For most of the last 500 million years, Olympia was under the ocean. Only in the last 80 million years has this part of North America had a chance to dry out.
Above the sea, it hasn’t been a smooth ride. During the last 2.6 million years, the Cordilleran Ice Sheet—a million square miles of mile high ice—has made dozens of passes over the Pacific Northwest. The last time Cordilleran backed up, about 20,000 years ago, it carved out the Puget Sound. What’s most peculiar about these repeating scrapes with big ice is that each time, the furthest southern point, the place where the ice wall inexplicably stopped, was Olympia.
What force prevented the ice from plowing south into Oregon and California? This remains one of geology’s greatest unsolved mysteries. Today, a Baskin-Robbins on the corner of Custer and Capitol marks the spot where the massive glacier stopped. Theories range from salt in the soil to the effects of the sun. A folk legend tells of an anti-ice spell cast by the last Mima mammoth. Some say that spell still lingers, explaining Olympia’s high standing in national barista and roller derby competition.
Comedic Nonfiction 