STEEP TRAILS 



views, comprehending hundreds of miles of 

 the Cascade Range, with their black intermin- 

 able forests and white volcanic cones in glori- 

 ous array reaching far into Oregon; the Soimd 

 region also, and the great plains of eastern 

 Washington, hazy and vague in the distance. 

 Clouds began to gather. Soon of all the land 

 only the summits of the mountains, St. Helen's, 

 Adams, and Hood, were left in sight, forming 

 islands in the sky. We found two well-formed 

 and well-preserved craters on the summit, 

 lying close together like two plates on a table 

 with their rims touching. The highest point 

 of the mountain is located between the crsr 

 ters, where their edges come in contact. Sul- 

 phurous fumes and steam issue from several 

 vents, giving out a sickening smell that can 

 be detected at a considerable distance. The 

 unwasted condition of these craters, and, in- 

 deed, to a great extent, of the entire mountain, 

 would tend to show that Rainier is still a com- 

 paratively young mountain. With the excep- 

 tion of the projecting lips of the craters and 

 the top of a subordinate summit a short 

 distance to the northward, the moimtain is 

 soUdly capped with ice all around; and it is 

 this ice-cap which forms the grand central 

 fountain whence all the twenty glaciers of 

 Rainier flow, radiating in every direction. 



268 



