Part 1

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Transcriber's note:

Text enclosed by underscores is in italics (_italics_).

Text enclosed by equal signs is in bold face (=bold=).

THE GUARDIANS OF THE COLUMBIA

* * * * *

THE MOUNTAIN

I hold above a careless land The menace of the skies; Within the hollow of my hand The sleeping tempest lies. Mine are the promise of the morn, The triumph of the day; And parting sunset's beams forlorn Upon my heights delay. --Edward Sydney Tylee

* * * * *

THE GUARDIANS OF THE COLUMBIA

Mount Hood, Mount Adams and Mount St. Helens

by

JOHN H. WILLIAMS

Author of "The Mountain That Was 'God'"

_And mountains that like giants stand To sentinel enchanted land._ SCOTT: "The Lady of the Lake."

With More Than Two Hundred Illustrations Including Eight in Colors

Tacoma John H. Williams 1912

Copyright, 1912, by John H. Williams

FOREWORD

In offering this second volume of a proposed series on Western mountain scenery, I am fortunate in having a subject as unhackneyed as was that of "The Mountain that Was 'God.'" The Columbia River has been described in many publications about the Northwest, but the three fine snow-peaks guarding its great canyon have received scant attention, and that mainly from periodicals of local circulation.

These peaks are vitally a part of the vast Cascade-Columbia scene to which they give a climax. Hence the story here told by text and picture has necessarily included the stage upon which they were built up. And since the great forests of this mountain and river district are a factor of its beauty as well as its wealth, I am glad to be able to present a brief chapter about them from the competent hand of Mr. H. D. Langille, formerly of the United States forest service. A short bibliography, with notes on transportation routes, hotels, guides and other matters of interest to travelers and students, will be found at the end.

Accuracy has been my first aim. I have tried to avoid the exaggeration employed in much current writing for the supposed edification of tourists. It has seemed to me that simply and briefly to tell the truth about the fascinating Columbia country would be the best service I could render to those who love its splendid mountains and its noble river. A mass of books, government documents and scientific essays has been examined. This literature is more or less contradictory, and as I cannot hope to have avoided all errors, I shall be grateful for any correction of my text.

In choosing the illustrations, I have sought to show the individuality of each peak. Mountains, like men, wear their history on their faces,--none more so than Hood's sharp and finely scarred pyramid; or Adams, with its wide, truncated dome and deeply carved slopes; or St. Helens, newest of all our extinct volcanoes--if, indeed, it be extinct,--and least marred by the ice, its cone as perfect as Fujiyama's. Each has its own wonderful story to tell of ancient and often recent vulcanism. Let me again suggest that readers who would get the full value of the more comprehensive illustrations will find a reading glass very useful.

Thanks are due to many helpers. More than fifty photographers, professional and amateur, are named in the table of illustrations. Without their co-operation the book would have been impossible. I am also indebted for valued information and assistance to the librarians at the Portland and Tacoma public libraries, the officers and members of the several mountaineering clubs in Portland, and the passenger departments of the railways reaching that city; to Prof. Harry Fielding Reid, the eminent geologist of Johns Hopkins University; Fred G. Plummer, geographer of the United States forest service; Dr. George Otis Smith, director of the United States geological survey; Judge Harrington Putnam, of New York, president of the American Alpine Club; Messrs. Rodney L. Glisan, William M. Ladd, H. O. Stabler, T. H. Sherrard, Judge W. B. Gilbert, H. L. Pittock, George H. Himes, John Gill, C. E. Rusk, and others in Portland and elsewhere.

The West has much besides magnificent scenery to give those who visit it. Here have been played, upon a grander stage, the closing acts in the great drama of state-building which opened three hundred years ago on the Atlantic Coast. The setting has powerfully moulded the history, and we must know one if we would understand the other. Europe, of course, offers to the American student of culture and the arts something which travel here at home cannot supply. But every influence that brings the different sections of the United States into closer touch and fuller sympathy makes for patriotism and increased national strength.

This, rather than regret for the two hundred millions of dollars which our tourists spend abroad each year, is the true basis of the "See America First" movement. According to his capacity, the tourist commonly gets value for his money, whether traveling in Europe or America. But Eastern ignorance of the West is costing the country more than the drain of tourist money.

This volume is presented, therefore, as a call to better appreciation of the splendor and worth of our own land. Its publication will be justified if it is found to merit in some degree the commendation given its predecessor by Prof. W. D. Lyman, of Whitman College, whose delightful book on the Columbia has been consulted and whose personal advice has been of great value throughout my work. "I wish to express the conviction," writes Prof. Lyman, "that you have done an inestimable service to all who love beauty, and who stand for those higher things among our possessions that cannot be measured in money, but which have an untold bearing upon the finer sensibilities of a nation."

Tacoma, June 15, 1912.

CONTENTS

I. THE RIVER.

Dawn at Cloud Cap Inn--The geological dawn--Cascade-Sierra uptilt--Rise of the snow-peaks--An age of vulcanism--Origin of the great Columbia gorge--Dawn in Indian legend--The "Bridge of the Gods"--Victory of Young Chinook--Dawn of modern history--The pioneers and the state builders 15

II. THE MOUNTAINS.

Portland's snowy sentinels--Ruskin on the mountains--Cascades vs. Alps--Mount Hood and its retreating glaciers--The Mazamas--A shattered crater--Mount Adams--Lava and ice caves--Mount St. Helens--The struggle of the forest on the lava beds--Adventures of the climbers--The Mazamas in peril--An heroic rescue 57

III. THE FORESTS, by HAROLD DOUGLAS LANGILLE.

Outposts at timber line--The alpine parks--Zone of the great trees--Douglas fir--From snow-line to ocean beach--Conservation and reforestation 123

NOTES 140

ILLUSTRATIONS

The * indicates engravings from copyrighted photographs. See notice under the illustration.

THREE-COLOR HALFTONES.

Title Photographer Page *Dawn on Spirit Lake, north side of Mount St. Helens Dr. U. M. Lauman Frontispiece *St. Peter's Dome, with the Columbia and Mount Adams G. M. Weister 20 *Nightfall on the Columbia Kiser Photo Co. 37 *Columbia River and Mount Hood, from White Salmon, Washington Kiser Photo Co. 56 *Mount Hood, with crevasses of Eliot glacier G. M. Weister 73 *Ice Castle and crevasse, Eliot glacier G. M. Weister 92 *Columbia River and Mount Adams, from Hood River, Oregon Benj. A. Gifford 109 An Island of Color--Rhododendrons and Squaw Grass Asahel Curtis 127

ONE-COLOR HALFTONES.

Title Photographer Page