In the controversy over the Mountain's name, some persons have been misled into imaging Winthrop a fabricator of pseudo-Indian nomenclature. But his work bears scrutiny. He wrote before there was any dispute as to the name, or any rivalry between towns to confound partisanship with scholarship. He was in the Territory while Captain George B. McClellan, was surveying the Cascades to find a pass for a railroad. He was in close touch with McClellan's party, and doubtless knew well its able ethnologist, George Gibbs, the Harvard man whose works on the Indian languages of the Northwest are the foundation of all later books in that field. Although he first learned it from the Indians, in all likelihood he discussed the name "Tacoma" with Gibbs, who was already collecting material for his writings, published in the {p.107} report of the Survey and in the "Contributions" of the Smithsonian Institution. Among these are the vocabularies of a score of Indian dialects, which must be mentioned here because they are conclusive as to the form, meaning and application of the name.



In his vocabulary of the Winatsha (Wenatchee) language, Gibbs entered: "T'koma, snow peak." In that of the Niswalli (Nisqually), he noted: "Takob, the name of Mt. Rainier." "T'kope," Chinook for white, is evidently closely allied. Gibbs himself tells us that the Northwestern dialects treated b and m as convertible. "Takob" is equivalent to "Takom" or "T'koma." Far, then, from coining the word, Winthrop did not even change its Indian form, as some have supposed, by modifying the mouth-filling "Tahoma" of the Yakimas into the simpler, stronger and more musical "Tacoma." This is as pure Indian as the other, and Winthrop's popularization of the word was a public service, as perpetuating one of the most significant of our Indian place-names.

I have said thus much, not to revive a musty and, to me, very amusing quarrel, but because correspondents in different parts of the country have asked regarding facts that are naturally part of the history of the Mountain. Some would even have me stir the embers of that ancient controversy. For instance, here is the Bulletin of the Geographical Society of Philadelphia taking me to task:

This book would also do a great service if it would help popularize the name "Tacoma" in spite of the Mountain's official designation "Rainier"—a name to which it has no right when its old Indian name is at once so beautiful and appropriate. It is to be regretted that a more vigorous protest has not been made against the modern name, and also against such propositions as that of changing "Narada Falls" to "Cushman Falls."



The mistaken attempt to displace the name of Narada Falls was still-born from the start, and needed no help to kill it. There are many unnamed landmarks {p.108} in the National Park ready to commemorate Mr. Cushman's ambition to make the Mountain a real possession of all the people. As to the other matter—the name of the peak itself,—that may safely be left to the American sense of humor. But what I have said is due in justice to Winthrop, one of the finest figures in our literary history. His work in making the peak known demands that his name, given by local gratitude to one of its important glaciers, shall not be removed.



A word about the industrial value of the Mountain may not be without interest in this day of electricity. Within a radius of sixty miles of the head of Puget Sound, more water descends from high levels to the sea than in any other similar area in the United States. A great part of this is collected on the largest peak. Hydraulic engineers have estimated, on investigation, an average annual precipitation, for the summit and upper slopes, of at least 180 inches, or four times the rainfall in Tacoma or Seattle. The melting snows feed the White, Puyallup and Nisqually rivers, large streams flowing into the Sound, and the Cowlitz, an important tributary of the Columbia. The minimum flow of these streams is computed at more than 1200 second feet, while their average flow is nearly twice that total.

The utilization of this large water supply on the steep mountain slopes began in 1904 with the erection of the Electron plant of the Puget Sound Power Company. For this the water is diverted from the Puyallup river ten miles from the end of its glacier, and 1750 feet above sea level, and carried ten miles more in an open flume to a reservoir, from which four steel penstocks, each four feet in diameter, drop it to the power house 900 feet below. The plant generates 28,000 horse power, which is conveyed to Tacoma, twenty-five miles distant, at a pressure of 60,000 volts, and there is distributed for the operation of street railways, lights and factories in that city and Seattle.



A more important development is in progress on the larger White river near Buckley, where the Pacific Coast Power Company is diverting the water by a dam and eight-mile canal to Lake Tapps, elevation 540 feet above tide. From this {p.111} great reservoir it will be taken through a tunnel and pipe line to the generating plant at Dieringer, elevation 65 feet. The 100,000 horse power ultimately to be produced here will be carried fifteen miles to Tacoma, for sale to manufacturers in the Puget Sound cities.



Both these plants are enterprises of Stone & Webster, of Boston. A competitive plant is now nearing completion by the city of Tacoma, utilizing the third of the rivers emptying into the Sound. The Nisqually is dammed above its famous canyon, at an elevation of 970 feet, where its minimum flow is 300 second feet. The water will be carried through a 10,000-foot tunnel and over a bridge to a reservoir at La Grande, from which the penstocks will carry it down the side of the canyon {p.112} to the 40,000 horse-power generating plant built on a narrow shelf a few feet above the river. The city expects to be able to produce power for its own use, with a considerable margin for sale, at a cost at least as low as can be attained anywhere in the United States.



The rocks of which the Mountain is composed are mainly andesites of different classes and basalt. But the peak rests upon a platform of granite, into which the glaciers have cut in their progress. Fine exposures of the older and harder rock are seen on the Nisqually, just below the present end of its glacier, as well as on the Carbon and in Moraine Park. This accounts for the fact that the river beds are full of granite bowlders, which are grinding the softer volcanic shingle into soil. Thus the glaciers are not only fast deforming the peak. They are "sowing the seeds of continents to be."



{p.113}



IV.

THE CLIMBERS.

Climb the mountains, and get their good tidings. Nature's peace will flow into you as sunshine flows into trees. The winds will blow their own freshness into you, and the storms their energy, while cares will drop off like autumn leaves.—John Muir.

Upwards—towards the peaks, towards the stars, and towards the great silence!—Ibsen.

Given good muscles and wind, the other requisites for an ascent of the Mountain are a competent guide and grit. It offers few problems like those confronting the climber of the older and more crag-like Alps. There are no perpendicular cliffs to scale, no abysses to swing across on a rope. If you can stand the punishment of a long up-hill pull, over loose volcanic talus and the rough ice, you may safely join a party for Gibraltar Rock and the summit. But the ascent should not be attempted without first spending some time in "try-outs" on lower elevations, both to prepare one's muscles for climbing and descending steep slopes, and to accustom one's lungs to the rarer atmosphere of high altitudes. Such preparation will save much discomfort, including, perhaps, a visit of "mountain sickness."



Another warning must be given to the general tourist. Do not try to climb the Mountain without guides. The seasoned alpinist, of course, will trust to previous experience on other peaks, and may find his climb here comparatively safe and easy. But the fate of {p.115} T. Y. Callaghan and Joseph W. Stevens, of Trenton, N. J., who perished on the glaciers in August, 1909, should serve as a warning against over-confidence. Unless one has intimate acquaintance with the ways of the great ice peaks, he should never attack such a wilderness of crevasses and shifting snow-slopes save in company of those who know its fickle trails.



Under the experienced guides, many climbers reach Crater Peak each summer, and no accidents of a serious nature have occurred. The successful climbers numbered one hundred and fifty-nine in 1910. Many more go only as far as Gibraltar, or even to McClure Rock (Elevation, 7,385 feet), and are well rewarded by the magnificent views which these points command of the south-side glaciers and aretes, with the ranges lying below. The name "McClure Rock" is a memorial of the saddest tragedy of the Mountain. Over the slope below this landmark Prof. Edgar McClure of the University of Oregon fell to his death on the night of July 27, 1897. He had spent the day in severe scientific labor on the summit, and was hurrying down in the moonlight, much wearied, to Reese's Camp for the night. Going ahead of his companions, to find a safe path for them, he called back that the ice was too steep. Then there was silence. Either he slipped in trying to re-ascend the slope, or he fainted from exhaustion. His body was found on the rocks below by his comrades of the Mazama Club.



If one is going the popular route and is equal to so long and unbroken a climb, he may start with his guide from Reese's before dawn, and be on Columbia's Crest by 11 o'clock. But climbers frequently go up Cowlitz Cleaver in the evening, and spend the night at Camp Muir (see pp. 60 and 80). This ledge below Gibraltar gets its name from John Muir, the famous mountaineer, who, on his ascent in 1888, suggested it as a camping place because the presence of pumice indicated the {p.116} absence of severe winds. It offers none of the conveniences of a camp save a wind-break, and even in that respect no one has ever suffered for want of fresh air. It is highly desirable that a cabin be erected here for the convenience of climbers. Such shelters as the Alpine clubs have built on the high shoulders of many peaks in Switzerland are much needed, not only at Muir, but also on the Wedge, as well as inside one of the craters, where, doubtless a way might be found to utilize the residuary heat of the volcano for the comfort of the climbers.



Going to the summit by this route, the important thing is to pass Gibraltar early, before the sun starts the daily shower of icicles and rocks from the cliff over the narrow trail (see p. 83). This is the most dangerous point, but no lives have been lost here. Everywhere, of course, caution is needed, and strict obedience to the {p.117} guide. Once up the steep flume caused by the melting of the ice where it borders the rock (p. 85), the climber threads his way among the crevasses and snow-mounds for nearly two miles, until the crater is reached (pp. 86, 88, 89).



The east-side route (p. 100) involves less danger, perhaps, but it is a longer climb, with no resting places or wind-breaks. It has been used less, because it is farther from Paradise Valley. Starting from a night's encampment on the Wedge (p. 97), parties descend to White glacier, and, over its steep incline of dazzling ice, gain the summit in eight or nine hours.



The first attempt to scale the Mountain was made in 1857 by Lieutenant (later General) A. V. Kautz. There is no foundation for the claim sometimes heard that Dr. W. F. Tolmie, Hudson's Bay Company agent at Fort Nisqually, who made a botanizing trip to the lower slopes in 1833, attempted the peak. Lieutenant Kautz, with two companions from fort Steilacoom, climbed the arete between the glacier now named after him and the Nisqually glacier, but fearing a night on the summit, and knowing nothing of the steam caves in the crater, he turned back when probably at the crest of the south peak. Writing in the Overland Monthly for May, 1875, he says that, "although there were points higher yet, the {p.120} Mountain spread out comparatively flat," having the form of "a ridge perhaps two miles in length, with an angle about half-way, and depressions between the angle and each end of the ridge, which gave the summit the appearance of three small peaks."



It was not until August 17, 1870, thirteen years after Kautz's partial victory, that the Mountain was really conquered. This was by P. B. Van Trump of Yelm and Hazard Stevens, son of the first governor of Washington, who had distinguished himself in the Civil War, and was then living at Olympia as a Federal revenue officer. Each of these pioneers on the summit has published an interesting account of how they got there, General Stevens in the Atlantic Monthly for November, 1876, and Mr. Van Trump in the second volume of Mazama. In Stevens's article, "The Ascent of Takhoma," his acquaintance with the Indians of the early territorial period, gives weight to this note:

Tak-ho-ma or Ta-ho-ma among the Yakimas, Klickitats, Puyallups, Nisquallys and allied tribes is the generic term for mountain, used precisely as we use the word "Mount," as Takhoma Wynatchie, or Mount Wynatchie. But they all designate Rainier simply as Takhoma, or The Mountain, just as the mountain men used to call it "Old He."

Sluiskin, an Indian celebrity whom they employed as a guide, led the young men the longest and hardest way, taking them over the Tatoosh mountains instead of directly up the Nisqually and Paradise canyons. From the summit of that range, they at last looked across the Paradise valley, and beheld the great peak "directly in front, filling up the whole view with an indescribable aspect of magnitude {p.121} and grandeur." Below them lay "long green ridges projected from the snow belt, with deep valleys between, each at its upper end forming the bed of a glacier."



Descending from the Tatoosh, the explorers camped near a waterfall which they named Sluiskin Falls, in honor of their guide. Sluiskin now endeavored, in a long oration, to dissuade them from their folly. Avalanches and winds, he said, would sweep them from the peak, and even if they should reach the summit, the awful being dwelling there would surely punish their sacrilege. Finding his oratory vain, he chanted a dismal dirge till late in the night, and next morning took solemn leave of them.



Stevens describes their ascent by the now familiar path, over Cowlitz Cleaver and past Gibraltar. From the top of that "vast, square rock embedded in the side of the Mountain," they turned west over the upper snow-fields, and thus first reached the southern peak, which they named "Peak Success," to commemorate their victory.

This is a long, exceedingly sharp, narrow ridge, springing out from the main dome for a mile into mid-air. On the right, the snow descended in a steep, unbroken sheet into the tremendous {p.124} basin which lies between the southern and the northern peaks, and which is enclosed by them as by two mighty arms.[6] Sheltered behind a pinnacle of ice, we fastened our flags upon the Alpine staffs, and then, standing erect in the furious blast, waved them in triumph with three cheers.

[Footnote 6: See illustration, page 14.]



It was now five o'clock. They had spent eleven hours in the ascent, and knowing it would be impossible to descend before nightfall, they saw nothing to do but burrow in the loose rock and spend the night as best they could. The middle peak, however, was evidently higher, and they determined first to visit it. Climbing the long ridge and over the rim of the crater, they found jets of steam and smoke issuing from vents on the north side.

Never was a discovery more welcome! Hastening forward, we both exclaimed, as we warmed our benumbed extremities over one of Pluto's fires, that here we would pass the night, secure against freezing to death, at least.... A deep cavern extended under the ice. Forty feet within its mouth we built a wall of stones around a jet of steam. Inclosed within this shelter, we ate our lunch and warmed ourselves at our natural register. The heat at the orifice was too great to bear for more than an instant. The steam wet us, the smell of sulphur was nauseating, and the cold was so severe that our clothes froze stiff when turned away from the heated jet. We passed a miserable night, freezing on one side and in a hot steam-sulphur bath on the other.

In October of the same year, S. F. Emmons and A. D. Wilson, of the Geological Survey, reached the snow-line by way of the Cowlitz valley and glacier, and ascended the peak over the same route which Stevens and Van Trump had discovered and which has since been the popular path to Crater Peak. The Kautz route, by the cleaver between Kautz and Nisqually glaciers, has recently been found {p.125} practicable, though extremely difficult. In 1891 and again the next summer, Mr. Van Trump made an ascent along the ridge dividing the Tahoma glaciers. In 1905, Raglan Glascock and Ernest Dudley, members of the Sierra Club party visiting the Mountain, climbed the Kautz glacier, and finding their way barred by ice cascades, reached the summit by a thrilling rock climb over the cliff above the South Tahoma glacier. This precipice (see p. 37) they found to be a series of rock terraces, often testing the strength and nerve of the climbers. In Sunset Magazine for November, 1895, Mr. Glascock has told the story of their struggle and reward.



Here the basalt terminated, and a red porous formation began, which crumbled in the hand. This part of the cliff lay a little out from the perpendicular, and there was apparently no way of surmounting it. I looked at my watch. It was 4:15. In a flash the whole situation came to me. It would be impossible to return and cross the crevasses before dark. We could not stay where we were. Already the icy wind cut to the bone.

"We must make it. There is no going back," I said to Dudley. I gave him the ice ax, and started to the ascent of the remaining cliff. I climbed six feet, and was helpless. I could not get back, nor go forward. One of my feet swung loose, and I felt my hands slipping. Then I noticed above me, about six or eight inches to my right a sharp, projecting rock. It was here or never. I gave a swing, and letting go my feet entirely, I reached the rock. It held, and I was swinging by my hands over a two-hundred-foot void. I literally glued myself to the face of the rock, searching frantically for knob or crevasse with my feet. By sheer luck, my toe found a small projection, and from here I gradually worked myself up until I came to a broken cleft in the cliff where it was possible to brace myself and lower the rope to Dudley. This last ascent had only been fifteen feet, and, in reality, had taken but three or four minutes, but to me it seemed hours.

At 7:45, we reached the summit of the south peak. Here we stopped to look down on Camp Sierra. Long shadows spread their mantle across the glaciers, and in the east lay the phantom {p.126} mountain—the shadow of Rainier. A flash of light attracted our attention. We saw that our companions had been watching our progress.



The White glacier route on the east side was first used in 1885 by a party from Snohomish. The same glacier was traversed by the Willis-Russell party in 1896. The first woman to make the ascent was Miss Fay Fuller, of Tacoma, in 1890, over the Gibraltar route.

The north and northwest sides, as I have said, are as yet unconquered. Some members of the Mountaineers have a theory that the summit can be reached from Avalanche Camp by climbing along the face of Russell Peak, and so around to the upper snowfield of Winthrop glacier. They have seen mountain goats making the trip, and propose to try it themselves. Whether they succeed or not, this trail will never be popular, owing to daily landslides in the loose rock of the cliff.



In 1897 and 1905, the Mazama Club of Portland sent parties to the Mountain, each making the ascent over the Gibraltar route. The Sierra Club of California was also represented in the latter year by a delegation of climbers who took the same path to the summit. In 1909, the Mountaineers Club of Seattle spent several weeks on the Mountain, entering the National Park by the Carbon trail, camping in Moraine Park on the north side, exploring Spray Park and the Carbon glacier, crossing Winthrop glacier to the Wedge, and thence climbing White glacier to the summit. Many members of the Appalachian Club and American Alpine Clubs and of European organizations of similar purpose have climbed to Crater Peak, either in company with the Western clubs named, or in smaller parties. Noteworthy accounts of these ascents have been printed in the publications of the several clubs, as well as in magazines of wider circulation, and have done much to make the Mountain known to the public. The principal articles are cited in a bibliographical note at the end of this volume.



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V.

THE FLORA OF THE MOUNTAIN SLOPES.

By PROF. J. B. FLETT.[7]

[Footnote 7: Prof. Flett knows the Mountain well. He has spent many summers in its "parks," has climbed to its summit four times, has visited all its glaciers, and has made a remarkable collection of its flowers. In addition to the chapter on the botany of the National Park, this book is indebted to him for several of its most valuable illustrations.]

Of all the fire-mountains which, like beacons, once blazed along the Pacific Coast, Mount Rainier is the noblest in form. Its massive white dome rises out of its forests, like a world by itself. Above the forests there is a zone of the loveliest flowers, fifty miles in circuit and nearly two miles wide, so closely planted and luxuriant that it seems as if Nature, glad to make an open space between woods so dense and ice so deep, were economizing the precious ground, and trying to see how many of her darlings she can get together in one mountain wreath—daisies, anemones, columbines, erythroniums, larkspurs, etc., among which we wade knee-deep and waist-deep, the bright corollas in myriads touching petal to petal. Altogether this is the richest subalpine garden I ever found, a perfect floral elysium.—John Muir: "Our National Parks."

No one can visit the Mountain without being impressed by its wild flowers. These are the more noticeable because of their high color—a common characteristic of flowers in alpine regions. As we visit the upland meadows at a season when the spring flowers of the lowlands have gone to seed, we find there another spring season with flowers in still greater number and more varied in color.



The base of the Mountain up to an altitude of about 4,000 feet is covered by a somber forest of evergreens composed of the white and black pines; Douglas, Lovely and Noble firs; the white cedar; spruce, and hemlock. There are found also several deciduous trees—large-leafed maple, {p.130} white alder, cottonwood, quaking aspen, vine and smooth-leafed maples, and several species of willows. Thus the silva of the lower slopes is highly varied. The forest is often interrupted by the glacial canyons, and, at intervals, by fire-swept areas.



Among these foothills and valleys, lies the region of the virgin forest. This area is characterized by huge firs and cedars, all tall, straight and graceful, without a limb for 75 to 100 feet. This is probably the most valuable area of timber in the world, and it is one of the grandest parts of the Park. A death-like silence generally pervades this cool, dark region, where few kinds of animal life find a congenial abode. Occasionally the stillness is disturbed by the Douglas squirrel, busily gnawing off the fir cones for his winter's supply, or by the gentle flutter of the coy wren, darting to and fro among the old, fallen logs. The higher forms of vegetable life are also restricted to a few odd varieties. The most common of these are such saprophytes as pterospora andromedea, allotropa virgata, the so-called barber's pole, and the Indian pipe. This curious, waxy white plant is generally admired by all who see it, but it quickly disappoints those admirers who gather it by turning black.

The mosses, liverworts, and lichens take possession of the trees and cover them with a unique decoration. The licorice fern often gains a foothold on the trees thus decorated, and grows luxuriantly, embedded in the deep growth of these plants.

It is nearly impossible to get through this region without following a road or trail. For the safety of its priceless forest, there are far too few trails. In case of a forest fire it would be impossible to reach some areas in time to combat it with any success. Many beautiful regions in the lower parts of the Park are {p.131} wholly inaccessible. These should be opened with proper roads and trails, not only for their own safety, but also for the benefit of visitors.



The alpine meadows begin to appear at an altitude of about 5,000 feet. The real alpine trees, with their trim, straight trunks and drooping branches, are in strange contrast to their relatives of the lower altitude. The principal trees of the meadow area are the alpine fir, the alpine hemlock, and the Alaska cedar. These constitute the greater part of the silva of Paradise Valley. There are a few trees of the Lovely fir in the lower part of the valley, and a few white-barked pines overlooking the glaciers at timber line.



{p.133}

The trees of the park zone differ greatly on different slopes. On the northeast and east, the white-barked pine and the alpine spruce form no small part of the tree groups. The white-barked pine branches out like the scrub oak on the prairie. It is never seen at a low altitude. The alpine spruce bears numerous cones all over the tree, and has sharp leaves, though not so sharp as its relative, the tideland spruce.



Not only is there a difference in the trees on the different slopes of the Mountain, but there is a marked difference in the herbaceous plants as well. Hesperogenia Strictlandi is a small, yellow plant of the celery family. This is very abundant, both in Spray Park and also in the country east of the Carbon Glacier, but rare on the south side. Gilia Nuttallii, a large, phlox-like plant, is abundant only in the Indian Henry region. Two anemones, one buttercup, three willows and one senecio seem to be confined to the White River country. The moss campion has been found only on Mowich.

The most noticeable and abundant flower on all slopes is the avalanche lily (erythronium montanum). This plant comes up through several inches of the old snow crust, and forms beautiful beds of pure white flowers, to the exclusion of nearly all other plants. There are often from seven to nine blossoms on a stem. This has other popular names, such as deer-tongue and adder-tongue. There is also a yellow species, growing with the other, but less abundant. It seldom has more than one {p.134} or two flowers on a stem. The yellow alpine buttercup generally grows with the erythroniums. It also tries to rush the season by coming up through the snow. The western anemone is a little more deliberate, but is found quite near the snow. It may be known by its lavender, or purple flowers; and later by its large plume-like heads, which are no less admired than the flowers themselves.



The plants just mentioned are the harbingers of spring. Following them in rapid succession are many plants of various hues. The mountain dock, mountain dandelion, and potentilla seldom fail to appear later. The asters, often wrongly called daisies, are represented by several species, some of which blossom early, and are at their best along with the spring flowers. The great majority of the composite family bloom later, and thus prolong the gorgeous array. The lupines add much to the beauty of this meadow region, both at a low altitude, and also in the region above timber line. Their bright purple flowers, in long racemes, with palmate leaves, are very conspicuous on the grassy slopes. Between timber line and 8,500 feet, Lyall's lupine grows in dense silk mats, with dark purple flowers—the most beautiful plant in that zone.



Four different kinds of heather are found on the Mountain. The red heather is the largest and the most abundant. It grows at a lower altitude than the others, and is sometimes, erroneously, called Scotch heather. There are two kinds of white heather. One forms a prominent part of the {p.135} flora, often growing with the red. The other is less conspicuous and grows about timber line. The yellow heather also grows at the same altitude, and is larger and more common than the others. It often forms beautiful areas where other vegetation is rare. The white rhododendron is a beautiful shrub of the lower meadows. Its creamy white blossoms remind one of the cultivated azalea. There are several huckleberries, some with large bushes growing in the lower forest area, others small and adapted to the grassy meadows.



The figwort family has many and curious representatives. The rose-purple monkey-flower is very common and conspicuous in the lower meadows, along the streams. It is nearly always accompanied by the yellow fireweed. Higher up, large meadow areas are arrayed in bright yellow by the alpine monkey-flower. Above timber line, two pentstemons, with matted leaves and short stems with brilliant purple and red flowers, cover large rocky patches, mixed here and there with lavender beds of the alpine phlox; while the amber rays of the golden aster, scattered through these variegated beds, lend their {p.136} charm to the rocky ridges. The Indian paint-brush, the speedwell, the elephant's trunk, and the pigeon bills are all well-known members of the large figwort family which does much to embellish the Mountain meadows. The valerian, often wrongly called "mountain heliotrope," is very common on the grassy slopes. Its odor can often be detected before it is seen. The rosy spiraea, the mountain ash, and the wild currant, are three common shrubs in this area. There are also numerous small herbaceous plants of the saxifrage family, some forming dense mats to the exclusion of other plants. The mertensias, polemoniums, and shooting stars add much to the purple and blue coloring.



Two liliaceous plants of low altitude are always objects of marked interest. The Clintonia, popularly called alpine beauty, begins in the forest area, and continues up to the lower meadows. This may be known by its pure white blossoms and blue berries. Its leaves are oblong in tufts of from two to four. They spring up near the roots. The other is xerophyllum, mountain lily, sometimes called squaw grass, because it is used by the Indians in basket making. This has tall {p.138} stems with small fragrant flowers and coarse grass-like leaves.



The orchid family has a few curious saprophytic representatives on the lower slopes. Mertin's coral-root is one of the most common. This generally grows in clusters in the mossy woods, along the trail or government road above Longmire Springs. It is very common all around the mountain at an altitude of 3,000 to 4,500 feet. With it, grow two tway-blades and the rattlesnake plantain. In bogs, two species of piperia, with long spikes of greenish flowers, are abundant. In drier situations, a small form of the ladies' tresses is easily recognized by its spiral spike of small white flowers, which are more or less fragrant. In some of the swamps at the base of the mountain grows Limnorchis leucostachys. This is one of our most fragrant flowers, as well as one of the most beautiful, with its long spike of pure white blossoms.

Of the ferns, the common brake is sometimes seen on the slopes near the terminal moraines of the glaciers. On the old moraines and cliffs is found the pea fern (cryptogramma acrostichoides), so called because the pinnules of its fruiting fronds resemble those of a pea pod. This dainty little fern with its two kinds of fronds is always admired by mountain visitors. It is strictly a mountain fern. The deer fern also has two kinds of fronds, but this grows all the way from sea level to the glaciers, being at its best in the dense forest area. The delicate oak fern grows in great abundance from Eatonville to the timber line, and probably does more to beautify the woods than any other fern. The sword fern grows in dense, radiate clusters, all through the mossy woods. The fronds are often five or six feet in length. The maidenhair fern is found along streams, waterfalls and moist cliffs, reaching its highest development in the deep canyons cut through the dense forest.

On the very top of Pinnacle Peak and similar elevations, grows the beautiful mountain lace fern (cheilanthes gracillima.) Nearly every tourist presses a souvenir of it in his notebook. Phegopteris alpesteris is abundant along the glacial valleys, where the tall grasses and the beautiful array of alpine plants delight the eye. These ferns and grasses give a rich green color to the varigated slopes where nature blends so many harmonious colors in matchless grandeur in this great fairyland of flowers.

{p.139}

The writer has a list of about three hundred and sixty species from the Mountain. It includes only flowering plants and ferns. There are more than twenty type species named from the Mountain, not a few of which are found nowhere else. Its geographical position makes it the boundary between the arctic plants from the North and the plants of Oregon and California from the South. Its great altitude has a wonderful effect on plant life. This is seen in the trees at timber line, where snow rests upon them for months. Their prostrate trunks and gnarled branches give ample testimony to their extreme struggle for existence. Where the ordinary plants cease to exist the snowy protococcus holds undisputed sway on the extensive snow fields. This is a small one-celled microscopic plant having a blood red color in one stage of its existence. Even in the crater, on the warm rocks of the rim, will be found three or four mosses—I have noted one there which is not found anywhere else—several lichens, and at least one liverwort.



{p.140}



NOTES.

Rates, Trains, Hotel Accommodations.—The round-trip fare from Tacoma via the Tacoma Eastern is $6.00. This includes railway transportation to Ashford and automobile-stage ride from Ashford to Longmire Springs and return. Tickets are good for the season. To parties of ten or more traveling together a single ticket is issued at $5.00 per capita. A week-end ticket, Saturday to Monday, is sold at $5.00. The rates from Seattle to the Springs are $1.50 more, in each case, than the Tacoma rates. The train schedule for 1911 follows:

SOUTHBOUND Leave Seattle 7.45 A.M. and 12.30 P.M. Arrive Tacoma 8.55 A.M. and 1.40 P.M. Leave Tacoma 9.05 A.M. and 1.50 P.M. Arrive Ashford 11.20 A.M. and 4.05 P.M. Leave Ashford 11.30 A.M. and 4.15 P.M. Arrive at Inn 12.45 P.M. and 5.30 P.M.

NORTHBOUND Leave Inn 7.15 A.M. and 1.30 P.M. Arrive Ashford 8.30 A.M. and 2.45 P.M. Leave Ashford 8.40 A.M. and 2.55 P.M. Arrive Tacoma 10.55 A.M. and 5.10 P.M. Leave Tacoma 11.05 A.M. and 5.15 P.M. Arrive Seattle 12.15 P.M. and 6.30 P.M.

The National Park Inn, Longmire Springs, provides excellent rooms in the Inn, with a large number of well-furnished and comfortable tents near by. The rates range from $2.50 to $3.75 a day, including meals. The dining-room is under the Chicago, Milwaukee & Puget Sound dining-car management, which insures a satisfactory table.

At the older Longmire Hotel, the rate is $2.50 a day for room and board. This hotel is open all the year, and in winter is much frequented by persons seeking Winter sports, or making use of the mineral springs.

The springs are of great variety, and are highly recommended for their medicinal virtues. Within an area of several acres, there are a score of these springs, varying from the normal temperature of a mountain stream almost to blood heat. Well-appointed bathhouses are maintained. Fee, including attendance, $1.00.

At Reese's Camp, in Paradise Park, and at Mrs. Hall's similar tent hotel in Indian Henry's Park, the charge for meals, with a tent for sleeping, is $2.50 per day.

Stages, Horses, Guides.—The cost of getting from Longmire Springs to Paradise or Indian Henry's is moderate. Many prefer to make the trips on foot over the mountain trails. Parties are made up several times a day, under experienced guides, for each of these great "parks," and sure-footed horses are provided for those who wish to ride, at $1.50 for the round trip. Guides and horses for the new trail to Eagle Peak are at the same rate. Guides may be had at the {p.141} National Park Inn or at either of the "camps" for many interesting trips over the mountain trails. Horses also are furnished. The charge varies with the number in a party.

Stages carry passengers from the Inn over the government road to Nisqually glacier, Narada Falls and Reese's Camp in Paradise Park. The charge for the trip to Narada and return is $2.00; to Paradise and return, $3.00.

For those who wish to make the ascent to the summit over the Gibraltar trail, trustworthy guides may be engaged at the Inn or at Reese's. Arrangements should be made several days in advance. The cost of such a trip depends upon the number in a party. The guides make a charge of $25 for the first member of the party, and $5 each for the others. They furnish alpenstocks, ropes, and calks for the shoes of climbers at a reasonable charge. Each person should carry with him a blanket or extra coat and a small amount of food, for use in the event of being on the summit over night. Still heavier clothing will be required if the night is to be spent at Camp Muir. A sleeping-bag, which can be easily made, or purchased at any outfitter's, will prove invaluable to campers. Ascents from other points than Reese's are usually made in special parties. All persons are warned not to attempt an ascent unless accompanied by experienced guides. Lives have been lost through neglect of this precaution.

For persons visiting the North Side, the Northern Pacific rate from Tacoma to Fairfax is $1.25, and from Seattle to Fairfax, with change of cars at Puyallup, $1.75. Guides and horses may be engaged at Fairfax for the Spray Park trail.

Automobiles and Motorcycles.—These vehicles are permitted to use the government road, as far as the Nisqually glacier, under the following regulations of the Interior Department:

No automobile or motorcycle will be permitted within the Park unless its owner secures a written permit from the Superintendent, Edward S. Hall, Ashford, Washington, or his representative. Applications must show: Names of owner and driver, number of machine, and inclusive dates for which permit is desired, not exceeding one year, and be accompanied by a fee of $5 for each automobile and $1 for each motorcycle. All permits will expire on December 31. Permits must be presented to the Superintendent or his authorized representatives at the park entrance on the government road.

Automobiles and motorcycles will be permitted on the government road west of Longmire Springs between the hours of 7 A.M. and 8.30 P.M., but no automobile or motorcycle shall enter the Park or leave Longmire Springs in the direction of the western boundary, later than 8 P.M., the use of automobiles and motorcycles to be permitted between Longmire Springs and Nisqually glacier between the hours of 9 A.M. and 9.30 P.M., but no automobile or motorcycle shall leave Longmire Springs in the direction of the glacier later than 7 P.M.

When teams, saddle horses, or pack trains approach, automobiles and motorcycles shall take position on the outer edge of the roadway, taking care that sufficient room is left on the inside for them to pass, and remaining at rest until they have passed, or until the drivers are satisfied regarding the safety of their horses. Horses have the right of way, and automobiles and motorcycles will be backed or otherwise handled to enable horses to pass with safety.

Speed shall be limited to 6 miles per hour, except on straight stretches where approaching teams, saddle horses, and pack trains will be visible, when, if none are in sight, this speed may be increased to the rate indicated on signboards along the road; in no event, however, shall it exceed 15 miles per hour. Signal with horn shall be given at or near every bend to announce to approaching drivers the proximity of a machine.

Violation of any of the foregoing rules, or the general regulations of the Park, will cause the revocation of permit, subject the owner of the automobile or motorcycle to any damages occasioned thereby and to ejectment from the reservation, and be cause for refusal to issue a new permit without prior sanction in writing from the Secretary of the Interior.

Literature of the Mountain.—Vancouver, Winthrop, Kautz, Stevens and Van Trump have been noted in the text. Other early accounts of, or references to, the Mountain may be found in Wilkes: Narrative U. S. exploring expedition. Phil. 1845, v. 4, 413, 415, 424; U. S. War Dep't: Explorations for railroad to Pacific, 1853-4, v. 1, 192; Gibbs: Journal Am. Geog. Soc., v. 4, 354-357. {p.142} Gibbs's Indian vocabularies, published at different dates, were reprinted four years after his death in Contributions to Am. Ethnol., v. 1. Wash. 1877.

For Emmons's account of his exploration in 1870, see Bulletin Am. Geog. Soc. v. 9, 44-61. Am. Jour. of Science, v. 101, 157-167, and Nation v. 23, 313. Prof. Israel C. Russell's studies of the peak are in U. S. geol. survey, 5th an. rep. 335-339 and 18th an. rep., part 2, 349-415. See also his Glaciers of N. Am., Bost. 1901, 62-67, and Volcanoes of N. Am., Bost. 1895, 241-246. For other accessible studies consult Wright: Ice age in N. Am. N. Y. 1889, and Muir: Our national parks, Bost. 1901.

The long controversy over the name of the peak is impartially reviewed in Snowden: History of Washington. N. Y. 1909, v. 4, 249-254. Snowden calls especial attention to an able paper by the late Thaddeus Hanford of Olympia on the Indian names and recommending the name Tacoma for the Territory, which was printed in the Washington Standard in January, 1866. This article should be reprinted by the State Historical Society, as it represents a movement of considerable force at one time against the inept and confusing name adopted for the State. The Indian evidence for the native name of the Mountain was collected in Wickersham: Is it "Mt. Tacoma" or "Mt. Rainier?", pamphlet, Tacoma, 1893. The argument of an eminent traveler and author against "Mt. Rainier" may be found in Finck: Pacific coast scenic tour. N. Y. 1891, 209-213, 229-230; also in the same writer's more recent article, Scribner's Magazine, v. 47, 234-5. See also Lyman: The Columbia river. N. Y. 1909, p. 32, 352-370, and The Mountains of Washington, in The Mountaineer, v. 1, 7-10; and Charles F. Lummis's editorial articles in Out West, v. 23, 367 and 494. On the other hand, Prof. Davidson, in Sierra Club Bulletin, v. 6, 87-98, presents reasons on which that club accepted "Mt. Rainier."

Wheeler: Climbing Mt. Rainier, St. Paul, 1895, and Plummer: Illustrated guide book to Mt. Tacoma, Tacoma, n. d., are two pamphlets now out of print.

The ascents by the Mazama, Sierra and Mountaineers clubs have furnished material for a great variety of articles on the geology, botany and glacier action, as well as many accounts of climbing adventures. Mazama, v. 2, Sierra Club Bulletin, v. 6, and The Mountaineer, v. 1 and 2, are mainly devoted to this peak. For articles in periodicals of wider circulation, see Review of Reviews, v. 9, 163-171 (by Carl Snyder); Out West, v. 24, 365-395 (Willoughby Rodman); National geog. mag., v. 20, 530-538 (Milnor Roberts); Scribner's v. 22, 169-171 (I. C. Russell); Outing, v. 5, 323-332 (J. R. W. Hitchcock), and v. 38, 386-392 (Ada Woodruff Anderson); Overland, n. s., v. 2, 300-312 (W. D. Lyman), v. 8, 266-278 (George Bailey), v. 32, 114-123 (J. P. Montgomery), v. 46, 447-455 (Harry H. Brown), v. 55, 552-560 (A. W. McCully), and v. 56, 150-155 (A. W. McCully); Pacific monthly, v. 8, 196-202 (John Muir); The world today, v. 9, 1047-53 (Anne Shannon Monroe); Good words, v. 42, 101-114 (Arthur Inkersley); Appalachia, v. 7, 185-205 (Ernest C. Smith), and v. 11, 114-125 (W. A. Brooks); Country life in Am., v. 14, 170-171 (C. E. Cutter); The Northwest, v. 1, 2-10 (Bailey Willis); Outdoor life, v. 26, 15-24 (Edna Cadwallader). Special studies of the rocks of the peak may be found in U. S. geol. sur., 12th an. rep. pt. 1, 612 (J. P. Iddings), and in Neues Jahrbuch, v. 1, 222-226, Stuttgart, 1885 (K. Oebeke).



{p.143} INDEX.

Figures in light face type refer to the text, those in the heavier type to illustrations.

Adams, Mount, 77, 86, 64, 66. Allen, Prof. O. D., cottage, 49. Alta Vista, 49, 60. American Alpine Club, 126. Anemones, 32; seed pods, 138. Appalachian Club, 126. Ascents, Kautz, 117; Stevens and Van Trump, 120-4; Emmons and Wilson, 124; Glascock and Dudley, 125; the mountain clubs, 126. Automobiles, 57, 70-72, 141, 41, 49, 54. Avalanche on Willis Wall, 119. Avalanche Camp, 103, 104, 105. Avalanche Lilies, 136.

Baker, Mount, 86, 98, 99. Ballinger, Richard, H. 75. Basaltic Columns,—South Mowich, 23; on Cowlitz, 93. Bashford, Herbert,—verse, 17. Bee Hive, 76, 80. Beljica, view from, 27. Brooks, Francis,—verse, 40.

Cabins needed on the ridges, 116, 144. Camp of the Clouds, 49, 61, 60. Carbon river, 50, 103, 114. Cascade Mountains, 66, 87, 90, 96. Cathedral Rocks, 85, 76, 84, 78. Chittenden, Maj. H. M., urges trail, 69. Columbia's Crest, 86, 88, 52, 78. Commencement Bay, 28. Congress, action affecting the Park, 58, 59, 67, 70. Cowlitz Chimneys, 43, 78, 81. Cowlitz Cleaver, 85, 76, 78, 81. Cowlitz Park, 64, 93. Crater, 50, 88, 89. Crater Lake, 117. Crater Peak, 13, 86, 60, 89. Curtis, Camp, on the Wedge, 97. Cushman, Francis W., 59, 108.

Dudley, Ernest, 125.

Eagle Cliff, 51. Eagle Peak (Simlayshe), 30, 31; new trail to, 141. Eagle Rock in winter, 7. East-side route to summit, 117, 126, 100. Edmunds, George F., 96. Electric-power development, 108-112. Electron, The Mountain from, 13, 19; Power plant at, 108, 112. Emmons, S. F., Geologist, 94-97.

Fairfax, trail from, 50. Fair Mountaineer, A, 35. Fairy Falls, 73. Fay Peak, 51, 92. Ferns, 132. Fires, danger of forest, 8, 58, 130. Flett, Prof., J. B., 129, n. Flint, Frank P., U. S. Senator, 75. Flood, Indian legend of the, 39. Fox Island, the Mountain from, 14. Fountain, Paul, quoted, 43. Fuller, Miss Fay, 126, 72.

Gap Point, 61, 54. "Ghost Trees," 50. Gibbs, George, on name "Mt. Tacoma," 104, 107, 142. Gibraltar Rock, 82, 85, 116, 121, 60, 68, 71, 76, 78, 81, 82, 83, 85, 86. Glaciers, their number and work, 79-83; moraines, 83, 68, 77, 79, 96; rate of flow, 83, 72; names, 93-97; rivers, 108; —Carbon, 50, 51, 77, 103, 105, 107, 108, 118, 119, 120, 121, 129; —Cowlitz, 50, 93, 6, 51, 78, 81, 84, 87; —Frying-Pan, 93, 41, 96, 97; —Ingraham, 93, 78; —Interglacier, 93, 98, 99; —Kautz, 93, 27, 30, 37, 60, 68; —North Mowich, 50-52, 96, 13, 123, 124, 128; —South Mowich, 52, 13, 22, 23; —Nisqually, 49, 31, 55, 57, 60, 68, 69, 71, 72, 78, 81; —Paradise, 50, 94, 97, 25, 31, 60, 79; —Puyallup, 52, 13, 27, 33; —Stevens, 50, 97, 61, 64, 79; —North Tahoma, 93, 13, 26, 27, 32, 33, 37; —South Tahoma, 93, 17, 27, 32, 36, 37, 60; —Van Trump, 94, 31, 60; —White, 50, 81, 93, 9, 12, 94, 95, 96, 100, 121; —Winthrop, 50, 51, 93, 94, 8, 17, 130, 103, 104, 107, 113, 126, 142. Glascock, Raglan, 125. "Goat Island," moraine, 96. Goat Mountain (Mt. Wow), 28. Goat Peaks, 87, 90, 94. Grand Park, 51, 64, 98, 99. Green River, view of the Mountain from, 140. Guides, 113, 141.

Hanging glaciers, 51, 57. Heather, 133. Hellebore, 133. Hiaqua Hunter, Myth, 32-39. Hood, Mt., 86. Hylebos, P. F. (Rev.), 28, n.

Ice caves, 31, 73. Indian Henry's Hunting Ground, 49, 25, 29, 32, 34, 36, 37, 40, 50, 131, 137; —Mrs. Hall's Camp, 141. Indians, nature worship of the Mountain, 25-31, 39; Puget Sound tribes, 25, 26; fear of the snow-peaks, 32, 121. Ingraham, Maj. E. S., 100. Interglaciers, 93. Iron and Copper mountains, 25, 30.

Jones, Wesley L., U. S. Senator, 75. Jordan, David Starr, 67. Judson, Miss Katharine B. 35, 39.

Kautz, Gen., A. V., 117. Kulshan, Indian name for Mt. Baker, 98. Kutz, Maj. C. W., 69.

Liberty Cap (North Peak), 86, 22, 89, 114. Little Tahoma, 82, 85, 9, 31, 60, 78, 79, 94, 121. Longmire, James, trail and road, 59. Longmire Hotel, 141. Longmire Springs, 44, 51, 141, 52. Lost to the World, 69. Lupines, 139.

McClure, Prof. Edgar, death, 115. Marmot, 26. Matthes, Francois E., U. S. geologist, 89, 97. Mazama (mountain goat), 23. Mazama Club, 126, 81, 82. Mazama Ridge, 60. Mineral Lake, 18. Moraine Park, 51, 126, 105, 113, 117, 129, 136. Mosses and ferns, 132. Mother Mountains, 103, 114, 116, 122, 129. Mountaineers, The, 126, 61, 121, 126. Mountain goat, 23. Mountain Lily, 136, 135. Mountain Pine, 28. Muir John, quoted, 77, 113, 129; Portrait, 116. Muir, Camp, 115, 60, 80, 83. Mystic Lake, 113.

Narada Falls, 61, 107, 58. National Park, see Rainier Natl. Park. National Parks, proposed Bureau of, 75. National Park Inn, 44, 50, 52. Nisqually Canyon, 21. Nisqually Glacier (see Glaciers). Nisqually river, 108, 111, 21, 24, 55. North Peak (Liberty Cap), 13, 22, 89.

Ohop Valley, 43.

Pacific Forest Reserve, 59. Paradise River, 59. Paradise Valley, or Park, 30, 49-51, 61, 31, 39, 46, 53, 59, 60, 62. Peak Success (South Peak), 86, 123-125, 13, 24, 25, 27, 33, 37, 60, 68, 78. Phlox, 135. Pierce County road, 43, 49. Piles, S. H., U. S. Senator, 70. Pinnacle Peak, 38, 39, 46, 47. Point Defiance Park, 18. Power-plants on the Mountain, 108-112, 111, 112. Proctor, Miss Edna Dean, poem, "The Mountain Speaks," 15. Ptarmigan, 40. Puget Sound 18, 25, 14; named by Vancouver, 98. Puyallup river, 108, 40. Pyramid Peak, 25, 60.

Railways to Puget Sound, 44; to the Mountain, 54, 57; rates and time table, 140. Rainier, Rear-Admiral Peter, 7, 98, 100, 103, n., 101. Reese's Camp, 61, 115, 141, 64. Reflection Lake, 60, 77. Rainier National Park, 54; increasing use of, 56, 57; its creation, 58-9; see also Roads. Ricksecker, Eugene, engineer, 61, 62, 70, 97. Rivers fed by the Mountain, 108. Rocks of the Mountain, 82, 112. Roads and trails, Pierce County's to the Mountain, 44, 56, 42, 43, 44, 49; government road in National Park, 57-62, 51, 54, 55, 56; trails 44, 45, 50-2, 55, 56, 121; proposed road around the Mountain, 62-70; need 58, 130. Rough climbing, 39. Russell, Prof. Israel C., 94. Russell Peak, 82, 103, 105.

Saghalie Illahe, Indian land of peace, 30. St. Elmo Pass, 8, 98, 100, 102, 104. St. Helen's, Mt., 77, 86, 29, 36. Seattle, 18, 43, 44, 108. Senecio, 129. Sierra Club, 75, 126, 57, 69. Simlayshe (Eagle Peak), 30. Siwashes, origin of term, 28, n. See also Indians. Sluiskin, guides Stevens and Van Trump, 28, 32, 120-1. Sluiskin Falls, 67. Sluiskin Mountains, 51, 103, 105, 126, 136, 142. Snipe Lake, 98. Snow Lake, 34. Sour-Dough Mountains, 8, 98, 99. Spanaway Lake, 4. South Peak, see Peak Success. Spray Falls, 125. Spray Park, 50, 51, 92, 106, 116, 122. Steamboat Prow, 51, 85, 104. Steam Caves in Crater, 88. Stevens, Gen. Hazard, 28, n., 32, 96, 97, 120-4, 115. Stevens Canyon, 64, 66. Storm King Peak, 18. Summit, On the, 52; South-side route to, 60; East-side route, 100. "Sunshine" and "Storm," 70.

"Tacoma," Indian name for the Mountain, 25, 100-7. Tacoma (City) 18, 43, 44, 111. Tatoosh Mountains, 50, 53, 59, 60, 62, 64, 87. Tolmie, Dr. W. F., 117. Trees in the National Park, 129-131, 139, 42, 130, 132. Tyndall, Prof. John, quoted, 77.

Unicorn Peak, 65. United States Geological Survey, 89.

Vancouver, Capt. George, discovers and names the Mountain, 98-101. Van Trump, P. B., 28, n., 32, 120-5, 115.

Washington Lake, the Mountain from, 16. Washington Torrents, 59. Waterfall above Paradise Valley, 63. Wedge, The, 51, 85, 8, 97, 99, 100. White river, 110, 12, 112. Whitney, Mt., 90. Willis, Bailey, geologist, 96, 97. Wilson, A. D., 96, 97. Whulge, see Puget Sound. Winthrop, Theodore, 93; describes the Mountain, 102-4; authority for his use of the Indian name, 104-7. Wind-swept trees, 28, 139. Wow, Mt. (Goat Mountain), 28.

Yellowstone National Park, 57, 67, 72.

THE END