MOUNT RAINIER 



which it is proposed shall be made a national park, 

 is characterized by Mount Rainier, whose summit is 

 but 4 miles from the western boundary of the reserve 

 and whose glaciers extend beyond its limits. 



Mount Tacoma is not simply a volcanic cone, peculiar 

 for its hugeness. It was formerly a vast volcanic dome, 

 30 miles in radius to the north, west, and south ; but 

 rivers have cut deep canyons, glaciers have carved 

 ample amphitheaters back into the mass, and now many 

 serrate ridges rising from a few hundred to 10,000 feet 

 above the sea converge at that altitude to support 

 the central pyramid, which towers more than 4,000 

 feet above its base. 



This grand mountain is not, like Mount Blanc, merely 

 the dominant peak of a chain of snow mountains ; it 

 is the only snow peak in view, Mount St. Helens and 

 Mount Adams being, like it, isolated and many miles 

 distant. Rainier is majestic in its isolation, reaching 

 6,000 to 8,000 feet above its neighbors. It is superb 

 in its boldness, rising from one canyon 11,000 feet in 7 

 miles. Not only is it the grandest mountain in this 

 country, it is one of the grand mountains of the world, 

 to be named with St. Elias, Fusiyama, and Ararat, and 

 the most superb summits of the Alps. Eminent scien- 

 tists of England and Germany, who, as members of 

 the Alpine Club of Switzerland and travelers of wide 

 experience, would naturally be conservative in their 

 judgment, have borne witness to the majesty of the 

 scenery about Rainier. 



In 1883 Professor Zittel, a well-known German geolo- 

 gist, and Prof. James Bryce, member of Parliament 

 and author of the American Commonwealth, made a 

 report on the scenery about Mount Rainier. Among 

 other things, they said : 



"The scenery of Mount Rainier is of rare and varied 

 beauty. The peak itself is as noble a mountain as 

 we have ever seen in its lines and structure. The 

 glaciers which descend from its snow fields present all 



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