A WONDERLAND OF GLACIERS AND SNOW 



531 



MELTING SNOW CLINGS TO THE SKIS Photo b ^ Carl F - Gould 



fessor Zittel, the geologist, and Prof. 

 James Bryce wrote of Rainier: 



"The peak itself is as noble a moun- 

 tain as we have ever seen in its lines and 

 structure. . . . The combination of 

 ice scenery with woodland scenery of the 

 grandest type is to be found nowhere in 

 the Old World, unless it be in the Hima- 

 layas, and, so far as we know, nowhere 

 else on the American Continent."* 



The altitude of Rainier has been re- 

 ported between 14,394 feetf and 14,526 

 feet, placing it either first or second 

 among the peaks in the United States 

 proper. A difference of a few feet, 

 which can be determined only by accu- 

 rate measurement, is of slight impor- 

 tance to the ordinary observer. The 

 noteworthy facts are that Rainier stands 

 absolutely alone, is snow-clad throughout 

 the year, and may be seen in its entirety 

 from sea-level at distances of forty to 

 one hundred miles to the westward. 



* Ibid., page 412. 



t Mount Rainier, Mount Shasta, and Mount 

 Whitney as sites for Meteorological Observa- 

 tions, by Alexander G. McAdie. Sierra Club 

 Bulletin, Vol. VI, No. 1, January, 1906, pages 

 7-14, illustrated. San Francisco, Cal. (See 

 other articles in this number.) 



The Cascade Range, in its north-south 

 course across the State of Washington, 

 has a general summit elevation varying 

 from five to seven thousand feet, above 

 which tower the volcanic peaks of 

 Mounts Adams, Saint Helens, Baker, 

 and Rainier. Glaciers still linger on 

 nearly all the higher peaks, as relics of 

 the ice-sheet which once covered the 

 whole range. Many cirques of former 

 glaciers are occupied now by fields of 

 snow and neve of great thickness. The 

 snowfall is heavy throughout the moun- 

 tains, due to the chilling of the warm, 

 moist winds from the Pacific. In spite 

 of the glaciers and snows, the winter cli- 

 mate of the Cascades is mild. 



The railway station nearest to the 

 Mount Rainier National Park is Ash- 

 ford, on the southwest, fifty-five miles 

 from Puget Sound by the Tacoma and 

 Eastern Railway. Camping parties with 

 wagons or automobiles must come in 

 from the lower country by the county 

 road passing through Ashford, but pack- 

 trains can be driven into the park by four 

 or five other routes. The county road 

 from Ashford continues up the Nisqually 

 River for six miles, to the western bound- 



