THE NORTHERN PACIFIC ROUTE. 195 
Although Capt. Vancouver mapped and named Puget Sound in 
1792, there was no permanent settlement or even trading post in the 
region until 1833, when Fort Nisqually was built by the Hudson’s Bay 
Co. on the ground now occupied by the city of Tacoma. This post was 
for many years, even up to the time it was purchased by the United 
States Government in 1869, the leading commercial place on the Sound 
and was surpassed only on the northwest coast by Fort Vancouver, on 
the Columbia, which was the headquarters of the Hudson’s Bay Co. 
Capt. Wilkes, when on his exploring expedition of 1840, landed at 
Fort Nisqually and sent a party inland to explore the country tribu- 
tary to the Sound and to Columbia River. One party traveled south- 
ward and explored the Willamette (Wil-lam’et) Valley of Oregon, 
and another, under Lieut. R. W. Johnson, on May 29, 1840, crossed 
the Cascade Mountains by way of Naches Pass. This seems to have 
been the earliest passage by white men across the Cascades. At that 
time it was only an Indian trail, but in 1853 a road was cleared so that 
emigrants over the old Oregon Trail could make a short cut to the 
Sound instead of having to keep to the south along Columbia River. 
following year parties reached the sum- 
mits of Mount 
tempts were made to climb Mount Baker, 
but not until 1868 did a party reach the 
top. 
Lieut. A. V. Kautz made an almost 
successful ascent of Mount Rainier in 1857, 
reaching within 1,000 feet of the summit. 
His trip, however, proved to be very im- 
portant, for he established the existence 
of glaciers here, which up to that time 
had not been known in this country. 
The first expedition to reach the top of 
the mountain was that of Gen. Hazard 
Stevens and P. V. Van Trump, who at- 
tained the summit on August 17, 1870. 
In the same year 8S. F. Emmons and A. 
D. Wilson, at that time members of the 
Fortieth Parallel Survey, made a brief 
study of the geology of the mountain and 
of the glaciers on its side and reached the 
top October 17, just two months after it 
had been attained by Stevens and Van 
Trump. Since that time numerous as- 
cents have been made, and each year 
the trip is gaining in popularity, espe- 
cially since the mountain and some of the 
adjacent territory has been set aside as 
the Mount Rainier National Park. The 
base of the mountain can easily be 
reached from either Seattle or Tacoma, 
and the views obtained on such a trip will 
amply repay anyone for the journey. 
Mount Rainier, like Mounts Adams, St. 
Helens, and Baker, and Glacier Peak, is a 
great volcanic cone built upon the sum- 
mit of the Cascade Range by successive 
layers of material thrown out of its crater. 
The great height of these peaks has not 
been materially reduced by erosion, for 
long enough to permit very effective work 
by the elements. Steam escai 
most of these old volcanoes, showing that 
the rocks are still hot at some distance 
below the surface. It is noted in the rec- 
ords of old Fort Vancouver, on Columbia 
Pasa of mountains, i is another indication 
ion is not 
o 
sess extinct. 
The heights of the great volcanic peaks 
of Washington are as follows: Mount St. 
Helens, 9,697 feet; Glacier Peak, 10,436 
feet; Mount Baker, 10,750 feet; Mount 
Adams, 12,307 feet; and Mount Rainier, 
14,408 feet. 
