Each succeeding autumn, for years past, has found me in some range of
mountains, camping, hunting, fishing, climbing, and taking views. The
benefits I have derived from these expeditions, in the way of health,
strength, and vigor, are incalculable, and the pleasures inexpressible.
My last outing was in the Cascade Range, in Oregon and Washington
Territory, where I spent a month in these delightful occupations, and it
is with a view of encouraging and promoting a love for these modes of
recreation that this record is written.
"I live not in myself, but I become
Portion of that around me; and to me
High mountains are a feeling, but the hum
Of human cities torture."
[Illustration: A VIEW IN THE CASCADES.]
The Cascade Range of mountains extends from Southern Oregon through
Washington Territory, away to the northward in British Columbia. In
width, from east to west, it varies from fifty to one hundred miles. It
is the most densely-timbered range on the continent, and yet is one of
the highest and most rugged. It may not possess so many ragged,
shapeless crags and dark canyons as the Rocky Range, and yet everyone who
has ever traversed both accords to the Cascades the distinction of
being the equal, in picturesqueness and grandeur, of the Rockies, or, in
fact, of any other range in the country. As continental landmarks,
Mounts Pitt, Union, Thielson, Jefferson, Hood, Adams, St. Helens,
Tacoma, Baker, Stuart, Chiam, Douglass, and others are unsurpassed.
Their hoary crests tower to such majestic heights as to be visible, in
some instances, hundreds of miles, and their many glaciers feed mighty
rivers upon whose bosoms the commerce of nations is borne. Mount
Jefferson is 9,020 feet high; Mount Adams, 9,570; Mount St. Helens,
9,750; Mount Baker, 10,800, Mount Hood, 11,025, and Mount Tacoma,
14,444. There are many other peaks that rise to altitudes of 7,000 to
9,000 feet, and from these figures one may readily form something of an
idea of the general height and beauty of the Cascade Range. The
foot-hills are generally high, rolling, and picturesque, and so heavily
timbered that in many places one cannot see a hundred yards in any
direction. Higher up the range, however, this heavy timber is replaced
by smaller trees, that stand farther apart, and the growth of underbrush
is not so dense; consequently, the labor of travel is lightened and the
range of vision is extended. The geological formation in the Cascades is
varied. Igneous rock abounds; extensive basaltic cliffs and large bodies
of granite, limestone, sandstone, etc., are frequently met with, and
nearly all the table-lands, in and about the foot-hills, are composed of
gravel drift, covered with vegetable mold. The Cascades may be explored
with comfort later in the fall than the Rockies or other more eastern
ranges, the winter setting in on the former much later than on the
latter, although the winter rains usually come in November. September
and October are the most pleasant months for an outing in the Cascades.
[Illustration: ONEONTA GORGE, COLUMBIA RIVER, OREGON.]
* * * It was late in October when my wife and I started from Chicago for
a tour of a month among the bristling peaks of the Cascades and the
picturesque islands of Puget Sound. A pleasant ride of fifteen hours on
the Wisconsin Central Railroad to St. Paul, and another of three days
and nights on the grand old Northern Pacific, brought us face to face
with the glittering crests and beetling cliffs that were the objects of
our pilgrimage. As the tourist goes west, the first view of the range is
obtained at the Dalles of the Columbia river, from whence old Mount
Hood, thirty-five miles distant, rears its majestic head high into the
ethereal vault of heaven, and neighboring peaks, of lesser magnitude,
unfold themselves to the enraptured vision. As the train whirls down the
broad Columbia river, every curve, around which we swing with dazzling
speed, reveals to our bewildered gaze new forms of beauty and new
objects of wonder. So many descriptions of the scenery along this mystic
stream have been written, that every reading man, woman, and child in
the land must be familiar with it, and I will not repeat or attempt to
improve upon any of them. To say the most extravagant representations
are not exaggerated, is to speak truly, and no one can know how
beautiful some of these towers and cliffs are until he has seen them.
The train arrived at Portland, that old and far-famed metropolis of the
North Pacific coast, at half past ten o'clock in the morning, and after
twenty-four hours pleasantly spent in viewing its many points of
interest and the snow-covered mountains thereabouts, we again boarded
the Northern Pacific train and sped toward Tacoma, where we arrived at
six o'clock in the evening. Here we passed another day in looking over a
booming Western city, whose future prosperity and greatness have been
assured by its having been chosen as the tide-water terminus of the
Northern Pacific Railway. Tacoma is situated on Commencement Bay, an arm
of Puget Sound, and has a harbor navigable for the largest ocean
steamships. The vast forests of pine, fir, and cedar, with which it is
surrounded, give Tacoma great commercial importance as a lumbering town,
and the rich agricultural valleys thereabout assure home production of
breadstuffs, vegetables, meats, etc., sufficient to feed its army of
workingmen. Rich coal fields, in the immediate neighborhood, furnish
fuel for domestic and manufacturing purposes at merely nominal prices.
All the waters hereabouts abound in salmon, several varieties of trout
and other food-fishes, while in the woods and mountains adjacent, elk,
deer, and bears are numerous; so the place will always be a popular
resort for the sportsman and the tourist. The chief attraction of the
city, however, for the traveler, will always be the fine view it affords
of Mount Tacoma. This grand old pinnacle of the Cascade Range,
forty-five miles distant, lifts its snow-mantled form far above its
neighbors, which are themselves great mountains, while its
glacier-crowned summit rises, towers, and struggles aloft 'til----
"Round its breast the rolling clouds are spread,
Eternal sunshine settles on its head;"
and its crown is almost lost in the limitless regions of the deep blue
sky.
From the verandas of the Tacoma House one may view Mount Tacoma until
wearied with gazing. The Northern Pacific Railway runs within fifteen
miles of the base of it, and from the nearest point a trail has been
made, at a cost of some thousands of dollars, by which tourists may
ascend the mountain on horseback, to an altitude of about 10,000 feet,
with comparative comfort; but he who goes above that height must work
his passage. There are several men who claim the distinction of being
the only white man that has ever been to the top of this mountain.
Others declare that it has been ascended only twice; but we have
authentic information of at least three successful and complete ascents
having been made. Indian legends people the mountain with evil spirits,
which are said to dwell in boiling caldrons and yawning caverns--
"Calling shapes, and beck'ning shadows dire,
And airy tongues that syllable men's names."
Tradition says their wild shrieks and groans may be heard therein at all
times; and no Indians are known ever to have gone any great distance up
Mount Rainier, as they call it. White men have tried to employ the
native red men as guides and packers for the ascent, but no amount of
money can tempt them to invade the mysterious canyons and cliffs with
which the marvelous pile is surrounded. They say that all attempts to do
so, by either white or red men, must result in certain destruction.
Undoubtedly the first ascent was made about thirty years ago, by General
(then Lieutenant) Kautz, and Lieutenant Slaughter, of the United States
Army, who were then stationed at Steilacoom, Washington Territory. They
took pack animals, and with an escort of several men ascended as far as
the animals could go. There they left them and continued the climb on
foot. They were gone nine days, from the time of leaving their mules
until they returned to the animals, and claimed, no doubt justly, to
have gone to the top of Liberty Cap, the highest of the three distinct
summits that form the triplex corona; the others being known as the
Summit and the Dome. The next ascent, so far as known, was made in 1876
by Mr. Hazard Stevens, who gave an account of his experiences in the
_Atlantic Monthly_ for November, of that year. In 1882, Messrs. Van
Trump and Smith, of San Francisco, made a successful ascent, and in the
same year an Austrian tourist who attempted to ascend the mountain, got
within three hundred feet of the top, when his progress was arrested by
an avalanche, and he came very near losing his life. Mr. L. L. Holden,
of Boston, went to within about six hundred feet of the summit in 1883,
and Mr. J. R. Hitchcock claims to have reached it in 1885.
From the point gained by the trail above mentioned, the tourist may look
down upon the glaciers of the North Fork of the Puyallup River, 3,000
feet below, while on the other hand, the glaciers of the canyon of the
Carbon may be seen 4,000 feet beneath him. Away to the north, glimmering
and glinting under the effulgent rays of the noonday sun, stretches that
labyrinth of waters known as Puget Sound--
"Whose breezy waves toss up their silvery spray;"
while the many islands therein, draped in their evergreen foliage, look
like emeralds set in a sheet of silver. Many prominent landmarks in
British Columbia are seen, while to the north and south stretches the
Cascade Range, to the west the Olympic, and to the southwest the Coast
Range. All these are spread out before the eye of the tourist in a grand
panorama unsurpassed for loveliness. Crater Lake forms one of the
mysteries of Mount Tacoma. About its ragged, ice-bound and rock-ribbed
shores are many dark caverns, from which the Indians conceived their
superstitious fears of this mysterious pile. An explorer says of one of
these chambers:
"Its roof is a dome of brilliant green, with long icicles pendant
therefrom; while its floor is composed of the rocks and debris that
formed the side of the crater, worn smooth by the action of water and
heated by a natural register, from which issue clouds of steam."
The grand canyon of the Puyallup is two and a half miles wide, and from
its head may be seen the great glacier, 300 feet in thickness, which
supplies the great volume of water that flows through the Puyallup
river. From here no less than nine different waterfalls, varying in
height from 500 to 1,500 feet, are visible; and visitors are sometimes
thrilled with the magnificent spectacle of an avalanche of thousands of
tons of overhanging ice falling with an overwhelming crash into the
canyon, roaring and reverberating in a way that almost makes the great
mountain tremble. Fed by the lake, torrents pour over the edge of the
cliff, and the foaming waters, forming a perpetual veil of seemingly
silver lace, fall with a fearful leap into the arms of the surging
waves below. Mount Tacoma will be the future resort of the continent,
and many of its wondrous beauties yet remain to be explored.
[Illustration: VIEW ON GREEN RIVER NEAR MOUNT TACOMA.]