and enjoyable routes to the Mountain. He may go by automobile, leaving
either city in the morning. After traveling one of the best and most
interesting roads in the country--the only one, in fact, to reach a
glacier--he may take luncheon at noon six thousand feet higher, in
Paradise Park, overlooking great glaciers and close to the line of
eternal snow. Or he may go by the comfortable trains of the Tacoma
Eastern (Milwaukee system) to Ashford, fifty-five miles from Tacoma,
and then by automobile stages, over a picturesque portion of the fine
highway just mentioned, to the National Park Inn at Longmire Springs
(altitude 2,762 feet). Lunching there, he may then go on, by coach
over the new government road, or on horseback over one of the most
inviting mountain trails in America, or afoot, as many prefer. Thus he
{p.049} gains Paradise Park and its far-reaching observation
point, Camp of the Clouds (elevation, 5,800 feet). From the Inn, too,
another romantic bridle path leads to Indian Henry's famous Hunting
Ground, equally convenient as a base of adventure.
[Illustration: Automobile Party above Nisqually Canyon, Pierce County
Road to the Mountain.]
[Illustration: Prof. O. D. Allen's cottage, in the Forest Reserve,
where the former Yale professor has for years studied the flora of the
Mountain.]
Whether the visitor goes to the Mountain by train or by automobile,
his choice will be a happy one. For either route leads through a
country of uncommon charm. Each of them, too, will carry the visitor
up from the Sound to the great and beautiful region on the southern
slopes which includes the Tahoma, Kautz, Nisqually, Paradise and
Stevens canyons, with their glaciers and the wonderful upland plateaus
or "parks" that lie between.
[Illustration: "Ghost Trees" in Indian Henry's. These white stalks
tell of fires set by careless visitors.]
Here let him stay a day or a month. Every moment of his time will be
crowded with new experiences and packed with enjoyment. For here is
sport to last for many months. He may content himself with a day spent
in coasting down a steep snow-field in midsummer, snowballing his
companions, and climbing Alta Vista to look down on the big Nisqually
glacier in the deep bed which it has {p.050} carved for itself, and
up its steep slopes to its névé field on the summit. Or he may explore
this whole region at his leisure. He may climb the hard mountain
trails that radiate from Longmires and Paradise. He may work up over
the lower glaciers, studying their crevasses, ice caves and flow. He
will want to ascend some of the tempting crags of the ragged Tatoosh,
for the panorama of ice-capped peaks and dark, forested ranges which
is there unfolded. After a week or two of such "trying-out," to
develop wind and harden muscle, he may even scale the great Mountain
itself under the safe lead of experienced guides. He may wander at
will over the vast platform left by a prehistoric explosion which
truncated the cone, and perhaps spend a night of sensational novelty
(and discomfort) in a big steam cave, under the snow, inside a dead
crater.
The south side has the advantage of offering the wildest alpine sport
in combination with a well-appointed hotel as a base of operations.
Hence the majority of visitors know only that side. Everybody should
know it, too, for there is not a nobler playground anywhere; but
should also know that it is by no means the only side to see.
One may, of course, work around from the Nisqually canyon and
Paradise, east or west, to the other glaciers and "parks." It is quite
practicable, if not easy, to make the trip eastward from Camp of the
Clouds, crossing Paradise, Stevens and Cowlitz glaciers, and thus to
reach the huge White glacier on the east side and Winthrop and Carbon
glaciers on the north. Every summer sees more and more visitors making
this wonderful journey.
But the usual way to reach the great north side, especially for
parties which carry camp equipment, is by a Northern Pacific train
over the Carbonado branch to Fairfax. This is on Carbon river, five
miles from the northwest corner of the National Park. Thence the
traveler will go by horse or afoot, over a safe mountain trail, to
Spray Park, the fascinating region between Carbon and North Mowich
{p.051} glaciers. Standing here, on such an eminence as Fay Peak or
Eagle Cliff, he may have views of the Mountain in its finest aspects
that will a thousand times repay the labor of attainment.
[Illustration: Government Road in the Forest Reserve.]
[Illustration: "Hanging Glacier," or ice fall, above Cowlitz Glacier.]
A visit to this less known but no less interesting side involves the
necessity of packing an outfit. But arrangements for horses and
packers are easily made, and each year an increasing number of parties
make Spray Park their headquarters, spending, if they are wise, at
least a week in this wide region of flowering alpine valleys and
commanding heights. From there they go south, over the west-side
glaciers, or east, across the Carbon and through the great White river
country. They camp on the south side of the Sluiskin mountains, in
Moraine Park, and there have ready access to Carbon and Winthrop
glaciers, with splendid views of the vast precipices that form the
north face of the Mountain. Thence they climb east and south over the
Winthrop and White glaciers. They visit the beautiful Grand Park and
Summerland, and either make the ascent to the summit from "Steamboat
Prow" on the "Wedge," over the long ice slope of the White glacier, or
continue around to the Paradise country and Longmire Springs.
{p.052}
[Illustration: Leaving the National Park Inn at Longmire Springs for
Paradise Park.]
[Illustration: Copyright, 1909, By Asahel Curtis. On the Summit,
showing Columbia's Crest, the great mound of snow that has, most
curiously, formed on this wide, wind-swept platform. This, the actual
top of the Mountain, is 14,363 feet above sea level.]
The west side has been less visited than the others, but there is a
trail from the North Mowich to the Nisqually, and from this
adventurous explorers reach North and South Mowich and Puyallup
glaciers. No one has yet climbed the Mountain over those glaciers, or
from the north side. A view from any of the trails will explain why.
The great rock spines are more precipitous than elsewhere, the
glaciers more broken; and the summit is fronted on either side by a
huge parapet of rock which hurls defiance at anything short of an
airship. Doubtless, we shall some day travel to Crater Peak by
aeroplanes, but until these vehicles are equipped with {p.054}
runners for landing and starting on the snow, we shall do best to plan
our ascents from the south or east side.
[Illustration {p.053}: Paradise Valley or "Park," and Tatoosh
Mountains, from slope below Paradise Glacier. The highest of the peaks
are about 7,000 feet above sea level and 1,700 feet above the floor of
the valley.]
[Illustration: On the Government Road a mile above Longmires, bound
for the Nisqually Glacier.]
[Illustration: Near "Gap Point," where the road turns from the
Nisqually canyon into that of Paradise River.]
I have thus briefly pointed out the favorite routes followed in
exploring the National Park. The time is fast approaching when it will
be a truly national recreation ground, well known to Americans in
every State. The coming of new railways to Puget Sound and the
development of new facilities for reaching the Mountain make this
certain.[3]
[Footnote 3: For details as to rates for transportation,
accommodations and guides, with the rules governing the
National Park, see the notes at end of the book.]
[Illustration: Snout of Nisqually Glacier, with the river which it
feeds. Though much shrunken since the epoch when it filled the whole
canyon, the glacier is still a vast river of ice; and its front, seen
several hundred yards above the bridge, rises sheer 500 feet. The new
road to Narada Falls and Paradise Park crosses the Nisqually here.
Automobiles are not permitted to go above this point.]
Every step taken for the conservation of the natural beauty of the
Park and its opening to proper use and enjoyment is a public benefit.
Outside the national reserves, our lumbermen are fast destroying the
forests; but, if properly guarded against fire, the great Park forest
will still teach future generations how lavishly Nature plants, just
as the delightful glacial valleys and towering landmarks teach how
powerful and artistic a sculptor she is. Experienced travelers and
alpinists {p.055} who have visited the Mountain unite in declaring
its scenery, combining as it does great vistas of ice with vast
stretches of noble forest, to be unequaled elsewhere in America, and
unsurpassed anywhere. In the fascination of its glacial story, as well
as in the grandeur of its features, it has few rivals among the great
peaks of the world. The geologist, the botanist, the weary business
man, the sportsman, all find it calling them to study, to rest, or to
strenuous and profitable recreation. Here is a resource more lasting
than our timber. When the loggers shall have left us only naked
ranges, without the reserves, the Park may yield a crop more valuable.
[Illustration: Pony bridge over the Nisqually, on trail to Paradise.
Note the granite boulders which the stream has rounded in rolling them
down from the glacier.]
*[Illustration: The road a mile above the bridge, overlooking
Nisqually Canyon and Glacier.]
*[Illustration: On the Pony Trail to Paradise. This trail winds
through the dense forest above Longmires, crosses the Nisqually, and
then follows Paradise River, with its miles of picturesque cascades.
It is one of the most beautiful mountain paths in America.]
Until recent years this was known only to the hardy few who delight in
doing difficult things for great rewards. But that day of isolation
has passed. The value of the Park to the whole American people is more
{p.056} and more appreciated by them, if not yet by their official
representatives. While Congress has dealt less liberally with this
than with the other great National Parks, what it has appropriated has
been well spent in building an invaluable road, which opens one of the
most important upland regions to public knowledge and use. This road
is a continuation of the well-made highway maintained by Pierce County
from Tacoma, which passes through an attractive country of partly
wooded prairies and follows the picturesque Nisqually valley up the
heavily forested slopes to the Forest Reserve and the southwestern
corner of the Park. The public has been quick to seize the opportunity
which the roads offered. The number of persons entering the Park, as
shown by the annual reports of the Superintendent, has grown {p.057}
from 1,786 in 1906 to more than 8,000 in 1910. In the same period, the
Yellowstone National Park, with its greater age, its wider
advertising, its many hotels, its abundance of government money,
increased its total of visitors from 17,182 to 19,575.
[Illustration: Sierra Club lunching on Nisqually Glacier. The huge ice
wall in the distance is the west branch of the Nisqually, and is
sometimes miscalled "Stevens Glacier." As seen here, it forms a
"hanging glacier," which empties into the main glacier over the
cliff.]
For one thing, these roads have put it within the power of
automobilists from all parts of the Coast to reach the grandest of
American mountains and the largest glaciers of the United States south
of Alaska. They connect at Tacoma, with excellent roads from Seattle
and other cities on the Sound, as well as from Portland and points
farther south. The travel from these cities has already justified the
construction of the roads, and is increasing every year. Even from
California many automobile parties visit the Mountain. The railway
travel is also fast increasing, and the opening this year of its
transcontinental service by the Milwaukee Railway, which owns the
Tacoma Eastern line to Ashford, is likely soon to double the number of
those who journey to the Mountain by rail.
[Illustration: A Mountain Celery.]
[Illustration: Narada Falls, 185 feet, on Paradise River (altitude,
4,572 feet). Both trail and road pass it. "Narada" is an East Indian
word meaning "peace." The name was given many years ago by a party of
Theosophists who visited the falls. Happily, the effort to change the
name to "Cushman Falls" has failed.]
The new government road to Paradise and the trails {p.058}
connecting with it have, however made only a fraction of the Park
accessible. The most important work for the conservation of this great
alpine area and its opening to the public still remains to be done.
Congress is now asked to provide funds for the survey and gradual
extension of the road to the other plateaus on all sides of the peak.
Pending the construction of the road, it is highly important that, as
soon as the surveys can be made, bridle trails be built on the easy
grades thus established. Not only are these roads and trails much
needed for the convenience of visitors to the Mountain, but, with the
closer approach of logging operations, they are year by year becoming
more necessary to the proper policing of the Park and its protection
against forest fires. For want of them, great sections of forest
within the Park are liable to be swept away at any time, before the
rangers could find their way over the scant and broken trails now
existing. The request for better access to the other sides of the
Mountain has received the earnest indorsement of the Washington
legislature, the commercial organizations of the entire Coast, and the
several mountain clubs in different parts of the country. Only
Congress remains blind to its importance.
Congressional action affecting this immediate area began in 1899. A
tract eighteen miles square, 207,360 acres, to be known as "Ranier
National Park,"[4] was {p.059} withdrawn from the 2,146,600 acres of
the Pacific Forest Reserve, previously created. The area thus set
apart as "a public park for the benefit and enjoyment of the people"
(Act of March 2, 1899) was already known to a few enthusiasts and
explorers as one of the world's great wonderlands. In 1861 James
Longmire, a prospector, had built a trail from Yelm over Mashell
mountain and up the Nisqually river to Bear Prairie. This he extended
in 1884 to the spot now known as Longmire Springs, and thence up the
Nisqually and Paradise rivers to the region now called Paradise Park.
Part of this trail was widened later into a wagon road, used for many
years by persons seeking health at the remarkable mineral springs on
the tract which the Longmires acquired from the government before the
establishment of the Forest Reserve.
[Footnote 4: For some years, Congress and the Interior
Department spelled it "Ranier"! A well-known Congressman
from Seattle corrected their spelling of the name of the
forgotten admiral, and it has since been officially
"Rainier National Park."]
[Illustration: Washington Torrents, on Paradise River; a series of
falls a mile in length, seen from the new road to Paradise and still
better from the pony trail.]
[Illustration: Portion of Paradise Park and the Tatoosh Range.]
The Longmire road, rough as it was, long remained the best route; but
in 1903 the Mountain found a tireless friend in the late Francis W.
Cushman, representative from this State, who persuaded Congress to
authorize the survey and construction of a better highway. Work was
not begun, however, until 1906. The {p.061} yearly appropriations
have been small, and total only $240,000 for surveys, construction and
maintenance, to the end of the last session.
[Illustration {p.060}: View from north side of the Tatoosh. 1. Crater
Peak. 2. South Peak, or Peak Success. 3. Nisqually Glacier, with
feeders. 4. Gibraltar Rock. 5. Camp Muir, on Cowlitz Cleaver. 6.
Cathedral Rocks. 7. Little Tahoma. 8. Paradise Glacier. 9. Alta Vista.
10. Camp of the Clouds. 11. Reese's Camp. 12. Sluiskin Falls. 13.
Paradise River and Valley. 14. Mazama Ridge. 15. Reflection Lake. 16.
Van Trump Glacier. 17. Von Trump Park. 18. Kautz Glacier. 19.
Pyramid Peak. 20. Tahoma Glaciers. 21. Indian Henry's. Dotted line
shows South-side route to the summit.]
[Illustration: Ice Bridge, Stevens Glacier.]
[Illustration: Mountain Sports. Tug of War between teams picked from
the feminine contingent of the Mountaineers.]
The road, as now open to Paradise valley, is a monument to the
engineering skill of Mr. Eugene Ricksecker, United States Assistant
Engineer, in local charge of the work. Over its even floor you go from
the west boundary of the Forest Reserve up the north bank of the
Nisqually river, as far as the foot of its glacier. Crossing on the
bridge here, you climb up and up, around the face of a bluff known as
Gap Point, where a step over the retaining wall would mean a sheer
drop of a thousand feet into the river below. Thus you wind over to
the Paradise river and famous Narada Falls, switch back up the side of
the deep Paradise canyon to the beautiful valley of the same name
above, and, still climbing, reach Camp of the Clouds and its
picturesque tent hotel. The road has brought you a zigzag journey of
twenty-five miles to cover an air-line distance of twelve and a gain
in elevation of 3,600 feet. It is probably unique in its grades. It
has no descents. Almost everywhere it is a gentle climb. {p.062}
Below Longmire Springs the maximum grade is 2.5 per cent., and the
average, 1.6 per cent. Beyond, the grade is steeper, but nowhere more
than 4 per cent.
[Illustration: Copyright, 1911, By J. H. Weer. Tatoosh Mountains and
Paradise Park in Winter.]
The alignment and grades originally planned have been followed, but
for want of funds only one stretch, a mile and a quarter, has yet been
widened to the standard width of eighteen feet. Lacking money for a
broader road, the engineers built the rest of it twelve feet wide.
They wisely believed that early opening of the route for vehicles to
Paradise, even though the road be less than standard width, would
serve the public by making the Park better known, and thus arouse
interest in making it still more accessible. It will require about
$60,000 to complete the road to full width, and render it thoroughly
secure.
[Illustration: Copyright, 1911, By J. H. Weer.
Hiking through Paradise in Winter.]
Of still greater importance, however, to the safety of the Park and
its opening to public use is the carrying out of Mr. Ricksecker's fine
plan for a road around the Mountain. His new map of the Park, printed
at the end of this volume, shows the route proposed. Leaving the
present road near Christine Falls, below the Nisqually glacier, he
would double back over the hills to Indian Henry's, thence dropping
into the canyon of Tahoma {p.064} Fork, climbing up to St. Andrew's
Park, and so working round to the Mowich glaciers, Spray Falls, and
the great "parks" on the north. The snout of each glacier would be
reached in turn, and the high plateaus which the glaciers have left
would be visited.
[Illustration {p.063}: Copyright, 1910, By Asahel Curtis. Waterfall
from snowfields on ridge above Paradise Valley.]
[Illustration: Looking from Stevens Glacier down into Stevens Canyon,
and across the Tatoosh and Cascade ranges to Mt. Adams.]
Crossing Spray Park, Moraine Park and Winthrop glacier's old bed, the
road would ascend to Grand Park and the Sour-Dough country--a region
unsurpassed anywhere on the Mountain for the breadth and grandeur of
its views. More descents, climbs and detours would bring it to the
foot of White glacier, and thence through Summerland and Cowlitz Park,
and westward to a junction with the existing road in Paradise. Its
elevation would range between four and seven thousand feet above the
sea. The route, as indicated on the contour map, suggests very plainly
the engineering feats involved in hanging roads on these steep and
deeply-carved slopes.
[Illustration: Reese's Camp, a tent hotel on a ridge in Paradise Park,
below Camp of the Clouds (Elevation, 5,557 feet). This is the usual
starting point of parties to the summit over the South-side route, via
Gibraltar. See p. 60.]
Between eighty and a hundred miles of construction work would be
required, costing approximately $10,000 a mile. Including the
completion of the present {p.067} road to standard width, Congress
will thus have to provide a round million if it wishes to give
reasonable protection to the Park and fully achieve the purpose of
"benefit and enjoyment" for which it was created. Such a road would
justify the Congress which authorizes it, immortalize the engineers
who build it, and honor the nation that owns it.
[Illustration {p.065}: Climbing the "horn" on the summit of Unicorn
Peak, the highest crag in the Tatoosh (Elevation, about 7,000 feet).
The man who first reached the top is dimly seen in the shadow on the
left.]
[Illustration {p.066}: Stevens Canyon in October, with Mt. Adams over
eastern end of Tatoosh range on right, and Cascade range on left. The
snow summits on the Cascade sky-line are "Goat Peaks." Goat Lick Basin
is in lower left corner of the picture.]
[Illustration: Sluiskin Falls, 150 feet, just below Paradise Glacier,
named after Sluiskin, the famous Indian who guided Van Trump and
Stevens to the snow line in 1870.]
Talking with President David Starr Jordan of Stanford University a few
weeks ago, I found that famous climber of mountains greatly interested
in the project for better roads and trails in the National Park. "How
much will the whole thing cost?" he asked. I told him.
[Illustration: An eminent scientist practices the simple life in camp
near the Timber Line.]
"Why, a million dollars would pay for the upkeep of one of our
battleships for a whole year!" exclaimed the great advocate of
disarmament. Whether Congress can be induced to value scenery as
highly as battleships remains to be seen. It has already done very
well by the Yellowstone National Park, where $2,142,720 of government
money had been spent on road building and administration up to July 1,
1910. No one who knows the glories of that park will deem the amount
excessive. But with its still grander scenery, its important glaciers,
its priceless forests, and the greater population within easy reach of
its opportunities for study and recreation, the claims of the Rainier
National Park are at least equal to those of the Yellowstone, and they
should be as liberally met.
[Illustration {p.068}: Nisqually Glacier, with its sources in the
snow field of the summit. On the right is Gibraltar Rock and on the
extreme left Kautz Glacier flows down from Peak Success. Note the
medial moraines, resulting from junction of ice streams above. These
apparently small lines of dirt are often great ridges of rocks, cut
from the cliffs. The picture also illustrates how the marginal
crevasses of a glacier point down stream from the center, though the
center flows faster than the sides.]
{p.069}
[Illustration: The Sierra Club on Nisqually Glacier. This active
California organization sent a large party to the Mountain in 1905.]
It is not desired that the whole sum named be appropriated at once.
Indeed, the recommendation of the engineers has been far more modest.
As far back as 1907, Maj. H. M. Chittenden of the United States
Engineer Corps, in charge, wrote as follows in his report to the
Secretary of War:
A bridle trail around the Mountain, just under the glacier line,
is absolutely essential to the proper policing of the Park, and
very necessary for the convenience of tourists, if they are
really to have access to the attractions of the Park. The trail
should be so located that in time it may be enlarged into a wagon
road.
[Illustration: Copyright, 1909, Asahel Curtis. Lost to the World,
7,500 feet above sea level, with an ocean of cloud rising.]