wrock.html

The Mt. Adams Sun, Bingen, WA., October 4, 1951, page 1

WEATHER ROCK REDISCOVERED AT UNDERWOOD

"'Tis strange, but true; for truth is always strange, -- stranger than fiction."
Death sealed the secret of Underwood's "Weather Rock" on Valentine Day 1950. On that day Mrs. Mary Underwood (Aunt Mary) died and took into eternity the formula for bringing rain or clear skies to Underwood Heights.
Even residents who live nearby do not know the story or location of the rock. On the heels of a rumor given us by Frank Johnson, we made our investigation last Sunday. The Sun was escorted to the site by George Baker whose beautiful new home sits on a breathtaking point directly above the town of Underwood.

Time Rolls Back

While Mrs. Baker and the reporter waited for George to get ready, we stepped out on the front terrace. Not more than six feet from the house is another stone, almost buried in the earth. In its hollow top for ages past Indian squaws sat on the scenic ledge and ground corn into meal. The stone pestle which went with its natural mortar only recently disappeared.
Time was already rolling back when Mr. Baker appeared and guided us to the Weather Rock. It is located in a Woodland Pastor, approximately 600 yards down a trail south of the Aubrey (Bob) Houston home.

The Weather Rock

The Rock is apparently unrelated to other geological formations in the area, and on the first sight bears a striking likeness to an altar - about eight feet square, four to five feet higher, with flat perpendicular sides and a hollow top.
Inside the concave top are 12 pan-sized pits staggered at various levels. These pits are now filled to different degrees with accumulations of natural debris.
On the west rim of the Rock is a niche about large enough to accommodate a human head and neck. This is a characteristic of the other weather rocks in the county. No one can disprove that this channel did not serve a prehistoric purpose in blood-sacrifice ritual.

So Would Papa

Neither Mr. or Mrs. Baker who now own the land know much about the Rock. On their suggestion, The Sun called on Mrs. Maggie Howell who spent her childhood in the neighborhood.
"When either Aunt Mary or papa, (Edward "Eck" Underwood) thought we needed a change of weather, they said "Guess I'd better visit the Rock". Aunt Mary always went alone early in the morning. So would papa. We kids never knew when they went or what they did when they got there.
"I think each of the pits had a different purpose. By cleaning the leaves and debris out of a certain one, it would rain. By emptying another hole, the skies would clear. Only they knew which pit did what. We kids never went near the rock. We knew where it was but I don't think we ever saw it."

Recently Used

Mrs. Howell does not know how recently Aunt Mary visited the rock. She suspects that Mrs. Underwood who was both her aunt and cousin used it until the last few years of her life.
Rees Stevenson regrets that the loggers didn't know about the Rock during this long dry summer. "If it works, it would be worth while putting a man up there on overtime to manipulate the weather."
Of course it was only coincidence, but this week's heavy rains started immediately after The Sun's visit to the rock. On Monday morning we received a telephone call: "Now you see what you've done."

Pioneer Apollo

Eck Underwood came to Underwood Heights from Oskaloosa, Iowa in the 60's and his trigger-tempered brother Amos followed a year or two later.
"Tall(six feet two) and slender, his handsome figure topped with curly auburn hair" Eck Underwood is remembered as one of the handsomest men ever to live in this country. Doubtless he learned about the weather Rock from the Indians and by observation came to believe in it.
Superstition? Perhaps the handsome pioneer thought that superstition is the name men give to the religious beliefs of others.