USA > Washington > History of Washington the evergreen state : from early dawn to daylight with portraits and biographies Vol. II > Part 17
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Of the mineral resources of the Pacific Northwest we may premise that they are as yet, comparatively speaking, but dis- tant acquaintances, with whom not a few desire to become better and more closely connected. In a word, they are still hidden treasure, delicately suggesting their presence by outward signs, a dumb speech called "indications" giving promise of results, which may or may not be fulfilled. Of coal we are sure, for the black diamonds have not only been located, but proved gems of the first water to their fortunate mine-owners. Iron, too, waits the pick, thus giving, as some writer remarks, "to the indus- trial world both power and tissue" (what the carbonaceous and nitrogenous foods are to the body). Coal, the producer of power, which some one has practically called " the stored sunshine of the ancient world," and iron, the raw material of the giants, as used in the varied forms of machinery, aid man to coerce the elements
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and make even the lightnings subservient to his will. It is a poor town on Puget Sound which has neither a coal mine nor tim- ber range to bring fuel to its doors. The Cascades are a rich storehouse of iron. Magnetic iron is also found in their foot- hills. Aluminum, yet to be cheaply manufactured, bides its day, waiting in our clays. The precious metals, gold and silver, are, we may say, suspected rather than detected ; but we are firm believers that primeval forces never upheaved the Olympians and Cascades from their prehistoric beds without giving them something more precious than volcanic rock to secrete and guard in their hidden recesses. California, as the writer well remem- bers, looked less promising in the fall of 1847, but the gold never- theless was there. Geology has a vast field of research before it in Washington ; and we cling to the impression that an intelli- gent and scientific research will develop astonishing results. Gold is ever associated with the oldest and doubtless the most aristocratic rocks, quartz being its closest intimate-indeed, the latter has been called the "most polite" of all rocks, for it gives place very readily, as a gentleman of the old school should, to others seeking room. Nor does this courtesy go unrewarded, for it becomes in many cases filled with granules of gold, thereby making it one of the most valuable of stones. There is enough of this to indicate a placer somewhere. The sands of the rivers, the beaches that break the income of the sea, all witness to an auriferous presence, but not as yet in "paying" quantities. Where the fountain-head of these wandering wave-worn particles may be is a thing not yet discovered, though ardently desired by many a prospector. Gems, too, are occasionally found, few and far between, it is true, but quite sufficient to whet an appetite for more. Says a recent New York journal : " An opal, found and cut as a gem in this country, was sold by a jeweller in this city the other day for $500. It was obtained from a newly dis- covered mine in the State of Washington, near the Idaho line. At that place, which has been called Gem City, the volcanic rocks are honeycombed with cavities that contain small nodules of this precious variety of hydrated quartz. Many of these are of great beauty and value."
The present facilities for transportation, once the great un- solved problem and difficulty of the Northwest, now find two all-sufficient solutions-the steamers that plough the sound and
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its adjacent seas, and the Northern Pacific Railroad, in the in- terior, with its constant progress and continual improvements.
Having thus done justice to the material and prosaic, we turn with a pleasure-in which we trust our reader will fully sympa- thize-from the enumeration of foundations for wealth to the description of one or two of the grandest natural features of a region where nature may be said to have exhausted herself in the production of the beautiful and almost terribly sublime, as well as in the idyllic and pastoral-in a word, ascend from the commonplace to the poetical. In this, the Switzerland of America, there is so much to choose from, that the very richness of the material at our disposal makes it difficult to select. We will, therefore, attempt the description of but two of the various beauties which crowd in upon us like rival belles, asking us to do justice to their own peculiar charms, and these favored ones must be "Mount Tacoma," alias "Rainier," and the Falls of " Spokane the Wonderful." First, then, by reason of altitude and commanding presence, let us essay :
MOUNT "TACOMA."
To comfortably clear the way for that sense of freedom and airy expansion with which one should pay their respects to a mountain whose snow crests claim an altitude of over fourteen thousand feet-to be exact, 14,440 feet -- we will dis- cuss the much-mooted question of name -- both its popular and geographical-as also a word or two in relation to the moun- tain tribe, so to speak, among which this white-plumed chieftain rules pre-eminent. First, then, for the name. Vancouver, to compliment some British naval officer, whose fame, by the way, so far as we are able to discover, is in no wise, save possibly as a casual visitor, in any way connected with the exploration of Puget Sound, called it " Regnier." This name, afterward cor- rupted to " Rainier," was generally accepted by early settlers up to the time of the completion of the Northern Pacific to Tacoma ; then re-naming the mountain after the city, the company called it Mount " Tacoma." Yet our geographers and chartists, most un- patriotically, as we must believe, have clung to and finally official- ly recognized Mount " Rainier," which is neither one thing nor the other. So this glorious relic of volcanic upheaval must go down through the ages with some misspelled British captain's name
Campbel.
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tacked on to it, as we would humbly suggest, like a tin kettle to a dog's tail. Having thus disposed of the English cognomen, let us see what is to be said for the Indian appellation. The Puyallups, who inhabit this region, call all snow-clad peaks by the same name-" Tak-ho-ina"-and that name, so liquid in sound as we abbreviate it, has a meaning both appropriate and poetical. It means " the breast that feeds," or to amplify their translation, " the nourishing bosom of fountains" (and conse- quently valleys) " below." Who does not know, who is at all familiar with mountain topography, that the eternal gathering and subsequent meltings of these treasure houses of the snow is the means by which the innumerable streams which leap their sides and thread their crevasses are fed, thus enabling them to make green and fertilize both foothills and valleys, giving beauty to the blossom and sweetness to the grain. Is there not, then, greater appropriateness in preserving the original native christen- ing, that means something, than in humiliating one of nature's ยท grandest creations by accepting the dictation of a foreign naviga- tor, who chose to call it after a brother officer, and saddle us with the necessity of retaining " Rainier"-misquoted at that ? We ex- press no opinion, but leave the reader to decide. Leaving the " head centre" of this numerous association of the Cascades, to discuss their family at large, we may say that their entire range is one tremendous mass of volcanic rock, upheaved, torn, rent and fissured in some prehistoric age, when the Vulcans of fire and frost were forging the world anew. The Cascades are long, but nevertheless, as compared with other mountain chains, un- commonly narrow, their width nowhere exceeding fifty miles. Marching in their order through Oregon and Washington till they cross the British border, they exhibit at regular intervals no less than thirteen great volcanic cones, or, as one might well imagine, superior watch-towers, exalting themselves with an average height of about 9000 feet each over the broken wall, possibly of half their altitude, which links these giants together. Professor Lyman thus marshals them: "Taken in their order, beginning at the north, with their heights given in round numbers-Baker, 10,000 feet ; Rainier (?) 14,440 ; St. Helens, 9750 ; Adams, 13,300 ; and then crossing into Oregon, Hood, 11,225 ; Jefferson, 10,000 ; Three Sisters-highest about 9500 and the lowest about 8500 ; Diamond Peak, Thielson, Scott,
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the heights of which are not accurately known, but probably do not vary much from 9000 feet; and last of all, towering above the Klamath lakes, and looking over into California, Mount Pitt, which is nearly 11,000 feet high. This says nothing of dozens of lesser peaks, many of which reach 7000 feet.
The Indians have a tradition that there were once, in the very long ago, two mountains instead of one where Tacoma now rears its crest, but that the mountains were angry and battled, belching out fire and smoke ; that at last the greater, Tacoma, " swallowed the other," which would suggest in some ancient day an earthquake of no ordinary activity. Their hidden fires lie dormant now, but occasional perturbations or some faintly heard inner growl of the prisoned giants only biding their time tell of forces occult as yet, which may one day assert themselves most destructively, baring the old foundations of primeval granite, to build anew with the lava streams of which more than one huge river, with its half-consumed tree trunks, are still to be traced. And now let us dismiss the generic, the geological and statistical, and soar aloft upon the wings of poetic descrip- tion to scale the ledges of their unrivalled queen, Mount Tacoma. First of all, she is grand in her individuality. Standing sur- rounded by her subject foothills solitary and alone, she lifts her crests, or, rather, double bosom, of snow so boldly above the sound, that for a radius of over a hundred miles she is ever, when the weather favors, distinctly visible. During the day she sits soberly swept by the cloud shadows. The moonlight be- holds her grim and ghostly, with form just traceable beneath the gleam of stars ; but it is at dawn and sunset that Tacoma grows gloriously beautiful, when she binds her breast with roses, arraying herself in blushes to meet her bridal with the coming day, or when, flinging back the last kisses of the afterglow, we see the red light fade out like an angry flush on a maiden's cheek long after the lower lands have composed themselves to sleep in the twilight. Some years ago the author strove to put in verse his tribute to this majestic mountain. He makes no apology for quoting at length this description of " Heights only trod by the morning and evening and angels of God."
TO MOUNT TACOMA.
Tacoma, queen of the mountains, from thy vestal veil of snow Thou lookest o'er the valley where Puyallup's waters flow.
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O'er many a mile of forest, o'er many a league of pine, Thy snow peaks, all untrodden, like a truce-flag whitely shine. What is thy ancient story ? what changes hast thou seen Since born of throes volcanic thou first looked o'er the stream ? What forms of life, now vanished, once made thy cliffs their lair ? What birds of Arctic plumage once fanned thy freezing air ? But, most of all, what nations dwelt ere the white man came To fell these gloomy forests or plough Pacific's main ? Beneath thy reaching shadows, thy misty robes and gray, What home-lights glanced and sparkled as dimly closed the day ? What lovers watched the rising moon or saw its crescent wane, And wondered as the sunset gave thy rock-ribbed sides its stain, When hues that mocked the afterglow, yet lingering in the west, Were painted till its roses grew on snows that bound thy breast ? All vainly may we question ; thou keepest thy secrets well, Thy story, like thy summit, in mists of doubt must dwell ; But as the bow of promise smiles o'er the stormy sea, I hail thy truce-flag shining as a sign of peace to me ; For it speaks of rest and welcome, of promise yet to be. When the argosies of nations shall crowd this inland sea, When their plashing human billows shall, like a mighty tide, Sweep from the hills the forest, and crowd each mountain-side. With those who 'neath its shadows shall find a rest or home, Till through these forest arches, where now the night winds moan, The roof tree and the spire, with mart of many a trade, Shall well fulfil the destiny by lips prophetic made.
The sanctity of Mount Tacoma's apparently inaccessible sum- mit has once and again been invaded by the masculine footsteps of daring explorers, but as yet only one woman has honored its highest pinnacle with the gracious presence of femininity ; and then, O most ungallant Mount Tacoma ! she confesses to have received a very chilling welcome. There was a marked cold- ness, almost freezingly so, in the wintry greeting extended to Tacoma's well-known lady scribe, Miss Fay Fuller, who tells her own story, as well as that of other ascents, so modestly and gracefully below :
" Mount Tacoma is one of the three greatest scenic attractions on our Pacific coast-the Yosemite and the Muir Glacier being the other two ; but Mount Tacoma is grander than the Yosem- ite, and not only grander, but far more varied and interesting than the Muir Glacier. It is the highest mountain on the coast south of Alaska, and since government survey of St. Elias, which was only thirteen thousand and odd feet, it is higher than that peak and one of the highest in the United States. It rises
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peerless and alone out of the Cascade range, sixty miles east of the city of Tacoma, to an elevation of 14,444 feet. The crest of the range on either side is about five thousand feet above Puget Sound, but as seen from the city, looking up the Puyallup val- ley, there are no intervening foothills to intercept the view, and therefore it is visible in its entire magnitude and altitude, from the base at sea level to its summit against the sky.
" This is the grand peculiarity of Mount Tacoma. No other great mountain in America, unless it be Mount St. Elias, in Northern Alaska, far beyond the limits of tourist travel, presents itself so completely to view. Several of the Rocky Mountain peaks in Colorado have a greater maximum height, but they stand on a plain that is higher 'above the sea than the Cascade range, and, like nearly all of the famous mountains of the world, are surrounded by foothills and other peaks, so that only parts of them are seen. It is the universal opinion of those who are qualified to make the comparison that Tacoma is the most im- pressive mountain in America or Europe, or anywhere within the reach of ordinary travellers. It is the mountain par excel- lence of this country, as its Indian name (a generic term, doubt- less, in part) at least signifies. Nature, though prodigal of scenery, has given but one Niagara to the continent, and but one complete mountain of the first rank.
"General H. V. Boynton, one of the distinguished corre- spondents of the press who visited this State at the opening of the Northern Pacific Railroad in the autumn of 1883, concluded a letter to the Cincinnati Commercial Gazette by saying : 'If any one alive to the beauties and sublimities of nature were to ride blindfolded over the plains to Puget Sound, and were then allowed to look for a day on the white dome of Mount Tacoma, this sight alone would repay him for the long journey made in darkness. This mountain, by common consent of all who have travelled most widely, is the most impressive in the world, standing, as it does, alone, its base reaching thirty miles along the horizon, and rising nearly fifteen thousand feet above the sea level, which is the spectator's point of view.'
" Though visible from many points between the Columbia River and the Straits of Fuca, Mount Tacoma is best seen from this city. In the clear atmosphere of the coast it displays its glories, not only in the sunlight and moonlight, but in clear
Magazine of Western History, New York.
Jno. S. Baker
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moonless nights when 'visited by troops of stars.' This city is also the best place for the tourist to start from if one wishes to brave its rugged heights and see what they reveal, or what more the mountain hides in its awful solitudes. Mr. John Muir and Mr. George B. Bayley, of California, both experienced moun- tain-climbers, assert that Tacoma is the most difficult moun- tain in America to ascend. But the ascent has been safely made several times by parties of gentlemen, and once by a young lady of Tacoma. The first one to attempt it was General A. V. Kautz, of the United States Army, while he was a lieutenant at Fort Steilacoom in 1857. Kautz did not, however, reach the summit. Theodore Winthrop had crossed the range north of the mountain in 1853, and awakened much interest by his descriptions in the 'Canoe and Saddle.' But the impossibility of obtain- ing guides-no Indian daring to approach the ghostly heights- and the difficulties of reaching it through the intervening forests and the unknown perils beyond, had deterred every one from an attempt upon which none but the brave would enter and the strong get through, until this sturdy young officer undertook it. General Kautz had as his reward not only the personal joy of an ardent soul in triumphing over nature, but the honor of being the first to establish the existence of glaciers in United States territory. In following up the Nisqually River to its source in the mountain, he found that it emerged from an immense glacier, and his published report at the time in the Steilacoom paper antedates all other discoveries of glaciers in our national domain. In the summer of 1883 Senator Edmunds, of Vermont, visited the glaciers of Mount Tacoma, and pronounced them far supe- rior in extent and grandeur to any he had seen in the Alps of Switzerland and Tyrol.
" The first successful ascent of Mount Tacoma was made August 17th, 1870, by General Hazard Stevens and Mr. P. B. Van Trump, then both of Olympia, the former a Bostonian now and the latter a resident of Yelm Prairie, where one of the best views of the mountain may be obtained. An interesting account of this trip was contributed to the Atlantic Monthly by General Stevens. They found two extinct craters at the summit, which made it warm enough for them to keep from freezing during the night they were obliged to remain there. This is a very important fact for exploring parties to know, as it takes nearly a full day to climb
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up from the last camping-place on the skirts of the mountain. Since then several parties have made the ascent, and its success- ful accomplishment by the young lady before referred to shows that it is not impracticable to the strong of either sex.
" The journey to the mountain and up its base to the snow fields is very interesting, and less difficult each year, with the advance of settlers subduing the wilderness. The route from the prairies just south of Tacoma leads through the grandest of vir- gin forests, ' massy, tall and dark,' ' unpruned, immeasurably old,' streaming with mosses. There are comfortable places to stop on the way, one of which, the Longmire Springs, is an at- tractive summer resort, with bath houses and dwellings for the accommodation of invalids or tourists. They are at the foot of the mountain and within four miles of the Nisqually glacier. A short distance farther on, at an elevation of 4000 feet, there is a beautiful park clothed with the greenest of grass, myriads of various fine flowers, with here and there a little lake thickly sur- rounded by asters and the purple Scotch heather. These green slopes, which seem to extend around the mountain, were named by John Muir the Lower Gardens of Eden. About two thou- sand feet further up the mountain is Paradise Valley, which has been visited with great delight by many ladies and gentlemen who did not set out with the purpose of essaying the heights be- yond. Here a wonderful view of the mountain is obtained, un- like any other, its great white form seeming not like 'a mount that might be touched,' but cold and forbidding in its dazzling light. 'With God's own majesty are touched the features of the earth.' Just beyond is the Camp of the Clouds, where preparations for the supreme effort are made. From this on hoc opus, hic labor est, but without the consolation of knowing that it will be easy next day to retrace one's steps, or that 'on the heights there dwells repose.' For every one who has worked his perilous way around the rim of the crater, to spend a night in the ice caves or over the steaming fissures, has found some reason to doubt whether the conflict of ages through which this mighty dome was builded up is entirely exhausted. The satis- faction in looking down upon the world from such a height, together with the consciousness of the arduous greatness of the thing done, may be easily conceived, however, to assist in sup- porting one in the fierce Alpine air."
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The summit and the experiences of a night there are graph- ically described by Miss Fay Fuller, the young lady before refer- red to, in Every Sunday, as follows :
" At last we stood on the rim of the big crater, where the wind was blowing so strongly we could hardly keep our footing, and oh ! it was bitter cold. The middle peak was some ways off, and for fear anything should happen we hastened on to the great high knob, and at 4.30 P.M., August 10th, 1890, we stood on the tip-top of Mount Tacoma. It was a heavenly mo- ment ; nothing was said-words cannot describe scenery and beauty ; how could they speak for the soul ? Such sensations can be known to those only who reach the heights. The scene below was a wonderful panorama. Some years when it is very clear the sound can be seen, appearing like a small straddle bug, and the Olympic range is visible. The clouds prevented that sight this year ; but besides Adams, Hood, St. Helen's, and Jefferson, we could see Mount Baker away to the north and miles of mountains forming one great circle round the horizon. The glaciers of the Nisqually, Cowlitz, Carbon and White rivers were seen, and the valleys and prairies beyond. An idea of the size of the top of the mountain can be formed when it is said that the distance from the north to the southwest peaks across the top is more than two miles. Standing on the summit we see below us two large craters looking like immense bowls with a . central common rim. The large crater is estimated 1100 feet across ; the small one, 750 feet. They are filled with snow and solid ice, with the rim around the circumference of bare rocks rising about sixty feet in some places. The steam keeps these rocks bare all the time. Coming down from the summit, where we could hardly stand on account of the wind, we were shel- tered in the crater, and examined the steam jets, looking as if a row of boiling tea-kettles had been placed along the ridge. We sat on the rocks, and were soon damp with the moisture and par- boiled by the heat, and it was necessary to move. We started to make our beds before the sun went down. We saw it glide be- hind the summit, and before 6 P. M. were all ready for the night. On the east edge of the big crater we entered an ice cave between the snow and rim of the crater, and there, with steam beside us, we spread our blankets, which seemed light enough now, took off shoes, bathed our feet in whiskey, and began the night. We melt-
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ed some ice in a cup over the steam, heated the water, dissolved some extract of beef, and served good hot beef soup for supper.
" Two blankets over us seemed little protection for the night. Through the small opening in the cave above we could watch the stars and meteors and all night long hear the awful avalanches roaring down the mountain-sides. From the faintest sound of running brook to the fierce lash of the ocean and the roar of these rock and snow-slides, it is all God's music, the sounds being grander than the sights. We will pass over the chilly night, during which I was the only one fortunate enough to be able to sleep. When we rose our shoes were frozen stiff and had to be melted in the steam before we could put them on. The blankets where the steam had been were icy. A light snow storm visited us early in the morning and covered all our cave and blankets with snow, the gentlemen's mustaches were frozen like ice, and the wind howled fiercely. There was nothing to do but prepare for the descent, and a weary journey it was down through the clouds."
The author has been permitted to personally inspect many of the greatest mountains of earth-to view the Andes, the Rockies, the Alps, those of Mexico and Brazil, and many more of lesser note-but Tacoma, making the most as she does of her indi- viduality, impressed us more strongly with a sense of altitude and majesty than any other, though of greater height, that we have as yet seen.
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