his old campground, above Sluiskin Falls, where he and Gen. Stevens
camped in 1870.]
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.
[Illustration: Lower Spray Park, with Mother Mountains beyond. One of
the most beautiful alpine vales in the great Spray Park region.]
[Illustration: Copyright, 1909, By J. Edward B. Greene.
John Muir, President of the Sierra Club and foremost of American
mountaineers
"His daily teachers had been woods and rills,
The silence that is in the starry sky,
The sleep that is among the lonely hills."]
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).
[Illustration: Coasting in Moraine Park in the August sunshine.]
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.
[Illustration: Sunset on Crater Lake, north of Spray Park, with the
Mountain in distance.]
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 arête 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."
[Illustration {p.118}: Copyright, 1909, By Asahel Curtis. Amphitheatre
of Carbon Glacier, the most noteworthy example of glacial sculpture
upon the Mountain. It is nearly three miles wide. No other glacier has
cut so deeply into the side of the peak. The Carbon was once two
glaciers, separated by a ridge, of which a remnant is still seen in
the huge spine of rock extending down from Liberty Cap.]
[Illustration {p.119}: Photo By Lea Bronson. Copyright, 1909, By P. V.
Caesar. Avalanche falling on Willis Wall, at head of Carbon Glacier
amphitheatre. The cliff, up to the snow cap on the summit, is more
than 4,000 feet high and nearly perpendicular. Avalanches fall every
day, but this picture of a big one in action is probably unique.
Willis Wall was named for Bailey Willis, the geologist.]
[Illustration: Copyright, 1909, By A. H. Waite. Birth of Carbon
River, with part of Willis Wall visible in distance. The great height
of this ice front appears on noting the man near the river.]
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."
[Illustration: The Mountaineers building trail on the lateral moraine
of Carbon Glacier. Without such trails, the "tenderfoot" would fare
badly.]
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.
[Illustration: The Mountaineers lunching in a crevasse on White
Glacier, 13,000 feet above the sea, on their ascent in 1909. Even
Little Tahoma, on the left, is far below.]
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.]
[Illustration {p.122}: Looking southeast from Mt. Rose, above Eunice
Lake, with Mother Mountains on left, and Spray Park in distance on
right of center. Shows outposts of alpine firs and hemlocks on the
timber line.]
[Illustration {p.123}: Looking south from Mt. Rose, across Crater Lake
to North Mowich Glacier and Mowich Ridge. This was taken from near the
same place as the preceding view, and eight miles from the Mountain.
Eagle Cliff, a celebrated view point, is on the right, overlooking
Mowich canyon.]
[Illustration: Copyright, 1909, By Asahel Curtis. Looking up Mowich
Valley. One of the densely wooded regions in the National Park that
need trails as a means of protection against fires.]
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.
[Illustration: Copyright, 1909, By Asahel Curtis. Spray Falls, a
splendid scenic feature of the north side, where it drops more than
five hundred feet from the Spray Park table-land into the canyon of
North Mowich Glacier.]
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.
[Illustration: A rescue from a crevasse.]
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.
[Illustration: Returning from the summit. The Mountaineers ending a
memorable outing in 1909. Winthrop Glacier in foreground, Sluiskin
Mountains in distance.]
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.
[Illustration {p.128}: Looking down from Ptarmigan Ridge into the
Canyon of the North Mowich Glacier and up to the cloud-wreathed Peak.]
{p.129}
[Illustration: Copyright, 1909, By Asahel Curtis. View looking west
across Moraine Park and Carbon Glacier to Mother Mountains.]
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.
[Illustration: Senecio.]
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.
[Illustration: A 14-foot Fir, near Mineral Lake.]
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.
[Illustration: Indian Pipe.]
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.
[Illustration: Floral Carpet in Indian Henry's Park, showing "Mountain
Heliotrope," more properly Valerian, and other flowers growing near
the snow line.]
[Illustration {p.132}: Mosses and Ferns, in the forest reserve, on way
to Longmire Springs.]
{p.133}
[Illustration: A bank of White Heather.]
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.
[Illustration: Hellebore (Veratrum Viride).]
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.
[Illustration: Alpine Hemlock and Mountain Lilies. In the struggle for
existence at the timber line, flowers prosper, but trees fight for
life against storm and snow.]
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.
[Illustration: Mountain Asters.]
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.
[Illustration: Studying the Phlox.]
[Illustration: Squaw Grass, or Mountain Lily. (Xerophyllum tenax)]