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twg_000012927700 | "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 | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012927701 | 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 | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012927702 | 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 | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012927703 | 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." [Illustration: Ice pinnacles on the Carbon.] 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 | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012927704 | landmarks {p.} 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 | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012927705 | 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. [Illustration: Among the ice bridges of the Carbon.] A word about the industrial value of the Mountain may not be without interest in this day of electricity. Within a radius of sixty | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012927706 | 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 inches, or four times | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012927707 | 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 second feet, while their average flow is nearly twice that total. The utilization of this large water supply | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012927708 | on the steep mountain slopes began in 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 feet above sea level, and carried ten miles more in an open flume to a reservoir, from which four steel penstocks, | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012927709 | each four feet in diameter, drop it to the power house feet below. The plant generates , horse power, which is conveyed to Tacoma, twenty-five miles distant, at a pressure of , volts, and there is distributed for the operation of street railways, lights and factories in that city and Seattle. [Illustration {p.}: Mountain Climbers in Crevasse on Carbon Glacier.] | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012927710 | 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 feet above tide. From this {p.} great reservoir it will be taken through a tunnel and pipe line to the generating plant at Dieringer, elevation feet. | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012927711 | The , horse power ultimately to be produced here will be carried fifteen miles to Tacoma, for sale to manufacturers in the Puget Sound cities. [Illustration] [Illustration: Building Tacoma's Electric Power Plant on the Nisqually Canyon. Upper view shows site of retention dam, above tunnel; middle view, end of tunnel, where pipeline crosses the canyon on a bridge; lower view, | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012927712 | site of the generating plant (see p. ).] [Illustration] 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 feet, where its minimum flow is | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012927713 | second feet. The water will be carried through a ,-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.} to the , horse-power generating plant built on a narrow shelf a few feet above the river. The city expects to be able to produce | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012927714 | 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. [Illustration: Hydro-electric plant at Electron, on the Puyallup River, producing , h. p.] The rocks of which the Mountain is composed are mainly andesites of different classes and basalt. But the peak rests | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012927715 | 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 | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012927716 | 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." [Illustration: Cutting canal to divert White River into Lake Tapps.] {p.} [Illustration: Mystic Lake in Moraine Park.] IV. THE CLIMBERS. Climb the mountains, and get their good tidings. Nature's peace will flow into | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012927717 | 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. | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012927718 | 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 | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012927719 | 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." [Illustration: Glacier Table on Winthrop | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012927720 | Glacier. This phenomenon is due to the melting of the glacier, save where sheltered by the rock. Under the sun's rays, these "tables" incline more and more to the south, until they slide off their pedestals.] Another warning must be given to the general tourist. Do not try to climb the Mountain without guides. The seasoned alpinist, of course, will | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012927721 | trust to previous experience on other peaks, and may find his climb here comparatively safe and easy. But the fate of {p.} T. Y. Callaghan and Joseph W. Stevens, of Trenton, N. J., who perished on the glaciers in August, , should serve as a warning against over-confidence. Unless one has intimate acquaintance with the ways of the great ice | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012927722 | peaks, he should never attack such a wilderness of crevasses and shifting snow-slopes save in company of those who know its fickle trails. [Illustration {p.}: Carbon River below its Gorge, and Mother Mountains. This range was so named because of a rude resemblance to the up-turned face of a woman seen here in the sky-line, while the view of snowy | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012927723 | Liberty Cap beyond and the milky whiteness of the stream gave rise to the pleasing fiction that the Indian name of the peak meant "nourishing breast." "Tacoma" meant simply the Snow Mountain.] [Illustration: Copyright, , By C. E. Cutter. Oldest and youngest climbers, Gen. Hazard Stevens and Jesse McRae. General Stevens, with P. B. Van Trump, in , made the | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012927724 | first ascent. In , he came west from Boston and joined the Mazamas in their climb. The picture shows him before his tent in Paradise Park. He was then years old.] 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 | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012927725 | . Many more go only as far as Gibraltar, or even to McClure Rock (Elevation, , feet), and are well rewarded by the magnificent views which these points command of the south-side glaciers and artes, 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 | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012927726 | Prof. Edgar McClure of the University of Oregon fell to his death on the night of July , . 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 | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012927727 | 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. [Illustration: Copyright, , By E. S. Curtis. P. B. Van Trump, on his old campground, above Sluiskin Falls, where he | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012927728 | and Gen. Stevens camped in .] 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 o'clock. But climbers frequently go up Cowlitz Cleaver in the evening, and spend the night at Camp Muir (see pp. and | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012927729 | ). This ledge below Gibraltar gets its name from John Muir, the famous mountaineer, who, on his ascent in , suggested it as a camping place because the presence of pumice indicated the {p.} 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 | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012927730 | 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 | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012927731 | 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, , By J. Edward B. Greene. John Muir, President of the Sierra Club and foremost of American mountaineers "His | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012927732 | 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. ). This | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012927733 | is the most dangerous point, but no lives have been lost here. Everywhere, of course, caution is needed, and strict obedience to the {p.} guide. Once up the steep flume caused by the melting of the ice where it borders the rock (p. ), the climber threads his way among the crevasses and snow-mounds for nearly two miles, until the | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012927734 | crater is reached (pp. , , ). [Illustration: Coasting in Moraine Park in the August sunshine.] The east-side route (p. ) 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. ), parties | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012927735 | 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 by Lieutenant (later General) A. V. Kautz. There is no foundation for the claim sometimes heard | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012927736 | that Dr. W. F. Tolmie, Hudson's Bay Company agent at Fort Nisqually, who made a botanizing trip to the lower slopes in , attempted the peak. Lieutenant Kautz, with two companions from fort Steilacoom, climbed the arte between the glacier now named after him and the Nisqually glacier, but fearing a night on the summit, and knowing nothing of the | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012927737 | steam caves in the crater, he turned back when probably at the crest of the south peak. Writing in the _Overland Monthly_ for May, , he says that, "although there were points higher yet, the {p.} 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 | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012927738 | the angle and each end of the ridge, which gave the summit the appearance of three small peaks." [Illustration {p.}: Copyright, , 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 | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012927739 | 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.}: Photo By Lea Bronson. Copyright, , 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 | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012927740 | more than , 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, , By A. H. Waite. Birth of Carbon River, with part of Willis Wall visible in distance. The great height of this ice front appears | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012927741 | on noting the man near the river.] It was not until August , , 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 | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012927742 | 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, , 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 | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012927743 | 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 | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012927744 | 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 | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012927745 | aspect of magnitude {p.} 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 | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012927746 | 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 | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012927747 | 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, , feet above the sea, on their ascent in . Even Little Tahoma, on the left, is far below.] Stevens describes their ascent by the now familiar path, over Cowlitz Cleaver and past Gibraltar. | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012927748 | 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, | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012927749 | the snow descended in a steep, unbroken sheet into the tremendous {p.} basin which lies between the southern and the northern peaks, and which is enclosed by them as by two mighty arms.[] 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 | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012927750 | three cheers. [Footnote : See illustration, page .] [Illustration {p.}: 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.}: Looking south from Mt. Rose, across Crater Lake to North Mowich Glacier and Mowich Ridge. | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012927751 | 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, , 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 | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012927752 | 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 | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012927753 | 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 | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012927754 | 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 | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012927755 | 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 | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012927756 | 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.} practicable, though extremely difficult. In and again the next summer, Mr. Van Trump | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012927757 | made an ascent along the ridge dividing the Tahoma glaciers. In , 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. ) they | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012927758 | found to be a series of rock terraces, often testing the strength and nerve of the climbers. In _Sunset Magazine_ for November, , Mr. Glascock has told the story of their struggle and reward. [Illustration: Copyright, , By Asahel Curtis. Spray Falls, a splendid scenic feature of the north side, where it drops more than five hundred feet from the | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012927759 | 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 :. In a flash the whole situation | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012927760 | 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 | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012927761 | 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 | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012927762 | 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 | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012927763 | 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 :, we reached the summit of the south peak. Here we stopped to look down on Camp Sierra. Long shadows spread their | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012927764 | mantle across the glaciers, and in the east lay the phantom {p.} 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 by a party from Snohomish. The same glacier was | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012927765 | traversed by the Willis-Russell party in . The first woman to make the ascent was Miss Fay Fuller, of Tacoma, in , 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 | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012927766 | 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 | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012927767 | outing in . Winthrop Glacier in foreground, Sluiskin Mountains in distance.] In and , 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 , the | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012927768 | 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 | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012927769 | 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 | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012927770 | cited in a bibliographical note at the end of this volume. [Illustration {p.}: Looking down from Ptarmigan Ridge into the Canyon of the North Mowich Glacier and up to the cloud-wreathed Peak.] {p.} [Illustration: Copyright, , By Asahel Curtis. View looking west across Moraine Park and Carbon Glacier to Mother Mountains.] V. THE FLORA OF THE MOUNTAIN SLOPES. By PROF. | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012927771 | J. B. FLETT.[] [Footnote : 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 s indebted to him for several of | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012927772 | 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 | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012927773 | 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 | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012927774 | 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 | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012927775 | 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 , feet is covered by a somber forest of evergreens composed of the white and black | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012927776 | pines; Douglas, Lovely and Noble firs; the white cedar; spruce, and hemlock. There are found also several deciduous trees--large-leafed maple, {p.} 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. | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012927777 | [Illustration: A -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 to feet. This is probably the most valuable area of timber in the world, and it is one of the grandest parts of | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012927778 | 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 | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012927779 | 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, | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012927780 | 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, | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012927781 | 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.} wholly inaccessible. These should be opened with proper roads and trails, not only for their own safety, but also for | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012927782 | the benefit of visitors. [Illustration: Indian Pipe.] The alpine meadows begin to appear at an altitude of about , 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 | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012927783 | 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.] | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012927784 | [Illustration {p.}: Mosses and Ferns, in the forest reserve, on way to Longmire Springs.] {p.} [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 | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012927785 | 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 | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012927786 | 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 | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012927787 | 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 | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012927788 | 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.} or two flowers on a stem. The yellow alpine buttercup generally grows | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012927789 | 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 | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012927790 | 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 | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012927791 | 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. | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012927792 | Their bright purple flowers, in long racemes, with palmate leaves, are very conspicuous on the grassy slopes. Between timber line and , 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 | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012927793 | 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.} 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 | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012927794 | 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 | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012927795 | meadows. [Illustration: Studying the Phlox.] [Illustration: Squaw Grass, or Mountain Lily. (Xerophyllum tenax)] 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 | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012927796 | 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.} charm to the rocky ridges. The Indian paint-brush, the speedwell, the elephant's trunk, | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012927797 | 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 | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012927798 | 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. [Illustration: Avalanche Lilies (Erythronium montanum), sometimes called deer tongues, forcing their way through the lingering snow.] [Illustration: Copyright, , By Asahel Curtis. Moraine | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000012927799 | Park, Sluiskin Mountains and Mystic Lake.] 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 | 60 | gutenberg |
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