GREAT WHITE AlONARCH OF THE PACIFIC COAST 
i99 
along a thermometer to ascertain the 
steam temperature, and found the steam 
of the main crater in places to be about 
150° F. There are other places where 
the heat is about boiling point. 
Professor Flett boiled ice water in a 
tin cup over a steam jet in less than 10 
minutes. 
The steam is evidently snow water 
that seeps down to where it comes in 
contact with the internal heat, returning 
in vapor through the same general open- 
ings. It seems to contain no gas or 
fumes, and is of feeble force and little 
volume, soon disappearing in the high, 
dry atmosphere. 
It is not seen from a far distance and 
is not a factor in producing the cloud 
cap that forms on the summit previous 
to storm. Some have advanced the 
theory that the steam makes the cap, but 
there is nothing in the study of the phe- 
nomenon to warrant it. Heavy barom- 
eter pressure would not force out an 
extra amount of steam (as some have 
expressed) ; it would tend to hold steam 
in ; and, besides, the steam is of very 
small quantity. None of the summit 
visitors have ever seen a large volume of 
steam coming from the crater openings. 
Publications stating that smoke and 
fire ccme from this volcano during seis- 
mic disturbance have no foundation of 
fact, for it is evident that no civilized 
man ever witnessed such a sight, and 
that volcanic action in this section is a 
phenomenon of the long past. People 
have been misled in seeing a cloud that 
appears like smoke, and hurry to an- 
nounce their delusion. 
Since 1870, when the first ascent was 
made, hundreds of people have stood on 
the summit of our great white ''Templed 
Hill." A climb to the summit and re- 
turn the same day is a long, wearisome 
undertaking, slightly dangerous, espe- 
cially at one place rounding the upper 
part of Gibraltar rock (see page 600), 
from which there is an occasional shower 
of small pieces of rock that thaw loose 
from the snow patches above. So far 
as is known, there has been but one life 
lost in climbing the mountain, due to 
natural cause ; the few others were lost 
owing to recklessness and lack of judg- 
ment. The crevasses are very bad if one 
gets into them, but they have generally 
been cleverly avoided. 
The chief official guide, who made 17 
trips to the mountain top during one sea- 
son, found the temperature near freez- 
ing point each time except on one occa- 
sion, when the w^arm belt of air extended 
to the mountain's summit, which is very 
unusual and in mid-summer only. The 
moisture of these coast mountains keeps 
it from seeming as rarefied as would 
be the same altitude in the Colorado 
Rockies. 
From almost any close or distant po- 
sition the glaciers are looked at so 
obliquely that one never fully compre- 
hends their area as well as when making 
a climb to the summit. Patches of the 
glaciers are apparently very small from 
lower views, but when favorably seen 
from a near eminence become vast arc- 
tic fields carved by wind and sun into 
weird spires and domes. 
Studying the crevasses and the actinic 
blue coloring they reflect will repay any 
one who has a day to devote to the climb. 
The higher up, the more curious are the 
carvings of the snow surfaces, which 
w^ould indicate that the winds are the 
chief factor in making the peculiar 
whittlings. 
This great pile of lava, heaped to an 
elevation of nearly 15,000 feet, is char- 
acterized by several features deserving 
of special individual study. The geolo- 
gist, geographer, botanist, poet, painter, 
landscape gardener, and specialist all 
find a wealth of interest throughout this 
324 square miles of reserve, besides 
much adjacent territory comparatively 
unexplored. Since the original stage and 
pony day travel has given place to rail- 
way and auto, the autoist finds a new 
territory, and now in the winter the 
skeer and snow'-shoer are beginning to 
look toward the Rainier Park for their 
sports. 
To a w^oods-dweller the timber is a 
matter of course, but to those who have 
not been amid large forests it is one of 
the very special features of the reserve 
and an educator in forestry of the best 
