The Mountaineer 59 
snow is melted off for a long distance down toward North 
Peak. When viewed from the prairies south of Spanaway 
Lake this region appears black in striking contrast to the 
spotless white of the surrounding part of the summit. 
The hottest caves are found on the northeast slope of Crater 
Peak. In one of these ice-water was boiled in exactly three 
minutes. At times there are passageways for several hundred 
feet from one large dome-shaped chamber to another. In short, 
one can pick out a suite of steam-heated rooms adapted to his 
needs. This is fortunate, for the ascent from the east side is 
long and strenuous. Here a party can stop for refreshments. 
On our ascent of the mountain last summer warm drinks, bouil- 
lon, ete., were prepared in short order. There is usually a 
stream of water flowing through some part of the floor. Water 
also flows from some of the ridges on the roof in such quantity 
that a cupful can be obtained in a short time. It is folly to 
pack water up to the summit. It can always be procured in 
some of the caves if one understands the summit and where 
these caves are. There is one just east of Columbia’s Crest 
down in the large crater where the writer has passed two 
nights. There is plenty of water flowing down the slope of 
the floor, which is rather steep at this point. One of our party 
had to go down into this cave for a distance of about eighty- 
five feet after an alpenstock that was accidentally knocked 
down and bounded into the darkness. We put a rope on the 
young man while he went after it. After he secured it he 
rolled stones down for a long distance. We could hear these 
plunge into a lake or pond. If this were not the real Styx it at 
least reminded us of the classical description. 
There are no deleterious gases nor sulphurous odors con- 
nected with the steam issuing from this countain. Both Mount 
Baker and Mount Adams belch forth poisonous gases of a sul- 
phurous nature. None of the party felt any bad result from 
sleeping in these caves. The slope of the crater is always the 
floor. Sometimes this is so steep that one is liable to slide 
down, perhaps into the lake above referred to, or at least take 
several jolts over jagged cliffs which might have an injurious 
effect on his anatomy. In order to prevent this we drove an 
alpenstock through the thin shell of ice above the entrance 
and through into the slanting floor. Our rope was fastened to 
this. Then each man fastened himself to the rope. Strung out 
