RUGGED BEAR'S BREAST PEAK 



BY GUY E. MITCHELL 



IN our school geographies the Cascade Mountains re 

 ceive but passing notice, as a small part of the Pacific 

 Coast mountain system of the United States. As a 

 matter of fact, ihe Cascade Range, extending from 

 northern California northward through Oregon and 

 Washington, form a tremendous and majestic forest-clad 

 barrier of thousands of square miles, cutting off the 

 Pacific Ocean 

 from the arid 

 plains and val- 

 leys of the in- 

 terior, and sur- 

 mount e d at 

 frequent inter- 

 vals by some 

 o f the most 

 stupendous ex 

 tinct volcanoes 

 of the conti 

 n e n t. The 

 peaks and 

 ridges rise 

 high above the 

 great Cascade 

 plateau, which 

 in ages past 

 has been up- 

 lifted to an al- 

 titude above 

 the sea of near- 

 ly 5,000 feet. 

 The whole 

 land i s vol- 

 canic, the out- 

 flow from a 

 multitude o f 

 vents, which in 

 a remote per- 

 iod of the 

 earth's history 

 poured o u 

 countless thou- 

 sands of bil- 

 lions of tons of 

 lava and sco- 

 ria. Out o f 

 these m o u n- 

 tains, many of 

 them snow-clad through the greater part or even the 

 entire year, come the rivers which, winding through the 

 high valleys and augmented by many brooks and larger 

 tributaries, constitute the great, strong running streams 

 which feed the fertile irrigated lands to the east, or turn 

 ble down the more precipitate slopes to the west and 

 produce a water power sufficient to turn the wheels of 



n.i 



BEAR'S BRKAST PEAK IN THE CASCADE MOUNTAINS 

 i crt of lie irost tefilifil of tie irovntains of Ihe Pacifc Coast range, 

 siir.init of wl.ith tll repays the strenuous ePort of him who climbs 



a thousand industries one of the great and only slightly 

 developed resources of America. 



The photograph shows a typical mass of volcanic 

 origin, one of the giant mountain peaks of the Cascade 

 range, unheard of by more than one in ten thousand 

 people outside of its immediate vicinity, a type of hun- 

 dreds of other similar high peaks, but one of exceptional 



beauty and 



ruggedness. It 

 is not, h o w- 

 ever, as might 

 b e supposed, 

 an extinct vol- 

 cano ; it is a 

 mountain left 

 by erosion, not 

 built up by 

 eruptions. This 

 peak, known as 

 Bear's Breast 

 Peak, is at the 

 head of the 

 middle fork of 

 the Snoqual- 

 mie River. Its 

 altitude 

 is 9,200 feet 

 above sea level 

 and its highest 

 2,000 feet rises 

 above timber 

 line, bare and 

 rugged. 



A severe test 

 of m o u n- 

 taineering i s 

 the climbing of 

 Bear's Breast 

 Peak. What 

 a])pear in t h e 

 photograph to 

 be but rough 

 places are in 

 fact impassa- 

 ble cliffs and 

 rents in the 

 rock, up or 

 across which 

 no man can pass ; yet once attained the view from the 

 summit of the peak is incomparably fine, the grand chaos 

 of the great Cascade range and plateau stretching away 

 as far as the eye can see 100 miles or more in the 

 intensely clear western atmosphere. The lower slopes of 

 the mountains are richly clothed with heavy forests of 

 majestic firs from 150 to 250 feet in height. 



the view from 

 ;o the top. 



