 Much of the young town, including the county courthouse, was destroyed in a devastating fire on May 13, 1888.On June 9, 1918, William Wallace Campbell, director of the Lick Observatory, and astronomer Heber Curtis journeyed to Goldendale to view a total solar eclipse.The purpose of the observation was to photograph the sun's corona and the apparent distorted placement of stars due to the sun's gravitational pull on those star's rays while passing by the sun.