240 



RECREA TION. 



THE SUCCESSFUL CLIMBERS. 



grand peak that opened the flood gates 

 of his enthusiasm. 



In 1792, Vancouver, sailing in from 

 the Pacific, had named the mountain 

 "Rainier," after his friend Rear Admiral 

 Rainier, a foreigner who never saw the 

 mountain. If priority of designation 

 should perpetuate a name, and if this 

 rule is, like the laws of the " Medes and 

 Persians," unchangeable, then Vancou- 

 ver's name should stand. But there is 

 another phase of the question, and, to my 

 mind a serious one. The word Tacoma — 

 either this or some other form of it — is the 

 Indian name for the mountain — a name 

 in existence before Vancouver saw it. 



Inasmuch as about all we have in this 

 country that is original and distinct- 

 ively American, is that which comes 

 from the aboriginal red man, it would 

 seem proper to insist that we keep on 

 applying these names ourselves, and that 

 we should not be compelled to adopt a 

 foreigner's name for this great peak, 

 even though the name be by accident, 

 hoary with age. The same rule also 

 applies to mounts Baker, Adams, and 

 other peaks on the coast. 



To stand on the very pinnacle, or, as 

 it happens to be in this case, dome, of 

 such a peak as Tacoma, nearly three 

 miles above sea level, were not only 

 worthy any man's ambition, but well 

 worth the long toil and the effort neces- 

 sary to accomplish it. At least so thought 

 the writer when, on August 8th, 1894, he 

 stood there and looked out on a scene 

 that will furnish food for reflection for 

 a life time. The desire to stand among 

 the clouds, that seem ever to hover 

 about Tacoma's crest ; to plant my feet 

 on its immaculate dome, was not ot 

 recent birth. Never, in the half dozen 

 times I had, from afar, gazed on its 

 giant brow, had this desire been wanting. 

 Last summer the opportunity came. 



There are two routes from Tacoma 

 and Seattle to the mountain. One is 

 .via the Cascade branch of the Northern 

 Pacific Railroad to Wilkeson, and leads 

 to the North slope. While there is 

 much to be seen here that is grand and 

 interesting, unfortunately for the alpine 

 climber, no one has yet been able to 

 ascend the mountain from this side. 



The other route, from Tacoma, 



