MOUNT RAINIER 



Ascend to the top, behold the two well-defined craters, 

 with their rims perfect ; descend those walls, and try 

 to count the many jets of steam constantly puffing 

 forth their sulphurous odors, and one is led to believe 

 that Rainier has been active at a comparatively recent 

 period. 



Mount Rainier, with its many glaciers, is the source 

 of the principal rivers of Western Washington. From 

 the summit of the three peaks the snow forges its way 

 downward until it is compressed into ice ; the ice in 

 turn is compressed until it assumes that peculiar blue 

 tint that characterizes ice under great pressure. These 

 ice streams move slowly down the valleys, about one 

 foot in twenty-four hours, conforming to their beds. 

 Where the bed is inclined, the glacier breaks into in- 

 numerable masses, somewhat regular, with great yawn- 

 ing crevasses between. While crossing one of the 

 White River glaciers below an ice-fall I had to stand 

 clear of a dozen bowlders that came rolling down from 

 the brink, telling very forcibly that the glacier was 

 moving. These glaciers plow their way down the 

 valleys to an elevation of between 30x30 and 4000 feet, 

 and there dissolve into water. Some of them termi- 

 nate in a gentle incline ; others present a high wall of 

 clear ice, with the river issuing from an immense cave ; 

 still others deposit vast quantities of stones and earth, 

 forming what is called the "terminal moraine." The 

 glaciers of the northern peak, five in number, form 

 the Puyallup and its principal tributary, the Carbon ; 

 the twelve glaciers of the eastern slope of crater peak 

 yield the icy waters of the White and Cowlitz ; the 

 glaciers of the southern peak form the several 

 sources of the Nisqually. The glaciers are from one 

 to two miles in width, and from six to twelve miles 

 in length. Like the rivers which they form, they 

 themselves have tributaries. When two glaciers unite, 

 their inside lateral moraines join and form a medial 

 moraine. 



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