The day a mountain came to Cheney

Sunday, May 18, 1980 was a warm, cloudless day in the Inland Northwest.

For Tom Trulove, that meant mowing the lawn. Pushing the mower in his front yard, the Eastern Washington University economics assistant professor and recently minted Cheney Mayor noticed a dark, ominous cloud along the western horizon about midday. Sensing the approach of a thunderstorm, he picked up the grass-cutting pace.

Not far away and fearing the same outcome from the advancing cloud, Jay Martin did the same thing. Not wanting to get rained on, the college student raced through his mowing duties, stowed the machine a...