EXPLORING THE MOUNTAIN AND ITS GLACIERS, 1896 



we stood. Far to the northward rose the regular 

 conical summit of Mount Baker, like an isolated sea- 

 girt island. A few of the rugged and more elevated 

 summits, marking the course of the Cascade Moun- 

 tains, could be discerned to the eastward. The sum- 

 mits of Mount Adams and Mount St. Helens were in 

 plain view and seemingly near at hand. All of the 

 forest-covered region between these elevated summits 

 was blotted out by the dense, heavy layer of smoke, which 

 rose until it met the westerly gale of the upper regions. 

 During the ascent of Mount Rainier by Emmons 

 and Wilson, previously referred to, more favorable 

 atmospheric conditions prevailed than at the time of 

 my visit, and the region about the base of the moun- 

 tain was clearly revealed. In describing the view 

 from the summit Emmons says : 



From the northeastern rim of the crater we could look down an 

 unbroken slope of nearly 10,000 feet to the head of the White 

 River, the upper half or two-thirds of which was so steep that one 

 had the feeling of looking over a perpendicular wall. [It was up 

 this slope that the climb briefly described above was made.] 

 The systems of glaciers and the streams which flowed from them 

 lay spread out as on a map at our feet; radiating out in every 

 direction from the central mass, they all with one accord curve to 

 the westward to send their waters down toward Puget Sound or 

 the. Lower Columbia. [Attention has already been directed to 

 the westward curvature of the streams from Mount Rainier on 

 reaching the tilted peneplain on which the mountain stands, and 

 the explanation has been suggested that they are consequent 

 streams the direction of which was determined by the original 

 slope of the now deeply dissected plateau.] 



Looking to the more distant country, the whole stretch of Puget 

 Sound, seeming like a pretty little lake embowered in green, 

 could be seen in the northwest, beyond which the Olympic Moun- 

 tains extend out into the Pacific Ocean. The Cascade Mountains, 

 lying dwarfed at our feet, could be traced northward into British 

 Columbia, and southward into Oregon, while above them, at 

 comparatively regular intervals, rose the ghost-like forms of our 

 companion volcanoes. To the eastward the eye ranged for hun- 

 dreds of miles over chain on chain of mountain ridges, which 

 gradually disappeared in the dim, blue distance. 



N 177 



