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SCIENCE 



453MILES 



'^TO PORTLAND 



[N. S. Vol. XLIII. No. 1H7 



Fig. 1. Lines of approach to the proposed Lassen Volcanic National Park Eailroads, 

 wagon roads and trails to Lassen Peak and cinder cone, which are 10 miles apart and within the 

 boundary of the proposed park. 



is chiefly andesite, a viscous lava that piled 

 up about the vents from which it issued and 

 built up a range, the Cascade range, sur- 

 mounted by great peaks, from' Lassen Peak, 

 which rises 10,460 feet, to Shasta and 

 Rainier, that attain an elevation of more 

 than 14,000 feet. 



In the volcanic belt of the Alaskan Coast 

 there are a number of vigorously active 

 volcanoes. So also in Central America and 

 Mexico, but in the Cascade range the vol- 

 canoes appear to be near extinction. 



Since the white man settled on our Pacific 

 coast there has been but little volcanic activ- 

 ity. In 1843, about the time Fremont, the 

 pathfinder, made his memorable trip across 

 the continent. Mount Baker and Mount St. 

 Helens in the state of Washington were both 

 in eruption, spreading a blanket of volcanic 



dust over the country as far south as the 

 Columbia, where at the Dallas a missionary 

 gave a sample to Fremont. 



Professor Davidson, of the United States 

 Coast Survey, in 1854 saw an eruption of 

 Mount Baker. The summit was obscured 

 by vast rolling masses of dense smoke, which 

 in a few moments reached an estimated 

 height of two thousand feet above the sum- 

 mit and soon enveloped it entirely. In 

 1858 Mr. J. S. Hittell saw the clouds over 

 Mount Baker brilliantly illuminated by an 

 eriiption then taking plaee.^ 



Mount Rainier and Mount Shasta emit 

 heated vapors from the fumaroles on their 

 summits, giving evidence that their inte- 

 riors are still hot. 



2 ' ' The United States, " J. D. Whitney, p. 115. 



