98 



THE FORESTER. 



May, 



tramway companies for access to the 

 Park, fish and game are to be protected 

 from wanton destruction, and police au- 

 thority is given. Provision is made to 

 compensate the Northern Pacific Rail- 

 way Company for such part of its land 

 grant as falls within the boundaries of 

 the Park, it being authorized to select 

 other non-mineral lands in lieu of those 

 taken. The last section of the law ex- 

 tends the mineral land laws of the 

 United States to the lands lying within 

 the Forest Reservation and Park. 



The occasion for creating the Rainier 

 National Park cannot be more concisely 

 stated than in the quotation from Profes- 

 sor Zittel and Mr. Bryce : "The com- 

 bination of ice scenery with woodland 

 scenery of the grandest type is to be 

 found nowhere in the Old World, unless 

 it be in the Himalayas, and, so far as we 

 know, nowhere else on the American 

 Continent." The district lies wholly on 

 the western side of the Cascade Range, 

 where the moist and equable climate 

 promotes the growth of vegetation, and 

 the heaviest forests of the United States 

 clothe the slopes. These virgin forests 

 of the Cascades are deep and dense. 

 The tall, light-loving trees, tower to 

 heights of 250 feet or more, on relatively 

 slender shafts, which near the ground 

 are 6 to 10 feet in diameter. Beneath 

 their interlacing crowns grow trees more 

 tolerant of shade, bearing branches to 

 within a few feet of the ground. Shrubs 

 crowd among the tree trunks, rising 

 from rich ferneries, vines and matted 

 mosses. The air is damp, the light 

 sombre, the solitude becomes oppres- 

 sive. But little animal life is seen, and 

 few birds. The wind plays in the tree 

 tops far overhead, but seldom stirs the 

 branches of the smaller growth. The 

 great tree trunks stand immovable. 

 The more awful is it when a gale roars 

 through the timber, when the huge col- 

 umns sway in unison and groan with 

 voices strangely human. The upper 

 limit of the dense forest is about 4,000 

 feet above the sea, but trees of less 

 Vigorous growth cover the slopes and 

 ridges up to 6,000 feet, and the limit of 



tree growth in many places meets the 

 snow line at 7,000 to 7,500 feet. 



From the sea of the evergreen forest 

 the gigantic snow peak, Mount Rainier, 

 rises solitarily to an altitude of 14,530 

 feet. Its form is that of a many-sided 

 pyramid, 5,000 feet in height, rising 

 from a broad and deeply-carved base. 

 The summit consists of three peaks, two 

 of which are nearly a mile apart, and 

 their broad expanse is deeply covered 

 with a mantle of glistening snow. The 

 sides of the pyramid are precipices, 

 which descend into vast amphitheatres. 

 Glaciers flowing from the nevee fields of 

 the summit hang upon the cliffs, break 

 in avalanches over their steepest facets, 

 or descend in cascades of flashing ice 

 pyramids to the broader platform. Gath- 

 ering their spray, as it were, beneath the 

 steep scarps, the ice rivers flow outward 

 in all directions and descend far into the 

 forest-clad valleys. Forest, glacier and 

 precipices combine to form scenes of the 

 wildest grandeur and the deepest sub- 

 limity. 



Strangely environed in this rugged 

 scenery lie alpine meadows of exquisite 

 beauty. In July and August they bear 

 a richly-tinted flora, comprising more 

 than 400 species of flowers, and they are 

 set with groves of exquisitely symmetri- 

 cal Firs, whose dark foliage is a foil to 

 the brilliant coloring of the flowers and 

 the pearly aspects of the snow peak. 

 These are the scenes which no student 

 of nature can visit without interest, nor 

 any one view without realizing an in- 

 spiring and uplifting influence. 



At present there is but one easily ac- 

 cessible route to the Park. This is by 

 stage from Tacoma southward to the 

 Nisqually Valley and thence eastward to 

 Longmire's Springs. The distance is 

 about 60 miles and the roads are not yet 

 adequately constructed. From Long- 

 mire's, Paradise Park, one of the moun- 

 tain meadows on the southern slope, is 

 reached by a mountain trail 7 miles in 

 length. Beyond Paradise Park all ex- 

 cursions involve mountaineering of 

 greater or less difficulty. A second 

 route extends from Wilkeson, at the end 



