500 feet. The Upper Skagit peoples , who live in the closest proximity to the south face of the mountain along the Skagit River watershed, call the mountain təqʷubəʔ in Lushootseed , which means "permanently snow-covered mountain." Other Indigenous peoples, such as

4418-415: The afternoon by the third lieutenant, and in compliment to him called by me Mount Baker, rose a very conspicuous object ... apparently at a very remote distance. Six years later, the official narrative of this voyage was published, including the first printed reference to the mountain. By the mid-1850s, Mount Baker was a well-known feature on the horizon to the explorers and fur traders who traveled in

4512-545: The area about 1852 when Henry Roeder and Russel Peabody set up a lumber mill at Whatcom, now the northern part of Bellingham. Lumber cutting and milling continues to the present in Whatcom county. At about the same time, Dan Harris arrived, claiming a homestead along Padden Creek, and after acquiring surrounding properties, platted the town of Fairhaven in 1883. In 1858, the Fraser Canyon Gold Rush caused

4606-479: The atmosphere before falling. Rivers south of the volcano were reportedly clogged with ash, and Native Americans reported that many salmon perished. Reports of flooding on the Skagit River from the eruption are, however, probably greatly exaggerated. A short time later, two collapses of the east side of Sherman Crater produced two lahars, the first and larger of which flowed into the natural Baker Lake, increasing its level by at least 10 feet (3.0 m). The location of

4700-500: The caldera was significantly larger in volume than the one that produced Crater Lake in Oregon . After the climactic eruption between 1.149 and 0.99 million years ago, about a dozen dike -fed eruptions produced rhyodacitic lava domes and lava flows inside the caldera. Another volcanic phase 1.1 to 0.5 million years ago emplaced over 60 andesite dikes, the eruptive products of which have since been stripped away by glacial erosion. It

4794-535: The campus), and York. Bellingham's climate is generally mild and typical of the Puget Sound region ; classified as warm-summer Mediterranean ( Köppen : Csb ) or oceanic ( Trewartha : Do ). The city is strongly influenced by the Cascade Range and Olympic Mountains . The Cascades to the east block continental influence, while the Olympics provide a rain shadow effect that buffers Bellingham from much of

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4888-633: The cities by the bay into a Pacific Northwest metropolis never came to fruition, the BBIC made an immense contribution to the economic development of Bellingham. BBIC was not the only outside firm with an interest in the bay area utilities. The General Electric Company of New York purchased the Fairhaven Line and New Whatcom street rail line in 1897. In 1898, the utility merged into the Northern Railway and Improvement Company which prompted

4982-434: The city limits are taller foothills of the North Cascades mountains. Mount Baker is the largest peak in the local area, with a summit elevation of 10,778 feet (3,285 m) that is only 31 miles (50 km) from Bellingham Bay. Mount Baker is visible from many parts of the city and western Whatcom County. Lake Whatcom forms part of the eastern boundary of the city, while many smaller lakes and wetland areas are found around

5076-456: The city was 48.8% male and 51.2% female. As of 2000, the median income for a household in the city was $ 32,530, and the median income for a family was $ 47,196. Males had a median income of $ 35,288 versus $ 25,971 for females. The per capita income for the city was $ 19,483. About 9.4% of families and 20.6% of the population were below the poverty line, including 17.2% of those under age 18 and 9.0% of those aged 65 or over. The mean annual salary of

5170-445: The city was 84.9% White , 1.3% African American , 1.3% Native American , 5.1% Asian , 0.3% Pacific Islander , 2.8% from other races , and 4.3% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 7.0% of the population. There were 34,671 households, of which 21.1% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 34.2% were married couples living together, 8.9% had a female householder with no husband present, 3.5% had

5264-414: The climactic eruption. Formation of the caldera about 1.149 million years ago was accompanied by the largest eruption in the history of the Mount Baker volcanic field. The eruption was subglacial, blasting upward through the continental ice sheet. Over 124 km (29.7 cubic miles) of rhyodacite magma erupted from a shallow magma chamber in an ultra-plinian eruption. The magma in this water/ice interaction

5358-405: The closest proximity to the north face of the mountain, have multiple names for different areas of the mountain. The name Kweq' Smánit , meaning "white mountain," refers to Mount Baker as a whole, and specifically, to the glacier-covered summit above 7,000 feet. The open slopes of Mt. Baker, between about 5,000 feet and 7,000 feet, are known as Kwelshán , meaning "shooting place," referring to

5452-547: The day. Bellingham's proximity to the Strait of Juan de Fuca and to the Inside Passage to Alaska helped to retain some cannery operations. Pacific American Fisheries (P.A.F.), for example, shipped empty cans to Alaska, where they were packed with fish and shipped back. The city is situated on Bellingham Bay which is protected by Lummi Island , Portage Island , and the Lummi Peninsula, and opens onto

5546-505: The downtown core. Some are in very close proximity. The Bellingham Farmers Market is open on Saturdays from early April to late December. Originally opened in 1993, the Farmers Market now features more than 50 vendors, music and community events. The association also operates a weekly Wednesday market in nearby Fairhaven. Wednesday nights in the summer see Downtown Sounds, a family-friendly concert series featuring food booths and

5640-441: The eruptive history, continue, as well. The Mount Baker Volcano Research Center maintains an online archive of abstracts of this work, and an extensive references list, as well as photos. Mount Baker has an alpine tundra climate ( ET ) Eleven named glaciers descend from Mount Baker. Two additional glaciers ( Hadley Glacier and Sholes Glacier ) descend from lower slopes detached from the main glacial mass. The Coleman Glacier

5734-592: The first city in the state to do so. In 2012, the City Council unanimously passed a resolution calling upon the federal government to overturn the Supreme Court's decision in the case of FEC v. Citizens United by declaring that U.S. Constitutional rights apply to natural persons and not to corporations. In 2014, coinciding with Columbus Day that celebrates the arrival of European explorers, the City Council officially established Coast Salish Day to celebrate

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5828-425: The first written record of the mountain is from Spanish explorer Gonzalo Lopez de Haro , who mapped it in 1790 as Gran Montaña del Carmelo . The explorer George Vancouver later named the mountain for 3rd Lieutenant Joseph Baker of HMS Discovery , who saw it on April 30, 1792. Mount Baker is known to the several Indigenous peoples surrounding the mountain by different names. The Nooksack , who live in

5922-589: The four towns initially situated on the east of Bellingham Bay during the final decade of the 19th Century. Whatcom is today's "Old Town" area and was founded with Roeder's Mill in 1852. Sehome was an area of downtown founded with the Sehome Coal Mine in 1854. Bellingham was further south near Boulevard Park, founded in 1883 and purchased in 1890 by Fairhaven. Fairhaven was a large commercial district with its own harbor, founded in 1883, by Dan Harris , around his initial homestead on Padden Creek. Bellingham

6016-491: The freezing rain can create a phenomenon referred to as a "silver thaw" that produces hazardous roads among other inconveniences. Its reverse, the " Pineapple Express ", refers to acutely mild autumn and winter spells – for most of such a spell, an unusually warm and steady wind comes out of the south. It will typically follow several days of Arctic northeast outflow winds, and it can melt significant snow accumulations quickly, pushing drainage systems to their limits. As of

6110-525: The geophysical surveys, nor were any other precursory activities observed that would indicate that magma was moving up into the volcano. Several small lahars formed from material ejected onto the surrounding glaciers and acidic water was discharged into Baker Lake for many months. Activity gradually declined over the next two years, but stabilized at a higher level than before 1975. The increased level of fumarolic activity has continued at Mount Baker since 1975, but no other changes suggest that magma movement

6204-529: The historic buildings of the city, offering history and art lessons for local schools and adult groups, and historic cruises on Bellingham Bay. The SPARK Museum of Electrical Invention , formerly known as the American Museum of Radio and Electricity, has a collection of rare artifacts from 1580 into the 1950s, providing educational resources about the history of electronics and radio broadcasting. The Spark Museum had founded KMRE FM KMRE-LP 102.3 FM ,

6298-489: The internationally recognized Bellingham Festival of Music . Bellingham is home to an active writers community at the local universities and independent of them. Western Washington University's English Department publishes the Bellingham Review . In 2011, the city hosted the first annual Chuckanut Writers Conference, run by Whatcom Community College and Village Books, a local bookstore. Clover, A Literary Rag,

6392-411: The language of the unidentified "Koma tribe," the name is Tukullum or Nahcullum. The first Europeans to see and name the mountain were the Spanish. Gonzalo Lopez de Haro was the first European to record the mountain, calling it Gran Montaña del Carmelo , meaning "Great Mount Carmel ". The current English name for the mountain, Mount Baker, was chosen by George Vancouver . Vancouver named

6486-407: The largest employers in the city are: Craft beer is a major emerging industry in Bellingham. There are at least 15 breweries within Bellingham city limits and three additional breweries in greater Whatcom County. In 2022, these breweries combined won 23 medals at seven national and international brewery competitions. Most of Bellingham's breweries are located within a couple miles of each other in

6580-465: The late 1990s shows that Mount Baker is the youngest of several volcanic centers in the area and one of the youngest volcanoes in the Cascade Range. The Pliocene Hannegan caldera is preserved 16 miles (25 km) northeast of Mount Baker Volcanic activity in the Mount Baker volcanic field began more than one million years ago, but many of the earliest lava and tephra deposits have been removed by glacial erosion . The pale-colored rocks northeast of

6674-410: The modern volcano mark the site of the ancient (1.15  million years old) Kulshan caldera that collapsed after an enormous ash eruption one million years ago. Subsequently, eruptions in the Mount Baker area have produced cones and lava flows of andesite , the rock that constitutes much of the other Cascade Range volcanoes such as Rainier, Adams , and Hood . From about 900,000  years ago to

6768-569: The mountain for 3rd Lieutenant Joseph Baker of HMS Discovery , who saw it on April 30, 1792. Mount Baker is sometimes also known by the alternative English name "Kulshan" which is the Anglicized form of the Nooksack name Kwelshán . The other related name, "Koma Kulshan," is likely the Anglicized version of the Nooksack phrase, Kwóma Kwelshán , meaning "go up into the mountains to Kwelshán ." Prior to European colonization,

6862-496: The mountain, while the usage rights to the southeastern half were held by Skagit families. Certain families of tribes such as the Lummi or Halkomelem-speaking peoples could travel to the mountain if they were intermarried and closely allied with Nooksack families. This meant that some groups which had more hostile relations with the Nooksack, such as the Thompson, were generally barred from the mountain. In 1790, Manuel Quimper of

6956-544: The mountain. After approaching via the North Fork of the Nooksack River, the party navigated through what is now known as Coleman Glacier and ascended to within several hundred feet of the summit before turning back in the face of an "overhanging cornice of ice" and threatening weather. Coleman later returned to the mountain after two years. At 4:00 pm on August 17, 1868, Coleman, Eldridge, Tennant and two new companions (David Ogilvy and Thomas Stratton) scaled

7050-426: The mountain. Ice-filled Carmelo Crater is under the summit ice dome. This crater is the source for the last cone-building eruptions The highest point of Mount Baker, Grant Peak, is on the exposed southeast rim of Carmelo Crater, which is a small pile of andesitic scoria lying on top of a stack of lava flows just below. Carmelo Crater is deeply dissected on its south side by the younger Sherman Crater. This crater

7144-568: The mountain. The first was USS Mount Baker (AE-4) , which was commissioned from 1941 to 1947 and from 1951 to 1969. In 1972, the Navy commissioned USS Mount Baker (AE-34) . She was decommissioned in 1996 and placed in service with the Military Sealift Command as USNS Mount Baker (T-AE-34). She was scrapped in 2012. Bellingham, Washington Bellingham ( / ˈ b ɛ l ɪ ŋ h æ m / BEL -ing-ham )

7238-420: The popular Baker Lake recreation area and to lower the reservoir's water level by 33 feet (10 m). If those actions had not been taken, significant avalanches of debris from the Sherman Crater area could have swept directly into the reservoir, triggering a disastrous wave that could have caused human fatalities and damage to the reservoir. Other than the increased heat flow, few anomalies were recorded during

7332-504: The present, numerous andesitic volcanic centers in the area have come and disappeared through glacial erosion. The largest of these cones is the Black Buttes edifice, active between 500,000 and 300,000  years ago and formerly bigger than today's Mount Baker. Mount Baker was built from stacks of lava and volcanic breccia prior to the end of the last glacial period , which ended about 15,000 years ago. Two craters are on

7426-409: The rainfall approaching from the southwest. Bellingham receives an average annual rainfall of 34.84 inches (885 mm), which is slightly less than nearby Seattle. November is typically the wettest month, with numerous frontal rainstorms. Still, precipitation is distributed throughout the rainy period extending from October through April. Bellingham has lowest average sunshine amount of any city in

7520-655: The region. Situated at a latitude of 48.75 North, and thus north of the 48°34' parallel , Bellingham is one of only a few cities in the continental United States that experience astronomical twilight for the entire night. The phenomenon occurs every year between June 14 and 28. Bellingham's neighborhoods are Alabama Hill, Barkley, Birchwood, Columbia, Cordata, Cornwall Park, Downtown Central Business District, Edgemoor, Fairhaven , Happy Valley, Irongate, King Mountain, Lettered Streets, Meridian, Puget, Roosevelt, Samish, Sehome, Silver Beach, South, South Hill, Sunnyland, Whatcom Falls, Western Washington University (WWU) (including

7614-483: The snow-covered sides of the mountain, forming a pleasing effect of light and shade." In 1891, about 15 km (3.6 cu mi) of rock fell producing a lahar that traveled more than 6 mi (9.7 km) and covered 1 sq mi (2.6 km ). Activity in the 20th century decreased from the 19th century. Numerous small debris avalanches fell from Sherman Peak and descended the Boulder Glacier;

7708-776: The snowy volcano La Gran Montana del Carmelo , as it reminded them of the white-clad monks of the Carmelite Monastery. The British explorer George Vancouver left England a year later. His mission was to survey the northwest coast of North America. Vancouver and his crew reached the Pacific Northwest coast in 1792. While anchored in Dungeness Bay on the south shore of the Strait of Juan de Fuca, Joseph Baker made an observation of Mount Baker, which Vancouver recorded in his journal: About this time

7802-509: The southern terminus of the Alaska Marine Highway . Bellingham is the northernmost city with a population of more than 90,000 people in the contiguous United States . The area around Bellingham Bay , named in 1792 by George Vancouver , is the ancestral home of several Coast Salish groups. European settlement in modern-day Bellingham began in the 1850s and several coal mining towns grew in later years. The city of Bellingham

7896-508: The summit via the Middle Fork Nooksack River, Marmot Ridge, Coleman Glacier, and the north margin of the Roman Wall. The present-day cone of Mount Baker is relatively young, perhaps less than 100,000 years old. The volcano sits atop a similar older volcanic cone called Black Buttes , which was active between 500,000 and 300,000 years ago. Much of Mount Baker's earlier geological record eroded away during

7990-410: The upper flanks of the volcano; the lower flanks are steep and heavily vegetated . Volcanic rocks of Mount Baker and Black Buttes rest on a foundation of non-volcanic rocks. Deposits recording the last 14,000 years at Mount Baker indicate that Mount Baker has not had highly explosive eruptions like those of other volcanoes in the Cascade Volcanic Arc , such as Mount St. Helens , Glacier Peak , or

8084-517: The vicinity. Operated by Olympic Pipe Line Company, the pipeline that crossed Whatcom and Hanna Creeks leaked gasoline that turned the creeks pink, and then exploded into flames. To the east of the city lies Lake Whatcom , which provides the local public water supply and is the source of Whatcom Creek. Bellis Fair Mall , the city's main shopping mall, opened in 1988. Bellingham's location between two major cities, universities, record labels, and music magazines have all contributed to making Bellingham

8178-546: The volcano occurred from the Roman Wall and transformed into a lahar that was over 300 feet (91 m) deep in the upper reaches of the Middle Fork of the Nooksack River. It was at least 25 ft (7.6 m) deep 30 mi (48 km) downstream from the volcano. At that time, the Nooksack River is believed to have drained north into the Fraser River ; this lahar is unlikely to have reached Bellingham Bay . Next,

8272-433: The volcano's southeastern drainages. An eruption from Sherman Crater 6,600 years ago erupted a blanket of ash that extended more than 40 mi (64 km) to the east. Today, sulfurous gases reach the surface via two fumarole pathways: Dorr Fumarole, northeast of the summit, and Sherman Crater , south of the summit. Both are sites of hydrothermal alteration , converting lavas to weak, white-to-yellow clays ; sulfur

8366-845: The whole southeastern part of the Gulf of Georgia, and likewise from the eastern division of the Strait of Juan de Fuca. It is for this region a natural and important landmark. Edmund Thomas Coleman, an Englishman who resided in Victoria, British Columbia , Canada and a veteran of the Alps , made the first attempt to ascend the mountain in 1866. He chose a route via the Skagit River , but was forced to turn back when local Native Americans refused him passage. Later that same year, Coleman recruited Whatcom County settlers Edward Eldridge, John Bennett, and John Tennant to aid him in his second attempt to scale

8460-470: Was incorporated in 1903 through the consolidation of several settlements, among them Fairhaven . Local industries shifted away from coal in the mid-20th century; the industrial areas on the Bellingham waterfront have undergone redevelopment into a mixed-use neighborhood since the 2000s. Bellingham has been inhabited by Indigenous peoples for millennia. The city of Bellingham and its surrounding area

8554-632: Was also home to What's Up! Magazine which covered the local music scene for 22 years ending in March 2020, and Lemonade Magazine, devoted to music and entertainment of all kinds. Bellingham is also the home of an active classical music scene which includes the Bellingham Symphony Orchestra (formerly the Whatcom Symphony Orchestra), North Sound Youth Symphony, numerous community music groups and choirs, and

8648-492: Was founded in 2002 by local activists, and has been one of the most active such centers in the nation. In October 2006, the Bellingham City Council passed a Troops Home! resolution, making Bellingham the first city in the state of Washington to pass the resolution. Two years later, the City Council passed a resolution urging elected representatives and the federal government to avoid war with Iran, becoming

8742-407: Was quenched and shattered in phreatomagmatic explosions to produce only small fragments of pumice. As the magma escaped from the shallow reservoir, the rock above it collapsed downward forming a massive 4.5 x 8 km (2.8 x 5 mi) depression. As the eruption progressed, the caldera was filled with up to 1,000 meters (3,280 ft.) of ignimbrite and tephra . Tephra fell beyond the limits of the ice sheet and

8836-557: Was the site of the Bellingham riots against East Indian ( Sikh ) immigrant workers in 1907. A mob of 400–500 white men, predominantly members of the Asiatic Exclusion League , with intentions to exclude East Indian immigrants from the work force of the local lumber mills, attacked the homes of the South Asian Indians. The Indians were mostly Sikhs but were labeled as Hindus by much of the media of

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