FIRST ATTEMPTED ASCENT, 1857 



below. The water seems to derive its color from the 

 disintegration of this granite.* 



We made our camp under a pine of dense foliage, 

 whose limbs at the outer end drooped near the ground. 

 We made our cup of tea, and found the water boil at 

 202 Fahrenheit. Night set in with a drizzling rain, and 

 a more solitary, gloomy picture than we presented at 

 that camp it is impossible to conceive. Tired, hungry, 

 dirty, clothes all in rags the effects of our struggles 

 with the brush we were not the least happy ; the 

 solitude was oppressive. The entire party, except 

 myself, dropped down and did not move unless obliged 

 to. I went up to the foot of the glacier, and explored 

 a little before night set in. I also tried to make a 

 sketch of the view looking up the glacier ; but I have 

 never looked at it since without being forcibly re- 

 minded what a failure it is as a sketch. 



On the morning of the sixth day we set out again up 

 the glacier. A drizzling rain prevailed through the 

 night, and continued this morning. We had a little 

 trouble in getting upon the glacier, as it terminated 

 everywhere in steep faces that were very difficult to 

 climb. Once up, we did not meet with any obstruc- 

 tions or interruptions for several hours, although the 

 slippery surface of the glacier, which formed inclined 

 planes of about twenty degrees, made it very fatiguing 

 with our packs. About noon the weather thickened ; 

 snow, sleet, and rain prevailed, and strong winds, blow- 

 ing hither and thither, almost blinded us. The sur- 

 face of the glacier, becoming steeper, began to be in- 

 tersected by immense crevasses crossing our path, often 

 compelling us to travel several hundred yards to gain a 

 few feet. We finally resolved to find a camp. But 

 getting off the glacier was no easy task. We found 



* I have no doubt that the south branch of the Nachess, which flows to the east 

 into the Columbia, and that the Puyallup and White rivers, which flow west into 

 Puget Sound, have similar sources in glaciers, from the fact that in July they are 

 all of a similar character with the Nesqually, muddy, white torrents, at a time when 

 little rain has fallen for months. Kautz. 



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