MOUNT RAINIER 



recrossing the stream frequently, and toiling over 

 rocky bars for four miles, a distance which consumed 

 five hours, owing to the difficulties of the way. We 

 then left the Nisqually, turning to the right and travel- 

 ing in a southerly course, and followed up the bed of a 

 swampy creek for half a mile, then crossed a level tract 

 much obstructed with fallen timber, then ascended a 

 burnt ridge, and followed it for two miles to a small, 

 marshy prairie in a wide canyon or defile closed in by 

 rugged mountains on either side, and camped beside 

 a little rivulet on the east side of the prairie. This was 

 Bear Prairie, the altitude of which by the barometer 

 was 2630 feet. The canyon formed a low pass between 

 the Nisqually and Cowlitz rivers, and the little rivulet 

 near which we camped flowed into the latter stream. 

 The whole region had been swept by fire : thousands 

 of giant trunks stock blackened and lifeless, the pic- 

 ture of desolation. 



As we were reclining on the ground around the camp- 

 fire, enjoying the calm and beatific repose which comes 

 to the toil-worn mountaineer after his hearty supper, 

 one of these huge trunks, after several warning creaks, 

 came toppling and falling directly over our camp. 

 All rushed to one side or another to avoid the impend- 

 ing crash. As one member of the party, hastily catch- 

 ing up in one hand a frying-pan laden with tin plates 

 and cups, and in the other the camp kettle half full of 

 boiling water, was scrambling away, his foot tripped in 

 a blackberry vine and he fell outstretched at full length, 

 the much-prized utensils scattering far and wide, 

 while the falling tree came thundering down in the rear, 

 doing no other damage, however, than burying a pair 

 of blankets. 



The following day Longmire and the writer went 

 down the canyon to its junction with the Cowlitz 

 River, in search of a band of Indians who usually made 

 their headquarters at this point, and among whom 

 Longmire hoped to find some hunter familiar with the 



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