MOUNT RAINIER 



with a long shrill whistle that would make a schoolboy 

 envious, but trots quickly away on nearer approach. 

 The crest of the southwest rim of the amphitheater 

 is easily gained, and the grandeur of the view bursts 

 upon you suddenly. Eastward are the cliffs and canons 

 of the Cascade Range. Northward forest-covered hill 

 and valley reach to Mount Baker and the snow peaks 

 that break the horizon line. Westward are the blue 

 waters of the Sound, the snow-clad Olympics and a 

 faint soft line beyond ; it may be the ocean or a fog 

 bank above it. Southward, 9,000 feet above you, so 

 near you must throw your head back to see its sum- 

 mit, is grand Mount Tacoma ; its graceful northern 

 peak piercing the sky, it soars single and alone. 

 Whether touched by the glow of early morning or 

 gleaming in bright noonday, whether rosy with sunset 

 light or glimmering ghost-like, in the full moon, whether 

 standing out clear and cloudless or veiled among the 

 mists it weaves from the warm south winds, it is al- 

 ways majestic and inspiring, always attractive and 

 lovely. It is the symbol of an awful power clad in 

 beauty. 



This northern slope of the mountain is very steep, 

 and the consolidated snow begins its downward move- 

 ment from near the top. Little pinnacles of rock pro- 

 ject through the mass and form eddies in the current. 

 A jagged ridge divides it, and part descends into the 

 deep unexplored canon of White River, probably the 

 deepest chasm in the flanks of Mount Tacoma. The 

 other part comes straight on toward the southern side 

 of Crescent Mountain, a precipice 2,000 feet high ; 

 diverted, it turns in graceful flowing curves, breaks 

 into a thousand ice pyramids and descends into the 

 narrow pass, where its beauty is hidden under the 

 ever-falling showers of rock. 



This rim you stand upon is very narrow ; a hundred 

 feet wide, sometimes less, between the cliff that rises 

 2,000 feet above the glacier and the descent of a thou- 



