102 



THE FORESTER. 



May, 



been successfully made up the glacier on 

 the western slope, and also from the 

 northeast and east up the great ice mass 

 that covers the eastern slope, but the 

 conditions which made success possible 

 in these instances are constantly chang- 

 ing with flow of the ice and variations of 

 the seasons. 



The boundaries to the Park as now es- 

 tablished by law are not well considered 

 for its future development. They are 

 too limited. They fail to include dis- 

 tricts whose scenic aspects are essential 

 to the unity of the Park and whose fea- 

 tures should not be left outside of its 

 protection. This is most especially true 

 of the western limit, and it is to some 

 extent true of the northern and southern 

 bounds. 



According to the best information 

 available, the western boundary of the 

 established Park traverses the spurs of 

 Mount Rainier at altitudes which range 

 from 2,500 feet in the canyons to about 

 7,000 feet on the ridges. The extremities 

 of several notable glaciers probably ex- 

 tend to or beyond the Park limit. The 

 valley of the headwaters of the South 

 Fork of the Puyallup has a northwest 

 course in the three-mile strip which lies 

 west of the National Park and within the 

 boundary of the Rainier Forest Reserve. 

 The most accessible route for communi- 

 cation around the mountain from the 

 Nisqually Valley to Spray Falls Park 

 should cross the low divide north of the 

 Nisqually and traverse this valley of 

 the South Puyallup. Such a route 

 should be within the Park limits. 

 The valley of the Puyallup is heavily 

 timbered, and if preserved within the 

 National Park may be protected from 

 those operations of the lumbermen which 

 it is part of the economic policy of the 

 Forest Reserve to a certain extent to 

 promote. It is not much to demand that 

 the virgin forest within a strip 3 miles 

 wide by 18 miles long should be pre- 

 served for all time to come. 



North of Mount Rainier lies a group 

 of jagged peaks rising to elevations of 

 7,000 to 8,000 feet, known as the Sluis- 

 kin Mountains. The boundary of the 



established Park crosses these summits 

 apparently through the highest peaks of 

 the group. It may probably be desirable 

 to extend the National Park northward 

 approximately 6 miles to the northern 

 boundary of the Forest Reserve. The 

 northeast corner of the established Park 

 probably includes some portion of the 

 Summit mining district, which is sep- 

 arated from Rainier by a high spur of 

 the Cascade Range. It may be necessary 

 here to curtail the limits of the Park in 

 such manner as to exclude the mining 

 district. 



It has already been stated that the 

 Cowlitz Pass should be left open for 

 railroad construction, but in order that 

 the routes into the Park may have a 

 rational development it is desirable that 

 the Park boundary on the east should 

 extend along the summit of the Cascade 

 Range southeastward to the Cowlitz 

 Pass, and that the southern limit should 

 follow thence down the Cowlitz River 

 probably to the western side of the For- 

 est Reserve. This will include in the 

 Park the Tatoosh Range, south of Mount 

 Rainier. The rugged peaks of this range 

 form part of the environment of the snow 

 mountain, and are to some extent still 

 densely forested. A broad area of burnt 

 forest covers their northern portion and 

 extends to the headwaters of the Cowlitz 

 River. Under the practical management 

 of the Forest Reserve this broad area 

 will be reforested, but it is desirable to 

 preserve that forest against future cutting, 

 except as may be necessary to promote 

 its proper growth, if the object of the 

 National Park as a tourist resort is to be 

 fully attained. 



If these amendments to the bound- 

 aries should be carried out, the northern 

 and western boundaries would remain 

 straight lines artificially determined by 

 U. S. land surveys ; the eastern bound- 

 ary would be defined by a spur and the 

 crest of the Cascade Range, and the 

 southern boundary by the Cowlitz River. 

 The two last are natural features, always 

 to be preferred, where practicable, to 

 artificial lines extended across a moun- 

 tainous country. 



