Chapter I: Foreword

Every summer there is demand for illustrated literature describing the mountain variously called "Rainier" or "Tacoma." Hitherto, we have had only small collections of pictures, without text, and confined to the familiar south and southwest sides.

The little book which I now offer aims to show the grandest and most accessible of our extinct volcanoes from all points of view. Like the glacial rivers, its text will be found a narrow stream flowing swiftly amidst great mountain scenery. Its abundant illustrations cover not only the giants' fairyland south of the peak, but also the equally stupendous scenes that await the adventurer who penetrates the harder trails and climbs the greater glaciers of the north and east slopes. * * * *

The title adopted for the book has reference, of course, to the Indian nature worship, of which something is said in the opening chapter. Both the title and a small part of the matter are reprinted from an article which I contributed last year to the _New York Evening Post_. Attention is called to the tangle in the names of glaciers and the need of a definitive nomenclature. As to the name of the Mountain itself, that famous bone of contention between two cities, I greatly prefer "Tacoma," one of the several authentic forms of the Indian name used by different tribes; but I believe that "Tahoma," proposed by the Rotary Club of Seattle, would be a justifiable compromise, and satisfy nearly everybody. Its adoption would free our national map from one more of its meaningless names--the name, in this case, of an undistinguished foreign naval officer whose only connection with our history is the fact that he fought against us during the American Revolution. Incidentally, it would also free me from the need of an apology for using the hybrid "Rainier-Tacoma"! * * * Many of the illustrations show wide reaches of wonderful country, and their details may well be studied with a reading glass.

I am much indebted to the librarians and their courteous assistants at the Seattle and Tacoma public libraries; also to Prof. Flett for his interesting account of the flora of the National Park; to Mr. Eugene Ricksecker, of the United States Engineer Corps, for permission to reproduce his new map of the Park, now printed for the first time; and, most of all, to the photographers, both professional and amateur. In the table of illustrations, credit is given the maker of each photograph. The book is sent out in the hope of promoting a wider knowledge of our country's noblest landmark. May it lead many of its readers to delightful days of recreation and adventure.

Tacoma, June 1, 1910. J. H. W.

Second Edition.--The text has been carefully revised, much new matter added, and the information for tourists brought to date. The illustrations have been rearranged, and more {p.008} than fifty new ones included. Views of the west and south sides, mainly, occupy the first half of the book, while the later pages carry the reader east and north from the Nisqually country.

Nearly five thousand negatives and photographs have now been examined in selecting copy for the engravers. In the table of illustrations I am glad to place the names of several expert photographers in Portland, San Francisco, Pasadena and Boston. Their pictures, with other new ones obtained from photographers already represented, make this edition much more complete. For the convenience of tourists, as well as of persons unable to visit the Mountain but wishing to know its features, I have numbered the landmarks on three of the larger views, giving a key in the underlines. If this somewhat mars the beauty of these pictures, it gives them added value as maps of the areas shown. In renewing my acknowledgments to the photographers, I must mention especially Mr. Asahel Curtis of Seattle. The help and counsel of this intrepid and public-spirited mountaineer have been invaluable. Mr. A. H. Barnes, our Tacoma artist with camera and brush, whose fine pictures fill many of the following pages, is about to publish a book of his mountain views, for which I bespeak liberal patronage.

My readers will join me in welcoming the beautiful verses written for this edition by a gracious and brilliant woman whose poems have delighted two generations of her countrymen.

Thanks are also due to Senator Wesley L. Jones, Superintendent E. S. Hall of the Rainier National Park and the Secretary of the Interior for official information; to Director George Otis Smith of the U. S. Geological Survey for such elevations as have thus far been established by the new survey of the Park; to A. C. McClurg & Co. of Chicago, for permission to quote from Miss Judson's "_Myths and Legends of the Pacific Northwest_"; to Mr. Wallace Rice, literary executor of the late Francis Brooks, for leave to use Mr. Brooks's fine poem on the Mountain; to the librarians at the Public Library, the John Crerar Library and the Newberry Library in Chicago, and to many others who have aided me in obtaining photographs or data for this edition.

Lovers of the mountains, in all parts of our country, will learn with regret that Congress, remains apparently indifferent to the conservation of the Rainier National Park and its complete opening to the public. At the last session, a small appropriation was asked for much-needed trails through the forests and to the high interglacial plateaus, now inaccessible save to the toughest mountaineer; it being the plan of the government engineers to build such trails on grades that would permit their ultimate widening into permanent roads. Even this was denied. The Idaho catastrophe last year again proved the necessity of trails to the protection of great forests. With the loggers pushing their operations closer to the Park, its danger calls for prompt action. Further, American tourists, it is said, annually spend $200,000,000 abroad, largely to view scenery surpassed in their own country. But Congress refuses the $50,000 asked, even refuses $25,000, toward making the grandest of our National Parks safe from forest fires and accessible to students and lovers of nature!

May 3, 1911.

{p.009} CONTENTS.

Page.

The Mountain Speaks. Poem Edna Dean Proctor 15

I. Mount "Big Snow" and Indian
Tradition 17

II. The National Park, its Roads
and its Needs 43

III. The Story of the Mountain 77

IV. The Climbers 113

V. The Flora of the Mountain
Slopes Prof. J. B. Flett 129

Notes 139

ILLUSTRATIONS.

The * indicates engravings made from copyrighted photographs. See notice under the illustration.

THREE-COLOR HALFTONES.

Title. Photographer. Page.

Spanaway Lake, with reflection
of the Mountain A. H. Barnes. Frontispiece

View from Electron, showing west
side of the Mountain Asahel Curtis 19

View northward from top of
Pinnacle Peak Dr. F. A. Scott 46

Looking Northeast from slope
of Pinnacle Peak Dr. F. A. Scott 47

* Ice Cave, Paradise Glacier A. H. Barnes 73

* Spray Park, from Fay Peak W. P. Romans 92

Crevasse in Carbon Glacier Asahel Curtis 109

North Mowich Glacier and the
Mountain in a storm George V. Caesar 128

ONE-COLOR HALFTONES.

* Great crevasses in upper part
of Cowlitz Glacier Kiser Photo Co. 6

On the summit of Eagle Rock in
winter George V. Caesar 7

Winthrop Glacier and St. Elmo
Pass Asahel Curtis 8

White Glacier and Little
Tahoma Asahel Curtis 9

White River Canyon, from
moraine of White Glacier Dr. F. A. Scott 12

Telephoto view from near Electron,
showing plateau on the summit Asahel Curtis 13

View of the Mountain from Fox
Island Charles Bedford 14

* The most kingly of American
mountains Romans Photographic Co. 16

Party of climbers on Winthrop
Glacier Asahel Curtis 17

Ice Terraces, South Tahoma
Glacier Rodney L. Glisan 17

Mineral Lake and the Mountain A. H. Denman 18

Storm King Peak and Mineral
Lake A. H. Barnes 18

Nisqually Canyon Kiser Photo Co. 21

* North Peak, and South Mowich
Glacier A. H. Waite 22
{p.010}

* Basaltic Columns, South
Mowich Glacier A. H. Waite 23

Mountain Goat A. H. Barnes 23

West side of summit, seen from
Tahoma Fork A. H. Barnes 24

Iron and Copper Mountains in
Indian Henry's A. G. Bowles, Jr. 25

Cutting steps up Paradise
Glacier Dr. F. A. Scott 25

Great Crag on ridge separating
North and South Tahoma Glacier Dr. F. A. Scott 26

The Whistling Marmot Asahel Curtis 26

View from Beljica, showing west
side of the Mountain A. H. Barnes 27

* Mountain Pine E. S. Curtis 28

* Mount Wow, or Goat Mountain E. S. Curtis 28

Rounded Cone of Mt. St Helen's A. H. Barnes 29

* View northward from Simlayshe,
or Eagle Peak Pillsbury Picture Co. 30, 31

* Simlayshe, or Eagle Peak Linkletter Photographic
Co. 30

Exploring Ice Cave, Paradise
Glacier Dr. F. A. Scott 31

Junction of North and South
Tahoma Glaciers A. H. Denman 32

Anemones Miss Jessie Kershaw 32

* North Tahoma Glacier A. H. Waite 33

* Snow Lake in Indian Henry's A. H. Barnes 34

A fair Mountaineer Asahel Curtis 35

Indian Henry's, seen from South
Tahoma Glacier A. H. Denman 36

* Southwest side of the Mountain,
seen from Indian Henry's A. H. Barnes 37

Climbing Pinnacle Peak (2) Asahel Curtis 38

A silhouette on Pinnacle Peak Dr. F. A. Scott 39

* Rough Climbing E. S. Curtis 39

Ptarmigan Asahel Curtis 40

The Mountain, from Puyallup
river B. L. Aldrich, Jr. 40

Falls of the Little Mashell
river A. H. Barnes 41

Old Stage Road to Longmire
Springs A. H. Barnes 42

On Pierce County road, passing
Ohop Valley S. C. Lancaster 43

Cowlitz Chimneys S. C. Smith 43

* Old Road near Spanaway A. H. Barnes 44

Automobile Party above Nisqually
Canyon Asahel Curtis 49

Prof. O. D. Allen's Cottage Dr. F. A. Scott 49

"Ghost Trees" Mrs. H. A. Towne 50

Government Road in the Forest
Reserve S. C. Lancaster 51

"Hanging Glacier," an ice fall
above the Cowlitz Asahel Curtis 51

Leaving National Park Inn for
Paradise Linkletter Photo Co. 52

* On the Summit, showing
Columbia's Crest Asahel Curtis 52

Paradise Valley or "Park," and
Tatoosh Mountains A. H. Barnes 53

On Government Road, a mile above
Longmires Linkletter Photo Co. 54

Road near "Gap Point" Linkletter Photo Co. 54

Snout of Nisqually Glacier, and
Road Bridge Paul T. Shaw 55

Pony Trail Bridge across the
Nisqually Dr. H. B. Hinman 55

Road a mile above the Bridge Asahel Curtis 56

On the Pony Trail to Paradise Kiser Photo Co. 56

Sierra Club lunching on Nisqually
Glacier Asahel Curtis 57

A Mountain Celery Mrs. Alexander Thompson 57

Narada Falls, on Paradise River Herbert W. Gleason 58

Washington Torrents, on Paradise
River A. H. Barnes 59

Portion of Paradise Park and
Tatoosh Range A. H. Barnes 59

View of the Mountain from the
Tatoosh, with key to landmarks Herbert W. Gleason 60

Ice Bridge, Stevens Glacier Dr. F. A. Scott 61

Tug of War Asahel Curtis 61

* Hiking through Paradise Valley
in Winter J. H. Weer 62

* Tatoosh Range, from Reese's
Camp, in Winter J. H. Weer 62

* Waterfall above Paradise
Valley Photo, W. E. Averett;
Copyright, Asahel Curtis 63

Looking from Stevens Glacier to
Mt. Adams Dr. F. A. Scott 64

Reese's Camp C. E. Cutter 64

Climbing the "Horn" on Unicorn
Peak Asahel Curtis 65

Stevens Canyon in October A. H. Barnes 66

Sluiskin Falls A. H. Barnes 67

Eminent scientist practices the
simple life J. B. Flett 67

* Nisqually Glacier, with its
sources A. H. Barnes 68

Sierra Club on Nisqually Glacier Asahel Curtis 69

* Lost to the World Asahel Curtis 69

"Sunshine" and "Storm" (2) Mrs. H. A. Towne 70
{p.011}

Nisqually Glacier, from top of
Gibraltar Asahel Curtis 71

Measuring the ice flow in
Nisqually Glacier Asahel Curtis 72

* Miss Fay Fuller Exploring a
Crevasse E. S. Curtis 72

Fairy Falls, in Goat Lick
Basin A. H. Barnes 75

* Gibraltar and its Neighbors E. S. Curtis 76

Crossing Carbon Glacier Asahel Curtis 77

* Reflection Lake and the
Mountain E. S. Curtis 77

Looking up from Cowlitz Chimneys
to Gibraltar Asahel Curtis 78

Divide of Paradise and Stevens
Glaciers A. H. Barnes 79

Old Moraine of Stevens Glacier Asahel Curtis 79

Preparing for a night at Camp
Muir Asahel Curtis 80

The Bee Hive Asahel Curtis 80

Mazama Club on Cowlitz Chimneys Kiser Photo Co. 81

Climbing Cowlitz Cleaver to
Gibraltar Asahel Curtis 81

Mazamas rounding Gibraltar Rodney L. Glisan 82

Under the walls of Gibraltar Asahel Curtis 83

One of the bedrooms at Camp Muir A. H. Waite 83

Perilous position on edge of a
great crevasse Charles Bedford 84

Climbing the "Chute," west side
of Gibraltar Asahel Curtis 85

Looking from top of Gibraltar to
the summit A. H. Waite 86

View south from Cowlitz Glacier
to Mt. Adams Charles Bedford 87

One of the modern craters Asahel Curtis 88, 89

Steam Caves in one of the
craters Asahel Curtis 88

North Peak, or "Liberty Cap." A. W. Archer 89

Goat Peaks, glacier summits in
the Cascades Kiser Photo Co 90

Ice-bound lake in Cowlitz Park S. C. Smith 93

Crevasses in Cowlitz Glacier S. C. Smith 93

Crossing a precipitous slope on
White Glacier A. W. Archer 94

* Climbing Goat Peaks in the
Cascades S. C. Smith 94

Looking up White Glacier to
Little Tahoma Dr. F. A. Scott 95

The Mountain seen from top of
Cascade Range S. C. Smith 96

Great Moraine built by Frying-Pan
Glacier on "Goat Island" J. B. Flett 96

Coming around Frying-Pan Glacier,
below Little Tahoma Dr. F. A. Scott 97

Sunrise above the clouds, Camp
Curtis Asahel Curtis 97

Looking up from Snipe Lake,
below Interglacier Dr. F. A. Scott 98

Passing a big Crevasse on
Interglacier Asahel Curtis 98

View North from Mt. Ruth to
Grand Park J. B. Flett 99

Camp on St. Elmo Pass, north side
of the Wedge Asahel Curtis 100

East Face of Mountain, with route
to summit Asahel Curtis 100

Admiral Peter Rainier 101

First picture of the Mountain,
from Vancouver's "Voyage" 101

Climbers on St. Elmo Pass A. W. Archer 102

St. Elmo Pass, from north side A. W. Archer 102

Russell Peak, from Avalanche
Camp Asahel Curtis 103

Avalanche Camp Asahel Curtis 103

Looking up Winthrop Glacier from
Avalanche Camp Asahel Curtis 104

Looking across Winthrop Glacier
to Steamboat Prow Asahel Curtis 104

View south from Sluiskin Mountains
across Moraine Park Asahel Curtis 105

Part of Spray Park George Caesar 106

Climbing the séracs on Winthrop
Glacier Dr. F. A. Scott 107

Ice Pinnacles on the Carbon A. W. Archer 107

Among the Ice Bridges of Carbon
Glacier Asahel Curtis 108

Building Tacoma's electric power
plant on the Nisqually (3) George V. Caesar 111

Hydro-electric plant at Electron 112

Cutting canal to divert White
River to Lake Tapps 112

Mystic Lake, in Moraine Park Asahel Curtis 113

Glacier Table on Winthrop
Glacier Asahel Curtis 113

Carbon River and Mother
Mountains Dr. F. A. Scott 114

* Oldest and Youngest of the
Climbers C. E. Cutter 115

* P. B. Van Trump on his old
Camp Ground E. S. Curtis 115

Lower Spray Park, with Mother
Mountains beyond Asahel Curtis 116

* John Muir, President of the
Sierra Club J. Edward B. Greene 116

Coasting in Moraine Park Asahel Curtis 117

Sunset on Crater Lake George V. Caesar 117

* Amphitheatre of Carbon Glacier Asahel Curtis 118

* Avalanche falling on Willis
Wall Photo, Lea Bronson;
Copyright, P. V. Caesar 119
{p.012}

* Birth of Carbon River A. H. Waite 120

The Mountaineers building trail
on Carbon Moraine Asahel Curtis 121

The Mountaineers lunching in a
crevasse Asahel Curtis 121

Looking southeast from Mt. Rose George V. Caesar 122

Looking south from Mt. Rose,
across Crater Lake George V. Caesar 123

* Looking up North Mowich Valley Asahel Curtis 124

* Spray Falls Asahel Curtis 125

* A Rescue from a Crevasse E. S. Curtis 126

Returning from the Summit Asahel Curtis 126

* View across Moraine Park and
Carbon Glacier to Mother
Mountains Asahel Curtis 129

Senecio Mrs. Alexander Thompson 129

A 14-foot Fir, near Mineral Lake A. H. Barnes 130

Indian Pipe J. B. Flett 131

Floral Carpet in Indian Henry's
Park A. H. Barnes 131

Mosses and Ferns in the Forest
Reserve Charles Bedford 132

A Bank of White Heather Asahel Curtis 133

Hellebore Mrs. Alexander Thompson 133

Alpine Hemlock and Mountain
Lilies Mrs. H. A. Towne 134

Mountain Asters A. H. Barnes 134

Studying the Phlox J. B. Flett 135

Squaw Grass, or Mountain Lily Miss Jessie Kershaw 135

Avalanche Lilies Asahel Curtis 136

* Moraine Park, Sluiskin
Mountains and Mystic Lake Asahel Curtis 136

Sunrise in Indian Henry's A. H. Barnes 137

Anemone Seed Pods Asahel Curtis 138

Wind-swept Trees on North Side George V. Caesar 139

Lupines Herbert W. Gleason 139

* The Mountain, seen from Green
River Hot Springs C. E. Cutter 140

Glacial debris on lower Winthrop Asahel Curtis 142

An Alpine Climbers' Cabin From Whymper's "Chamonix
and Mt. Blanc" 144

{p.015} THE MOUNTAIN SPEAKS.

I am Tacoma, Monarch of the Coast!
Uncounted ages heaped my shining snows;
The sun by day, by night the starry host,
Crown me with splendor; every breeze that blows
Wafts incense to my altars; never wanes
The glory my adoring children boast,
For one with sun and sea Tacoma reigns.

Tacoma--the Great Snow Peak--mighty name
My dusky tribes revered when time was young!
Their god was I in avalanche and flame--
In grove and mead and songs my rivers sung,
As blithe they ran to make the valleys fair--
Their Shrine of Peace where no avenger came
To vex Tacoma, lord of earth and air.

Ah! when at morn above the mists I tower
And see my cities gleam by slope and strand,
What joy have I in this transcendent dower--
The strength and beauty of my sea-girt land
That holds the future royally in fee!
And lest some danger, undescried, should lower,
From my far height I watch o'er wave and lea.

And cloudless eves when calm in heaven I rest,
All rose-bloom with a glow of paradise,
And through my firs the balm-wind of the west,
Blown over ocean islands, softly sighs,
While placid lakes my radiant image frame--
And know my worshippers, in loving quest,
Will mark my brow and fond lips breathe my name:

Enraptured from my valleys to my snows,
I charm my glow to crimson--soothe to gray;
And when the encircling shadow deeper grows,
Poise, a lone cloud, beside the starry way.
Then, while my realm is hushed from steep to shore,
I yield my grandeur to divine repose,
And know Tacoma reigns forevermore!

South Framingham, Mass.
March, 1911. Edna Dean Proctor

{p.017}

THE MOUNTAIN THAT WAS "GOD."