MOUNT RAINIER 



dome is visible from Portland on the Willamette, one 

 hundred and twenty miles south, and from the table- 

 land of Walla Walla, one hundred and fifty miles east. 

 A region two hundred and fifty miles across, including 

 nearly all of Washington Territory, part of Oregon, 

 and part of Idaho, is commanded in one field of vision 

 by this colossus among mountains. 



Takhoma had never been ascended. It was a virgin 

 peak. The superstitious fears and traditions of the 

 Indians, as well as the dangers of the ascent, had 

 prevented their attempting to reach the summit, and 

 the failure of a gallant and energetic officer, whose cour- 

 age and hardihood were abundantly shown during the 

 rebellion, had in general estimation proved it insur- 

 mountable. 



For two years I had resolved to ascend Takhoma, 

 but both seasons the dense smoke overspreading the 

 whole country had prevented the attempt. Mr. Philo- 

 mon Beecher Van Trump, humorous, generous, whole- 

 souled, with endurance and experience withal, for he 

 had roughed it in the mines, and a poetic appreciation 

 of the picturesque and the sublime, was equally eager 

 to scale the summit. Mr. Edward T. Coleman, an 

 English gentleman of Victoria, a landscape artist and 

 an Alpine tourist, whose reputed experience in Switzer- 

 land had raised a high opinion of his ability above the 

 snow-line, completed the party. 



Olympia, the capital of Washington Territory, is 

 a beautiful, maple-embowered town of some two 

 thousand inhabitants, situated at the southernmost 

 extremity of Puget Sound, and west of Takhoma, 

 distant in an air line seventy-five miles. The inter- 

 vening country is covered with dense fir forests, almost 

 impenetrable to the midday sun, and obstructed with 

 fallen trees, upturned roots and stumps, and a perfect 

 jungle of undergrowth, through which the most ener- 

 getic traveler can accomplish but eight or nine miles a 

 day. It was advisible to gain the nearest possible point 



