The Mountains of ^iVaskington 



By W. D. LYMAN 



Professor of History and Political Science, WKitman College 



w w A LAND of old upheaven from 

 /m the abyss " ; a land of deepest 

 depths and highest heights; 

 of richest verdure and barest deso- 

 lation; of thickest forests and most 

 open prairie ; a land of contrasts in 

 contour, in hues, in production, in 

 history; — such is this great state of 

 ours, of whose capacities and attrac- 

 tions we are so well convinced, of 

 whose history we are so proud, and 

 of whose great future we are so cer- 

 tain. 



"Where all the physical features are 

 remarkable, we may be almost par- 

 doned for falling into the language 

 of extravagance and passing beyond 

 the bounds of seeming sober truth. 

 Particularly when we undertake to 

 encompass in a few pages a general 

 description of the mountains of 

 Washington. 



Take a map and you will find the 

 mountain systems of the state redu- 

 cible to a comparatively simple 

 grouping. There is one great chain, 

 the Cascades, with many spurs, run- 

 ning a north and south course direct- 

 ly through the state, dividing it ap- 

 proximately into a western third, a 

 soft, humid, densely forested region ; 

 and an eastern two-thirds, open, dry, 

 clear and breezy. The western side 

 of this great range is almost one 

 bold, continuous rampart facing the 

 ocean. On the eastern side there are 

 many spurs, running east and west 

 and dividing the region between the 

 Columbia River and the Cascade 

 Mountains into valleys through 

 which impetuous rivers take their 

 way. The chief of these spurs are, 

 beginning on the south, the Simcoe, 

 the Peshastin, the Wenatchee, the 

 Chelan, the Methow, and the Okano- 

 gan. Besides this great Cascade 



chain, the most distinct topographi- 

 cal feature of the state, there are 

 two other great regions of uplift at 

 nearly opposite corners of the state, 

 The Olympics at the northwest and 

 the Blues at the southeast. Both the 

 Ol.vmpics and the Blues are great 

 knots or ganglionic bunches of moun- 

 tains rather than chains. 



At the present stage of investiga- 

 tion, the geological history of our 

 mountains cannot be wholly affirmed. 

 It constitutes one of the most inter- 

 esting problems for the scientific stu- 

 dents of our state. Li general terms 

 it. may be said that the Cascades con- 

 sist of a core of granite and meta- 

 morphic rocks overlaid in places by 

 enormous outflows of volcanic mat- 

 ter. Fire and frost and flood, those 

 great architects, have wrought on a 

 stupendous scale the framework of 

 this somber, mysterious, sublime 

 chain of mountains. 



It was a favorite idea with the 

 late lamented Prof. Condon, of Ore- 

 gon, the most thorough student of 

 our geology, that the Pacific North- 

 west Avas a development of "Two 

 Islands." One of these was the 

 nucleus of the Siskiyou ]\Ioimtains 

 and thence northward in Oregon, and 

 the other the nucleus of the Blue 

 Mountains in Oregon and Washing- 

 ton. There is reason to believe that 

 to Prof. Condon's Two Islands we 

 might add a third Avhicli was probab- 

 ly in the vicinity of Chelan. From 

 that as a center it would seem that 

 the granite masses of the northern 

 part of the Cascade Range slowly 

 rose from the ancient sea. As its 

 surface expanded with passing eons 

 of time, the internal fires burst forth 

 with elemental fury and stupendous 

 outflows of basalt, andesite, and 



