Mother's Hollow Timeline
- 19th Century
Early 19th Century – The first European settlers arrive in the area, a vast valley located in the middle of the woods of southern Washington State. Mostly fur traders and miners, the settlers find an agreement with the natives and begin to live in the valley.
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1858 – Ezra Mather, son of a rich family of the Atlantic Coast, arrives in the area with his wife and their daughter. His intention clear from the start, Mather begins to acquire lands and resources both from settlers and natives. Few refuse his generous offers and the few who do are constantly pressured to change their mind. The native tribes, on the other hand are either scammed or driven out at the faintest pretext. Some resist, but to no avail.
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1860 – Ezra Mather now owns much of the surrounding land. Many inhabitants of the area work for him, in a way or the other, and he decides to name the major settlement of the valley Mather's Hollow. According to many sources, few people like Mather and most agree he's a vile and greedy man.
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1861 – Mather's wife, Lavinia, dies giving birth to their only son, John. Mather is deeply affected by her death and never remarries, living alone with his daughter Amelia, his son and their servants. His already questionable temper worsens.
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1867- While returning home from town, Mather is attacked and killed by a mountain lion in the middle of the woods. The news is met with rejoice from the citizens. John is the heir of the Mather's fortune but is too young to administrate it properly. Both him and his sister refer to the family lawyers for their needs.
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1869 – Sebastian Pope, a Civil War veteran, arrives to Mather's Hollow. He comes from a impoverished family but he's a serious man that soon finds his place in town. He eventually begins to court Amelia.
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April 30, 1870 – Sebastian Pope marries Amelia Mather. Sebastian is a rough and severe man but, by all accounts, the two seem to genuinely love each other.
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1871 – John Mathers dies in a accident while he's playing on the frozen surface of Adder Lake. The ice cracks and the kid falls in the water, his body never to be found. Amelia, the last of her family, inherits all the fortunes. Pope consequently becomes the head of the family and in a gesture that only few consider disrespectful, changes the name of the town from Mather's Hollow to Mother's Hollow, thus erasing Ezra's legacy with one fell swoop.
Pope proves to be a capable businessman and with his contribution the whole community grows. He is not a easy man to deal with and shows little tolerance for those he does not like, but he's fair and honorable most often than not, a welcomed improvement over Ezra Mather. Even today, it is Pope who is considered the true founder of the town.
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1873 – Irwin Whitefield, an explorer from Virginia, is the first man to climb the highest of the two mountains near Mother's Hollow. He names it "Hurricane Rock", not caring for the fact that the mountain was already known for the name the natives gave it. The name sticks but, while Whitefield brags profusely about his feat, many point out that a big part of the credit goes to the local guides he enlisted. Whitefield refuses to accept this and fights several duels over the issue. He also promises he will climb the other major mountain of the region once winter is over and that he would do it alone, with only another person with him to act as witness.
Amelia Mather gives birth to two twins, Diane and Abraham.
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1874 – Irwin Whitefield falls off from the mountain he was trying to climb and dies. A local legend tells that if you pay attention it is still possible to hear the terrified scream Whitefield made as he fell. John Blue Eyes, local trapper and son of a fur trader and a native, climbs the mountain to recover Whitefield's body and bring it to his family. A week later, he return to the mountain and reaches the top. Keeping with the nomenclature the unlucky explorer used for the mountain nearby, John names this one "Thunder Peak".
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1880 – The nearby town of Green Cove is founded. A small village of river fishermen and traders, it soon develops a friendly yet sturdy rivalry with Mother's Hollow. The benefits of the trade between the two towns quickly prove to be a welcomed development.
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October 11, 1883 – A sudden downpour hits Mother's Hollow, like it never happened before. Both Lower and Upper Adder Lake are filled to the brim, consequently widening the rivers connected to them. The Snake Horn River, which runs through the town, erupts from from its banks and floods Mother's Hollow. A big portion of the town is destroyed. At least three different survivors tell to have noticed a huge figure flying in the middle of the storm, but they're all clearly shocked.
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1883 – Mother's Hollow mourns its losses while Sebastian Pope, along with the other elders of the town, oversees the reconstruction. The process, along with the huge amounts of money Pope unexplainably manages to invest to it, attract a a lot of new settlers and activities. It takes time, but ultimately this allows Mother's Hollow to grow bigger than it ever was.
Many begin to question Pope's richness. Tales of "Pope's gold" and "the hidden fortune of the Mathers" begin to spread, but Pope himself never addresses the matter and dismisses any question about it as nonsense.
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1888 – A lonely miner finds gold while digging near Hurricane Rock. The following gold rush leads to the foundation of the mining town of Hayter's Tongue. The miners enter in conflict with the natives, both because the tribes consider the mountain a holy place that should not be defiled and because the place the miners decide to settle is part of the native reservations. The two sides have a series of heated confrontations and violence does occur from time to time.
Hayter's Tongue is barely a functional town and relies heavily on Mother's Hollow and Green Cove to survive. Other gold prospectors explore the region, some with more luck than others. The citizen of Mother's Hollow itself test their luck searching gold both in the rivers and in the cliffs close to Adder Lake.
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1889 – After the Enabling Act of 1889 passes, Mother's Hollow becomes officially part of the new State of Washington.
Several sighting of "a creature as tall as three grown men, with eyes like burning coals" happen. Modern cryptozoology enthusiast tend to conflate the sighting to those of Bigfoot.
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1891 – The anthropologist Edwin Dyer arrives to Mother's Hollow. During his researches he claims to have found "the bones of creatures that should not exist" and ruins of ancient civilizations far older than the native ones. Then again, Dyer is a notorious drunk and when asked to show proof to support his claims, he finds himself unable to do so. He spends most of his money in the gambling houses and brothels of Hayter's Tongue, before running away when the debts grow too much. Whatever his destination, Dyer disappears from history, many claiming he got lost in the woods.
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1894 – Ernst and Clara Hoffman, a couple of scientists, take residence in town. The two build their house in the woods not far from Mother's Hollow, coming to town only when needed. Their isolation and love for privacy spark the immagination of the citizens, but the couple never causes problems. One day, they're joined by their son who, according to the Hoffmans, they had previously sent to study abroad. Nobody seems able to recall if the either Ernst or Clara ever mentioned the existence of the young man.
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1896 – A series of unexplainable gruesome murders happen in Hayter's Tongue. All the victims are viciously mutilated and their bodies exposed in a ritual manner. The miners blame the natives and set fire to their reservation. The murders become rarer, but won't truly stop until a couple of years.
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1899 – The woods to the southwest of Mother's Hollow are declared to be protected by the federal government, thus forming the Thessaly National Forest.
The mines of Hayter's Tongue no longer bear fruit. This, combined with an unspecified outbreak and a series of mining collapses, marks the downfall of the small town. People begin to leave and Hayter's Tongue soon becomes a ghost town.