FIRST ATTEMPTED ASCENT, 1857 



all day until about five o'clock, when the doctor broke 

 down, having been unable to eat anything during the 

 day. With considerable cramming I managed to dis- 

 pose of the most of my rations. We kept the north 

 side of the river, and had no streams to cross ; in fact, 

 there did not appear to be any streams on either side 

 putting into the river. The valley seemed several 

 miles in width, densely timbered, and the undergrowth 

 a complete thicket. Not more than ten miles were 

 made by us. Just before we stopped for the night, we 

 passed through a patch of dead timber of perhaps 100 

 acres, with an abundance of blackberries. Opposite 

 our camp, on the south side of the river, there was the 

 appearance of quite a tributary coming in from the 

 southeast. 



We did not get started until about eleven o'clock 

 on the fourth morning. After cutting up a deer which 

 Wah-pow-e-ty brought in early in the norning, we 

 dried quite a quantity of it by the fire. As we antici- 

 pated, it proved of much assistance, for we already saw 

 that six days would be a very short time in which to 

 make the trip. By night we reached a muddy tribu- 

 tary coming in from the north, and evidently having 

 its source in the melting snows of Rainier. The sum- 

 mit of the mountain was visible from our camp, and 

 seemed close at hand ; but night set in with promise of 

 bad weather. The valley had become quite narrow. 

 Our camp was at the foot of a mountain spur several 

 thousand feet high, and the river close at hand. The 

 gloomy forest, the wild mountain scenery, the roaring 

 of the river, and the dark overhanging clouds, with 

 the peculiar melancholy sighing which the wind makes 

 through a fir forest, gave to our camp at this point an 

 awful grandeur. 



On the fifth morning the clouds were so threatening, 

 and came down so low on the surrounding mountains, 

 that we were at a loss what course to pursue whether 

 to follow up the main stream or the tributary at our 



G 81 



