June i, 1907.] 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
851 
to the summit. The first returned to camp after 
a three days search among the open crevasses, 
having failed to find a northeast passage. The 
second expedition was then sent out and after 
a similar length of time returned and reported 
failure, d he official ascent was bravely under¬ 
taken by thirty odd men and women under the 
leadership of C. H. Slides, the genial president 
of the Mazama Club, who hoped to win the sum¬ 
mit, although the scouts had failed to do it. 
With pack horses camp supplies were taken 
across snow fields three miles and a half to the 
highest ledge of rock intervening, where a tem¬ 
porary camp was established. Before noon of 
the day following the climbers had reached a 
crater about 2,000 feet below the summit, where 
clouds of steam were rising. The heated rocks 
keep the snow, which is here from 200 to 400 
feet deep, melted away, giving the place a cavern¬ 
ous appearance. Aside from this hollowed-out 
look of the surface of the glacier there is no 
indication of any depression in the general slope 
of the side of the mountain. The vapors of 
sulphur issue from myriads of small vents, and 
boiling water and jets of steam add to the hiss¬ 
ing and sputtering noises. 
The air had been pungent with the fumes of 
sulphur for more than a mile before reaching 
this point. Streaks of pirfk and red and yellow 
were also noticed on the surface of the snow 
like little water courses, in some places having 
a purplish tinge, all probably produced by con¬ 
densations from the heavy vapors trickling down 
the inclines along the surface of the snow under 
the layer of lighter air, at times when the atmos- 
I' phere was calm. Incrustations of alum form 
about the crater where evaporation of water 
takes place and precipitations of it from cooling 
water collecting wherever it finds a temporary 
lodgment. This alunogen (natural hydrous 
aluminum sulphate) was first detected when 
drinking ice water on the glacier below the crater. 
A specimen of it was at once identified and 
particles of it were distributed at camp-fire as 
; tidbits to as many as wished to taste it. Fine 
specimens of sulphur, alunogen, pumice and all 
[ other minerals were collected and later classified, 
nl he crater is at the head of the immense ser- 
pentine-shaped glacier on the right hand fork 
1 of Wells Creek, the one explored by the club 
and named in honor of it the Mazama glacier. 
Great clouds of steam at times arise like pillars 
of smoke which, seen from afar, have given rise 
, to excited rumors of volcanic activity. The 
• <*ause of it is simple enough. The awful walls 
! of snow on the upper side of the crater are fis- 
! sured in the most fantastic manner. Great masses 
f loosen and go thundering down upon the hot 
locks when unusual volumes of steam begin at 
’ once to arise in a most threatening manner. 
The sagging of the snow and ice all round the 
i slopes of the mountain rends it with multitudes 
of treacherous crevasses, most of which are 
lateral cracks,' and where from a distance, there 
1 appeared to be the best route, when once upon 
the spot, it was often found beset with impass- 
I l ble chasms. For this reason much of our route 
■ ay among the lava spurs and up the snow steeps 
| ‘long the cleavers or ridges where the surface 
‘vas less broken and the fissures smallest and 
east dangerous. 
; By 3 o’clock, after the most tortuous and ven- 
i ur esome climbing, we reached a pinnacle of 
j )um ice stone, the highest point of exposed rock 
j )n the northeast slope, just a few hundred feet 
under the coveted summit, but here we found it 
utterly impossible to rise higher owing to an 
overhanging crest of snow. Different attempts 
were made to find some passage up through the 
drifts, but to no purpose, and to escape the dan¬ 
gers of approaching night, defeated a third time 
in the attempt to scale the peak, we beat a hurried 
retreat for temporary camp. 
The same day a carefully timed ascent was 
accomplished by two old timers, Cornell and 
Stuart, by the easier northwest passage, with a 
view to giving the Mazamas a welcome surprise 
party on the summit. They left a stake and to 
it attached this message: “Hail and adieu, 
Mazamas.” Very shortly after these men visited 
ATTEMPTING TO FIND A PASSAGE UP THROUGH THE 
DRIFTS. 
Camp Sholes and professed that they were not 
surprised themselves at not meeting anyone on 
the top of Baker, because they always knew the 
northeast approach was impassable. But they 
were not a little surprised when their wireless 
message was repeated to them and informed that 
it had preceded them to camp. 
The intrepid Kiser and a picked crew of five 
others immortalized themselves by demonstrat¬ 
ing that the third time is not always the charm, 
for they returned to the pumice pinnacle the day 
after our signal defeat with axes, iron pins, and 
extra rope, and by dint of muscle and courage, 
and faculty for engineering, these sturdy fellows 
climbed and drifted and stoped until they cut 
their way up through the overhanging drifts and 
came out on the snowy summit. They deposited 
a Mazama box on the tip top in evidence of the 
success of the Mazama outing for 1906, inclosed 
in it the message left for them the day previous, 
and recorded their own names therein as fol¬ 
lows : F. H. Kiser, L. S. Hildebrandt, M. Wan- 
lich, C. E. Forsythe, A. Curtiss and C. M. Wil¬ 
liams. 
The descent was more perilous than the climb, 
but they had saved the credit of the club, and 
feeling that they had been eminently successful 
in their venture the return was lightened by their 
pride of spirit. 
Two more names were later registered on the 
summit of Mount Baker, that of John A. Lee 
and Rodney Glison, who skirted the base of the 
mountain round to the south and ascended to 
the Mazama box by way of the Baker Lake pas¬ 
sage. These parties with a companion made the 
start with three days’ rations. Two of them 
reached the summit so late in the afternoon of 
the third day that they were obliged to spend 
the long, cold night on the top of the mountain. 
Dressed as they were in light clothing for climb¬ 
ing, and elevated into a zone of arctic tempera¬ 
ture, with the stinging wind whistling about them, 
they were forced in desperation to continue the 
most vigorous exercise all night until sunrise 
the next morning, to keep from freezing in their 
tracks. There was not a rock behind which they 
might even seek shelter, nothing but the smooth, 
rounded dome of snow. They picked up their 
companion on their return and came trooping 
into Camp Sholes about midnight of the fourth 
day out, having foraged the last day after reach¬ 
ing timber line upon wild huckleberries and cold 
water. 
The Mazamas broke camp the following day 
and returned to Bellingham. From here they 
dispersed to their homes in many parts of the 
United States and Canada. The outing was a 
most enjoyable one. Although none of the ladies, 
and but very few of the men, reached the ex¬ 
treme tip of the summit, it must be conceded 
that the Mazama outing and exploration was a 
notable achievement. Individually everybody en¬ 
joyed the novelty of outdoor life, had more or 
less experience in mountain climbing, shared in 
the intellectual companionship and social enter¬ 
tainment at camp-fires, realized something of the 
divine inspiration which comes with commun¬ 
ion with nature, and returned to home and loved 
ones richer in body, mind and soul for the vaca¬ 
tion from things artificial, and a closer knowl¬ 
edge of the evidences of God. 
The trail to clouds at snow line, beyond the 
sunset on Mount Baker, has opened up another 
American pleasure resort. It will never be closed. 
The popularity of this resort in time will be 
widespread. Already there is talk of hotels and 
electric ways, but being as it is within a Govern 
ment forest reserve where private interests are 
subject to careful supervision and regulation, 
the chances are fair of its becoming in due course 
of time a portion of another national park. 
The Agassiz Centennial. 
Tuesday of this week, May 28, was the one 
hundredth anniversary of the birth of Jean Louis 
Rudolphe Agassiz, whose death occurred in Cam¬ 
bridge, Mass., Dec. 14, 1873. It was there that 
he had made his home since the late forties, 
when he finally removed from Prussia to 
America. The day was celebrated by the scien¬ 
tific societies of Europe and America. 
