III.

photographFinest of the St. Helens glaciers, north side, with Black Butte on left. It is proposed to call this "Forsyth glacier," in honor of C. E. Forsyth, leader in a memorable rescue.

It was day when camp was reached. In an improvised hospital, a young surgeon, aided by a trained nurse, both Mazamas, quickly set the broken bones. Then they sent their patient comfortably away to the railroad and a Portland hospital. Before the wagon started, Anderson, who had uttered no groan in his two days of agony, struggled to a sitting posture, and searched the faces of all in the crowd about him.

"Ay don't want ever to forget how you look," he said simply; "you who have done all this yust for me."

It is fitting that such an event should be commemorated. With the approval of Mr. Riley and other Mazamas who were present at the time, I would propose that the north-side glacier already described, the most beautiful of the St. Helens ice-streams, be named "Forsyth glacier," in honor of the leader of this heroic rescue.

photographCOPYRIGHT, ASAHEL CURTISRoad among the Douglas Firs.

photographShips loading lumber at one of Portland's large mills.

THE FORESTS

By HAROLD DOUGLAS LANGILLE

As the lowlander cannot be said to have truly seen the element of water at all, so even in his richest parks and avenues he cannot be said to have truly seen trees. For the resources of trees are not developed until they have difficulty to contend with; neither their tenderness of brotherly love and harmony, till they are forced to choose their ways of life where there is contracted room. The various action of trees, rooting themselves in inhospitable rocks, stooping to look into ravines, hiding from the search of glacial winds, reaching forth to the rays of rare sunshine, crowding down together to drink at sweetest streams, climbing hand in hand the difficult slopes, gliding in grave procession over the heavenward ridges—nothing of this can be conceived among the unvexed and unvaried felicities of the lowland forest.—Ruskin: "Modern Painters."

photographOutposts of the Forest. Storm-swept White-bark Pines on Mount Hood.

STAND upon the icy summit of any one of the Columbia's snow-peaks, and look north or west or south across the expanse of blue-green mountains and valleys reaching to the sea; your eyes will rest upon the greatest forest the temperate zone has produced within the knowledge of man. Save where axe and fire have turned woodland into field or ghostly "burn," the mantle is spread. Along the broad crests of the Cascades, down the long spurs that lead to the valleys, and across the Coast Range, lies a wealth of timber equaled in no other region. The outposts of thisgreat army of trees will meet you far below.

photographAlpine Hemlocks at the timber-line on Mt. Adams. Mt. Hood in distance.

Rimming about your peak, braving winds and the snows that drift in the lee of old moraines, and struggling to break through the timber-line, six thousand feet above the sea, somber mountain hemlocks (Tsuga mertensiana) and lighter white-bark pines (Pinus albicaulis) form the thin vanguard of the forest. They meet the glaciers. They border the snow-fields. They hide beneath their stunted, twisted forms the first deep gashes carved in the mountain slopes by eroding streams. Valiant protectors of less sturdy trees and plants, their whitened weather-sides bear witness to a fierce struggle for life on the bleak shoulders of the peaks.

photographEnlargeMazama Party resting among the sub-alpine firs in a flower-carpeted "park" at the foot of Mount St. Helens

Enlarge

Make your way, as the streamlets do, down to the alpine glades, on the high plateaus, where anemone, erythronium and calochortus push their buds through lingering snow-crusts. The scattered trees gather in their first groups.Just within their shelter pause for a moment. Vague distance is narrowed to a diminutive circle. The mystery of vastness passes. Sharp indeed is the division between storm-swept barren and forest shelter.

photographA Lowland Ravine. Cedars, Vine Maples, Devil's Club and Ferns, near Mount St. Helens.

Here ravines, decked with heather, hold streams from the snowdrifts—streams that hunt the steepest descents, and glory in their leaps from rock to rock and from cliff to pool. If it be the spring-time of the mountains—late July—the mossy rills will be half concealed beneath fragrant white azaleas that nod in the breezes blowing up with the ascending sun and down with the turn of day. Trailing over the rocks, or banked in the shelter of larger trees, creeping juniper (Juniperus communis), least of our evergreens, stays the drifting sands against the drive of winds or the wash of melting snows.

photographCOPYRIGHT, KISERThe "Noble" Fir.

Along the streams and on sunny slopes and benches are the homes of the pointed firs. Seeking protection from the storm, the spire-like trees cluster in tiny groves, among which, like little bays of a lake, the grassy flowered meadows run in and out, sun-lit, and sweet with rivulets from the snows above. If you do not know these upland "parks," there is rare pleasure awaiting you. A hundred mountain blossoms work figures of white and red and orange andblue in the soft tapestry of green. In such glades the hush is deep. Only the voice of a waterfall comes up from the canyon, or the whistle of a marmot, the call of the white-winged crows and the drone of insects break the stillness.

photographDense Hemlock Forest, lower west slope of Mount Hood.

photographMount Hood from Ghost-tree Ridge. Whitened trunks of trees killed by forest fires.

The outer rank of hemlock and fir droops its branches to the ground to break the tempest's attack. Within, silver or lovely fir (Abies amabilis) mingles with hardier forms. Its gray, mottled trunks are flecked with the yellow-green of lichen or festooned with wisps of mossdown to the level of the big snows. And here, a vertical mile above the sea, you meet the daring western hemlock (Tsuga heterophylla), which braves the gale of ocean and mountain alike, indifferent to all but fire. It is of gentle birth yet humble spirit. It accepts all trees as neighbors. You meet it everywhere as you journey to the sea. But on the uplands only, in a narrow belt like a scarf thrown across the shoulders of the mountain, sub-alpine fir (Abies lasiocarpa) sends up its dark, attenuated spires, in striking contrast with the rounded crowns of its companions.

color picture of flowers in the woodsAn Island of Color in the Forest. Rhododendrons and Squaw Grass on the west slope of Mount Hood."The common growth of mother-earthSuffices me,—her tears, her mirth,Her humblest mirth and tears."—Wordsworth.

An Island of Color in the Forest. Rhododendrons and Squaw Grass on the west slope of Mount Hood."The common growth of mother-earthSuffices me,—her tears, her mirth,Her humblest mirth and tears."—Wordsworth.

"The common growth of mother-earthSuffices me,—her tears, her mirth,Her humblest mirth and tears."—Wordsworth.

photographCOPYRIGHT, ASAHEL CURTISGroup of Red Cedars, five to eight feet in diameter.

photographOn the road to Government Camp, west of Mount Hood. Broadleaf Maple on extreme right; Douglas Firs arching the roadway, and White Fir on left.

A little lower, the transition zone offers a noteworthy intermingling of species. Down from the stormy heights come alpine trees to lock branches with types from warmer levels. Here you see lodgepole pine (Pinus murrayana), that wonderful restorer of waste places which sends forth countless tiny seedlings to cover fire-swept areas and lava fields with forerunners of a forest. Here, too, you will find western white pine (Pinus monticola), the fair lady of the genus, whose soft, delicate foliage, finely chiseled trunk, and golden brown cones denote its gentleness; and Engelmann spruce (Picea Engelmannii) of greener blue than any other, and hung with pendants of soft seed cones, saved from pilfering rodents by pungent, bristling needles.

Here also are western larch or tamarack (Larix occidentalis); or, rarely, on our northern peaks, Lyall's larch (Larix Lyallii), whose naked branches send out tiny fascicles of soft pale leaves; and Noble fir (Abies nobilis), stately, magnificent, proud of its supremacy over all. And you may come upon a rare cluster of Alaska cedar (Chamæcyparis nootkatensis), here at its southernlimit, reaching down from the Coast range of British Columbia almost to meet the Great sugar pines (Pinus lambertiana) which come up from the granite heights of the California sierra to play an important role in the southern Oregon forests.

photographCOPYRIGHT, WEISTERWhere man's a pygmy.A Noble Fir, 175 feet to first limb.

Across the roll of ridge and canyon, you see them all; and when you come to know them well, each form, each shade of green, though far away, will claim your recognition. Yonder, in a hollow of the hills, a cluster of blue-green heads is raised above the familiar color of the hemlocks. Cross to it, and stand amidst the crowning glory of Nature's art in building trees. About you rise columns of Noble firs, faultless in symmetry, straight as the line of sight, clean as granite shafts. Carry the picture with you; nowhere away from the forests of the Columbia can you look upon such perfect trees.

photographFirs and Hemlocks, in Clarke County, Washington.

Westward of the Cascade summits the commercial forest of to-day extends down from an elevation of about 3,500 feet. Intercepted by these heights, the moisture-laden clouds are emptied on the crest of the range. Eastward, the effects of decreasing precipitation are shown both in species and in density. Tamarack, white fir and pines climb higher on these warmer slopes. Along the base of the mountains, and beyond low passes where strong west winds drive saturated clouds out over level reaches, western yellow pine (Pinus ponderosa) becomes almost the only tree. Over miles of level lava flow, along the upperDeschutes, this species forms a great forest bounded on the east by rolling sage-brush plains that stretch southward to the Nevada deserts. Beyond the Deschutes drainage, where spurs of the Blue mountains rise to the levels of clouds and moisture, the forest again covers the hills, spreading far to the east until it disappears again in the broad, treeless valley of Snake river. North of the Columbia the story is the same. From the lower slopes of Mt. Adams great rolling bunch-grass downs and prairies reach far eastward. Here and there, over these drier stretches, stand single trees or clusters of western juniper (Juniperus occidentalis).

photographFifty-year-old Hemlock growing on Cedar log. The latter, which was centuries old before it matured and fell, was still sound enough to yield many thousand shingles.

But on the west slope of the Cascades, and over the Coast range, the great forests spread in unbroken array, save where wide valleys have been cleared by man or hillsides stripped by fire. Here, in the land of warm sea winds and abundant moisture, the famous Douglas fir (Pseudotsuga taxifolia), Pacific red cedar (Thuja plicata) and tideland spruce (Picea sitchensis) attain their greatest development. These are the monarchs of the matchless Northwestern forests, to which the markets of the world are looking more and more as the lines of exhausted supply draw closer.

photographSawyers preparing to "fall" a large Tideland Spruce.

Douglas fir recalls by its name one of the heroes of science, David Douglas, a Scotch naturalist who explored these forests nearly ninety years ago, and discovered not only this particular giant of the woods, but also the great sugar pine and many other fine trees and plants. As a pioneer botanist, searching the forest, Douglas presented a surprising spectacleto the Indians. "The Man of Grass" they called him, when they came to understand that he was not bent on killing the fur-bearing animals for the profit to be had from their pelts.

photographSugar Pine, Douglas Fir, and Yellow Pine.

The splendid conifer which woodsmen have called after him is one of the kings of all treeland. The most abundant species of the Northwest, it is also, commercially, the most important. Sometimes reaching a height of more than 250 feet, it grows in remarkably close stands, and covers vast areas with valuable timber that will keep the multiplying mills of Oregon and Washington sawing for generations. In the dense shade of the forests, it raises a straight and stalwart trunk, clear of limb for a hundred feet or more. On the older trees, its deeply furrowed bark is often a foot thick. Trees of eight feet diameter are at least three hundred years old, and rare ones, much larger, have been cut showing an age of more than five centuries.

To these areas of the greatest trees must come all who would know the real spirit of the forest, at once beneficent and ruthless. Here nature selects the fittest. The struggle for soil below and light above is relentless. The weakling, crowded and overshadowed, inevitably deepens the forest floor with its fallen trunk, adding to the humus that covers the lavas, and nourishing in its decay the more fortunate rival that has robbed it of life. Here, too, with the architectural splendor of the trees, one feels the truth of Bryant's familiar line:

The groves were God's first temples.

The stately evergreens raise their rugged crowns far toward the sky, arching gothic naves that vault high over the thick undergrowth of ferns and vine maples. In such scenes, it is easy to understand the woodsman's solace, ofwhich Herbert Bashford tells in his "Song of the Forest Ranger:"

I would hear the wild rejoicingOf the wind-blown cedar tree,Hear the sturdy hemlock voicingAncient epics of the sea.Forest aisles would I be winding,Out beyond the gates of Care;And in dim cathedrals findingSilence at the shrine of Prayer.* * * *Come and learn the joy of living!Come and you will understandHow the sun his gold is givingWith a great, impartial hand!How the patient pine is climbing,Year by year to gain the sky;How the rill makes sweetest rhymingWhere the deepest shadows lie!

photographYellow Cedar, with young Silver Fir.

photographCOPYRIGHT, GIFFORDOne of the Kings of Treeland—A Douglas Fir.

Fir, spruce and cedar you will see along the slopes of the Cascades in varying density and grandeur, from thickets of slender trees reclaiming fire-swept lands to broken ranks of patriarchs whose crowns have swayed before the storms of centuries. Among the foot hills, the pale gray "grand" or white firs (Abies grandis) rear their domes above the common plane in quest of light, occasionally attaining a height of 275 feet, while the lowly yew (Taxus brevifolia), of which the warrior of an earlier time fashioned his bow, overhangs the noisy streams. In the same habitat, where the little rivers debouch into the valleys, you may see the broad-leaf maple, Oregon ash, cottonwood, and a score oflesser deciduous trees on which the filtered rays of sunshine play in softer tones.

photographCOPYRIGHT, JAS. WAGGENER, JR.Firs and Vine Maples in Washington Forest.

Here and there in the Willamette valley you meet foothill yellow pine (Pinus ponderosa var. benthamiana), near relative of the western yellow pine. Oregon oak (Quercus garryana) occurs sparingly throughout the valleys, or reaches up the western foothills of the Willamette, until it meets the great unbroken forest of the Coast Range.

photographTowing a log raft out to sea, bound for the California markets.

The dense lower forests are never gaily decked, so little sunlight enters. But in early summer, back among the mountains, you may find tangles of half-prostrate rhododendron, from which, far as the eye can reach, the rose-pink gorgeous flowers give back the tints of sunshine and the iridescent hues of raindrops. Mingled with the flush of "laurel" blossoms are nodding plumes of creamy squaw grass, the beautiful xerophyllum. Often this queenly upland flowercovers great areas, hiding the desolation wrought by forest fires. Its sheaves of fibrous rootstocks furnish the Indian women material for their basket-making; hence the most familiar of its many names. The varied green of huckleberry bushes is everywhere. They are the common ground cover.

photographA "Burn" on the slopes of Mount Hood, overgrown with Squaw Grass. Such fire-swept areas are quickly covered with mountain flowers, of which this beautiful cream-colored plume is one of the most familiar. Its roots yield a fiber used by the Indians in making baskets.

photographCOPYRIGHT, GIFFORDA Noble Fir.

In valley woodlands, the dogwood, here a tree of fair proportions, lights up the somber forest with round, white eyes that peer out through bursting leafbuds, early harbingers of summer. The first blush of color comes with the unfolding of the pink and red racemes of flowering wild currant. Later, sweet syringa fills the air with the breath of orange blossoms; and spirea, the Indian arrowwood, hangs its tassels among the forest trees or on the bushy hills. But the presence of deciduous trees and shrubs, as well as their beauty, is best known in autumn, when maples brighten the woods with yellow rays; when dogwood and vine maple paint the fire-scarred slopes a flaming red, and a host of other color-bearers stain the cliffs with rich tints of saffron and russet and brown.

Coming at last to the rim of the forest, you look out over the sea, where go lumber-laden ships to all the world. Close by the beach, dwarfed and distorted by winds of the ocean, and nourished by its fogs, north-coast pine (Pinus contorta) extends its prostrate forms over the cliffs and dunes of the shore, just as your first acquaintance, the white-bark pine, spreads over the dunes and ridges of the mountain. They are brothers of a noble race.

photographWestern White Pine.

You have traversed the wonder-forestof the world, and on your journey with the stream you may have come to know twenty-three species of cone-bearers, all indigenous to the Columbia country. Of these, one is Douglas fir, nowise a true fir but a combination of spruce and hemlock; seven are pines, four true firs, two spruces, two hemlocks, two tamaracks or larches, two cedars, two junipers, and the yew.

photographA Clatsop Forest. On extreme right is a Silver Fir, covered with moss; next are two fine Hemlocks, with Tideland Spruce on left.

So many large and valuable trees of so many varieties can be found nowhere else. A Douglas fir growing within the watershed of the Columbia is twelve feet and seven inches in diameter. A single stick 220 feet long and 39 inches in diameter at its base has been cut for a flagpole in Clatsop county. A spruce twenty feet in diameter has been measured. Such immense types are rare, yet in a day's tramp through the Columbia forests one may see many trees upwards of eight feet in diameter. One acre in the Cowlitz river watershed is said to bear twenty-two trees, each eight feet or more at its base. Though no exact measurements can be cited, it is likely that upon different single acres 400,000 feet, board measure, of standing timber may be found. And back among the Cascades, upon one forty-acre tract, are 9,000,000 feet—enough to build a town. Manufactured, this body of timber would be worth $135,000, of which about $100,000 would be paid to labor.

photographA Carpet of Firs; 300,000 feet, cut on one acre in a Columbia forest.

Along the Columbia you will hear shrill signals of the straining engines that haul these gigantic trees to the rafting grounds. Up and down the broad river ply steamboats trailing huge log-rafts to the mills. Each year the logging railroads push farther back among the mountains, tobring forth lumber for Australia, the Orient, South America, Europe and Africa. Many of our own states, which a few years ago boasted "inexhaustible" forests, now draw from this supply.

photographWinter in the forest. Mount Hood seen from Government Camp road. Twenty feet of snow.

Since 1905 Washington has been the leading lumber-producing state of the Union, and Oregon has advanced, in one year, from ninth to fourth place. The 1910 production of lumber in these states was 6,182,125,000 feet, or 15.4 per cent. of the total output of the United States. The same states, it is estimated, have 936,800,000,000 feet of standing merchantable timber, or a third of the country's total.

photographRangers' Pony Trail in forest of Douglas and Silver Firs.

This is the heritage which the centuries of forest life have bequeathed. Only the usufruct of it is rightfully ours. Even as legal owners, we are nevertheless but trustees of that which was here before the coming of our race, and which should be here in great quantity when our trails have led beyond the range. Our duty is plain. Let us uphold every effort to give meaning and power to the civil laws which say: "Thou shalt not burn;" to the moral laws which say: "Thou shalt not waste." Let us understand and support that spirit of conservation whichdemands for coming generations the fullest measure of the riches we enjoy. For although the region of the Columbia is the home of the greatest trees, centuries must pass ere the seedlings of to-day will stand matured.

photographForest Fire on east fork of Hood River. From a photograph taken at Cloud Cap Inn five minutes after the fire started.

Reforestation is indispensable as insurance. Let us see to it that the untillable hills shall ever bear these matchless forests, emerald settings for our snow-peaks. On their future depends, in great degree, the future of the Northwest. As protectors of the streams that nourish our valleys, and perennial treasuries of power for our industries, they are guarantors of life and well-being to the millions that will soon people the vast Columbia basin.

photographReforestation—Three generations of young growth; Lodgepole Pine in foreground; Lodgepole and Tamarack thicket on ridge at right; Tamarack on skyline.

Transportation Routes, Hotels, Guides, etc.—The trip from Portland to north side of Mount Hood is made by rail (Oregon-Washington Ry. & Nay. Co. from Union station) or boat (The Dalles, Portland & Astoria Nav. Co. from foot of Alder street) to Hood River, Ore. (66 miles), where automobiles are taken for Cloud Cap Inn. Fare, to Hood River, by rail, $1.90; by boat, $1.00. Auto fare, Hood River to the Inn, $5.00. Round trip, Portland to Inn and return, by rail, $12.50; by boat, $12.00. Board and room at Cloud Cap Inn, $5.00 a day, or $30.00 a week. Accommodations may be reserved at Travel Bureau, 69 Fifth street.To Government Camp, south side of Mount Hood (56 miles), the trip is made by electric cars to Boring, Oregon, and thence by automobile. Cars of the Portland Railway, Light & Power Co., leave First and Alder streets for Boring (fare 40 cents), where they connect with automobiles (fare to Government Camp, $5.00). Board and room at Coalman's Government Camp hotel, $3.00 a day, or $18.00 a week.Guides for the ascent of Mt. Hood, as well as for a variety of side trips, may be engaged at Cloud Cap Inn and Government Camp. For climbing parties, the charge is $5.00 per member.The trip to Mount Adams is by Spokane, Portland & Seattle ("North Bank") Railway from North Bank station or by boat (as above) to White Salmon, Wash., connecting with automobile or stage for Guler or Glenwood. Fare to White Salmon by rail, $2.25; round trip, $3.25; fare by boat, $1.00. White Salmon to Guler, $3.00. Board and room at Chris. Guler's hotel at Guler P. O., near Trout Lake, $1.50 a day, or $9.00 a week. Similar rates to and at Glenwood. At either place, guides and horses may be engaged for the mountain trails (15 miles to the snow-line). Bargain in advance.The south side of Mount St. Helens is reached by rail from Union station, Portland, to Yacolt (fare $1.30) or Woodland ($1.00), where conveyances may be had for Peterson's ranch on Lewis River. To the north side, the best route is by rail to Castle Rock (fare, $1.90), and by vehicle thence to Spirit Lake. Regular guides for the mountain are not to be had, but the trails are well marked.Automobile Roads.—Portland has many excellent roads leading out of the city, along the Columbia and the Willamette. One of the most attractive follows the south bank of the Columbia to Rooster Rock and Latourelle Falls (25 miles). As it is on the high bluffs for much of the distance, it commands extended views of the river in each direction, and of the snow-peaks east and north of the city. Return may be made via the Sandy River valley. This road is now being extended eastward from Latourelle Falls to connect with the road which is building westward from Hood River. When completed the highway will be one of the great scenic roads of the world.From Portland, several roads through the near-by villages lead to a junction with the highway to Government Camp on the south side of Mount Hood (56 miles). The mountain portion of this is the old Barlow Road of the "immigrant" days in early Oregon, and is now a toll road. (Toll for vehicles, round trip, $2.50.) Supervisor T. H. Sherrard, of the Oregon National Forest Service, is now building a road from the west boundary of the national forest, at the junction of Zigzag and Sandy rivers, crossing Sandy canyon (see p.71), following the Clear Fork of the Sandy to the summit of the Cascades, crossing the range by the lowest pass in the state (elevation, 3,300 feet), and continuing down Elk Creek and West Fork of Hood River to a junction with the road from Lost Lake into Hood River valley. The completion of this road through the forest reserve will open a return route from Hood River to the Government Camp road, through a mountain district of the greatest interest.Southward from Portland, inviting roads along the Willamette lead to Oregon City, Salem, Eugene and Albany. From Portland westward, several good roads are available, leadingalong the Columbia or through Banks, Buxton and Mist to Astoria and the beach resorts south of that city. North of the Columbia (ferry to Vancouver), a route of great interest leads eastward along the Columbia to Washougal and the canyon of Washougal River (45 miles). From Vancouver northward a popular road follows the Columbia to Woodland and Kalama, and thence along the Cowlitz River to Castle Rock.The tour book of the Portland Automobile Club, giving details of these and many other roads, may be had for $1.50 in paper covers, or $2.50 in leather.Bibliography.—The geological story of the Cascade uptilt and the formation of the Columbia gorge is graphically told inCondon: Oregon Geology(Portland, J. K. Gill Co., 1910). For the Columbia from its sources to the sea,Lyman: The Columbia River(New York, G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1909) not only gives the best account of the river itself and its great basin but tells the Indian legends and outlines the period of discovery and settlement.Irving: AstoriaandWinthrop: The Canoe and the Saddleare classics of the early Northwest.Balch: Bridge of the Gods, weaves the Indian myth of a natural bridge into a story of love and war.The literature of the mountains described in this volume is mainly to be found in the publications of the mountain clubs, especiallyMazama(Portland),The Sierra Club Bulletin(San Francisco) andThe Mountaineer(Seattle). Many of their papers have scientific value as well as popular interest. It is to be hoped that the Mazamas will resume the publication of their annual.Russell: Glaciers of N. Am.p. 67;Emmons: Volcanoes of the U. S. Pacific Coast, inBulletin of Am. Geog. Soc., v. 9, p. 31;Sylvester: Is Mt. Hood Awakening?inNat'l Geog. Mag., v. 19, p. 515, describe the glaciers of Mt. Hood. Prof. Reid has published valuable accounts of both Hood and Adams, with especial reference to their glaciers, inScience, n. s., v. 15, p. 906;Bul. Geol. Soc. of Am., v. 13, p. 536, andZeitschrift fur Gletscherkunde, v. 1, p. 113. An account of the volcanic activities of St. Helens by Lieut. C. P. Elliott, U. S. A., may be found inU. S. Geog. Mag., v. 8, pp. 226, and by J. S. Diller inScience, v. 9, p. 639.The ice caves of the Mt. Adams district are described inBalch:Glacieres, or Freezing Caverns, which covers similar phenomena in many countries; by L. H. Wells, inPacific Monthly, v. 13, p. 234; by R. W. Raymond, inOverland Monthly, v. 3, p. 421; by H. T. Finck inNation, v. 57, p. 342.Dryer's account of the first ascent of Mt. St. Helens may be found inThe Oregonianof September 3, 1853, and his story of the first ascent of Mt. Hood inThe Oregonian, August 19, 1854, andLittell's Living Age, v. 43, p. 321.The Mountain Clubs.—For the following list of presidents and ascents of the Mazamas, I am indebted to Miss Gertrude Metcalfe, historian of the club:PRESIDENTS.OFFICIAL ASCENTS.1894Will G. SteelMt. Hood, Oregon.1895Will G. Steel—L. L. HawkinsMt. Adams, Washington.1896C. H. SholesMt. Mazama (named for the Mazamas, 1896), Mt. McLoughlin (Pitt), Crater Lake, Oregon.1897Henry L. PittockMt. Rainier, Washington.1898Hon. M. C. GeorgeMt. St. Helens, Washington.1899Will G. SteelMt. Sahale (named by the Mazamas, 1899), Lake Chelan, Wash.1900T. Brook WhiteMt. Jefferson, Oregon.1901Mark O'NeillMt. Hood, Oregon.1902Mark O'NeillMt. Adams, Washington.1903R. L. GlisanThree Sisters, Oregon.1904C. H. SholesMt. Shasta, California.1905Judge H. H. NorthupMt. Rainier, Washington.1906C. H. SholesMt. Baker (Northeast side), Wash.1907C. H. SholesMt. Jefferson, Oregon.1908C. H. SholesMt. St. Helens, Washington.1909M. W. GormanMt. Baker (Southwest side), and Shuksan, Washington.1910John A. LeeThree Sisters, Oregon.1911H. H. RiddellGlacier Peak, Lake Chelan, Wash.1912Edmund P. SheldonMt. Hood, Oregon.The organization and success of the Portland Snow Shoe Club are mainly due to the enthusiastic labors of its president, J. Wesley Ladd. Between 1901 and 1909, Mr. Ladd took a private party of his friends each winter for snow shoeing and other winter sports to Cloud Cap Inn or Government Camp. Three years ago it was determined to form a club and erect a house near Cloud Cap Inn. The club was duly incorporated and a permit obtained from the United States Forest Service. Mr. Ladd, who has been president of the club since its formation, writes me:"Our club house was started in July, 1910, and was erected by Mr. Mark Weygandt, the worthy mountain guide who has conducted so many parties to the top of Mt. Hood. It is built of white fir logs, all selected there in the forest. I have been told in a letter from the Montreal Amateur Athletic Club of Montreal, Canada, that we have the most unique and up-to-date Snow Shoe Club building in the world. The site for the house was selected by Mr. Horace Mecklem and myself, who made a special trip up there. The building was finished in September, 1910. It is forty feet long and twenty four feet wide, with a six-foot fireplace and a large up-to-date cooking range. The organizers of the club are as follows: Harry L. Corbett, Elliott R. Corbett, David T. Honeyman, Walter B. Honeyman, Rodney L. Glisan, Dr. Herbert S. Nichols, Horace Mecklem, Brandt Wickersham, Jordan V. Zan, and myself."The Portland Ski Club was organized six years ago, and has since made a trip to Government Camp in January or February of each year. The journey is made by vehicle until snow is gained on the foothills, at Rhododendron; the remaining ten miles are covered on skis. The presidents of the club have been: 1907, James A. Ambrose; 1908, George S. Luders; 1909, Howard H. Haskell; 1910, E. D. Jorgensen; 1911, G. R. Knight; 1912, John C. Cahalin.The Mountaineers, a club organized in Seattle in 1907, made a noteworthy ascent of Mount Adams in 1911.Climate.—The weather conditions in the lower Columbia River region are a standing invitation to outdoor life during a long and delightful summer. Western Oregon and Washington know no extremes of heat or cold at any time of the year. The statistics here given are from tables of the U. S. Weather Bureau, averaged for the period of government record:Mean annual rainfall: Portland, 45.1 inches; The Dalles, 19 inches. Portland averages 164 days with .01 of an inch precipitation during the year, and The Dalles 74 days; but the long and comparatively dry summer is indicated by the fact that only 27 of these days at Portland and 15 at The Dalles fell in the summer months, June to September inclusive.Mean annual temperature varies little between the east and west sides of the Cascades, Portland having a 57-year average of 52.8° as compared with 52.5° at The Dalles. But the range of temperature is greater in the interior. Thus the mean monthly temperature for January, the coldest month, is 38.7° at Portland and 32.6° at The Dalles, while for July, the hottest month, it is 67.3° at Portland and 72.6° at The Dalles.While mountain weather must always be an uncertain quantity, that of the Northwestern snow-peaks is comparatively steady, owing to the dry summer of the lowlands. During July and August, the snow-storms of the Alps are almost unknown here. After the middle of September, however, when the rains have begun, a visitor to the snow-line is liable to encounter weather very like that recorded by a belated tourist at Zermatt:First it rained and then it blew,And then it friz and then it snew,And then it fogged and then it thew;And very shortly after thenIt blew and friz and snew again.Erratum.—Onpage 72, I have been misled by Dryer's statement into crediting the first ascent of Mount Hood to Captain Samuel K. Barlow, the road builder. The mountain climber was his son, William Barlow, as I am informed by Mr. George H. Himes, of the Oregon Historical Society.

To Government Camp, south side of Mount Hood (56 miles), the trip is made by electric cars to Boring, Oregon, and thence by automobile. Cars of the Portland Railway, Light & Power Co., leave First and Alder streets for Boring (fare 40 cents), where they connect with automobiles (fare to Government Camp, $5.00). Board and room at Coalman's Government Camp hotel, $3.00 a day, or $18.00 a week.

Guides for the ascent of Mt. Hood, as well as for a variety of side trips, may be engaged at Cloud Cap Inn and Government Camp. For climbing parties, the charge is $5.00 per member.

The trip to Mount Adams is by Spokane, Portland & Seattle ("North Bank") Railway from North Bank station or by boat (as above) to White Salmon, Wash., connecting with automobile or stage for Guler or Glenwood. Fare to White Salmon by rail, $2.25; round trip, $3.25; fare by boat, $1.00. White Salmon to Guler, $3.00. Board and room at Chris. Guler's hotel at Guler P. O., near Trout Lake, $1.50 a day, or $9.00 a week. Similar rates to and at Glenwood. At either place, guides and horses may be engaged for the mountain trails (15 miles to the snow-line). Bargain in advance.

The south side of Mount St. Helens is reached by rail from Union station, Portland, to Yacolt (fare $1.30) or Woodland ($1.00), where conveyances may be had for Peterson's ranch on Lewis River. To the north side, the best route is by rail to Castle Rock (fare, $1.90), and by vehicle thence to Spirit Lake. Regular guides for the mountain are not to be had, but the trails are well marked.

Automobile Roads.—Portland has many excellent roads leading out of the city, along the Columbia and the Willamette. One of the most attractive follows the south bank of the Columbia to Rooster Rock and Latourelle Falls (25 miles). As it is on the high bluffs for much of the distance, it commands extended views of the river in each direction, and of the snow-peaks east and north of the city. Return may be made via the Sandy River valley. This road is now being extended eastward from Latourelle Falls to connect with the road which is building westward from Hood River. When completed the highway will be one of the great scenic roads of the world.

From Portland, several roads through the near-by villages lead to a junction with the highway to Government Camp on the south side of Mount Hood (56 miles). The mountain portion of this is the old Barlow Road of the "immigrant" days in early Oregon, and is now a toll road. (Toll for vehicles, round trip, $2.50.) Supervisor T. H. Sherrard, of the Oregon National Forest Service, is now building a road from the west boundary of the national forest, at the junction of Zigzag and Sandy rivers, crossing Sandy canyon (see p.71), following the Clear Fork of the Sandy to the summit of the Cascades, crossing the range by the lowest pass in the state (elevation, 3,300 feet), and continuing down Elk Creek and West Fork of Hood River to a junction with the road from Lost Lake into Hood River valley. The completion of this road through the forest reserve will open a return route from Hood River to the Government Camp road, through a mountain district of the greatest interest.

Southward from Portland, inviting roads along the Willamette lead to Oregon City, Salem, Eugene and Albany. From Portland westward, several good roads are available, leadingalong the Columbia or through Banks, Buxton and Mist to Astoria and the beach resorts south of that city. North of the Columbia (ferry to Vancouver), a route of great interest leads eastward along the Columbia to Washougal and the canyon of Washougal River (45 miles). From Vancouver northward a popular road follows the Columbia to Woodland and Kalama, and thence along the Cowlitz River to Castle Rock.

The tour book of the Portland Automobile Club, giving details of these and many other roads, may be had for $1.50 in paper covers, or $2.50 in leather.

Bibliography.—The geological story of the Cascade uptilt and the formation of the Columbia gorge is graphically told inCondon: Oregon Geology(Portland, J. K. Gill Co., 1910). For the Columbia from its sources to the sea,Lyman: The Columbia River(New York, G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1909) not only gives the best account of the river itself and its great basin but tells the Indian legends and outlines the period of discovery and settlement.Irving: AstoriaandWinthrop: The Canoe and the Saddleare classics of the early Northwest.Balch: Bridge of the Gods, weaves the Indian myth of a natural bridge into a story of love and war.

The literature of the mountains described in this volume is mainly to be found in the publications of the mountain clubs, especiallyMazama(Portland),The Sierra Club Bulletin(San Francisco) andThe Mountaineer(Seattle). Many of their papers have scientific value as well as popular interest. It is to be hoped that the Mazamas will resume the publication of their annual.

Russell: Glaciers of N. Am.p. 67;Emmons: Volcanoes of the U. S. Pacific Coast, inBulletin of Am. Geog. Soc., v. 9, p. 31;Sylvester: Is Mt. Hood Awakening?inNat'l Geog. Mag., v. 19, p. 515, describe the glaciers of Mt. Hood. Prof. Reid has published valuable accounts of both Hood and Adams, with especial reference to their glaciers, inScience, n. s., v. 15, p. 906;Bul. Geol. Soc. of Am., v. 13, p. 536, andZeitschrift fur Gletscherkunde, v. 1, p. 113. An account of the volcanic activities of St. Helens by Lieut. C. P. Elliott, U. S. A., may be found inU. S. Geog. Mag., v. 8, pp. 226, and by J. S. Diller inScience, v. 9, p. 639.

The ice caves of the Mt. Adams district are described inBalch:Glacieres, or Freezing Caverns, which covers similar phenomena in many countries; by L. H. Wells, inPacific Monthly, v. 13, p. 234; by R. W. Raymond, inOverland Monthly, v. 3, p. 421; by H. T. Finck inNation, v. 57, p. 342.

Dryer's account of the first ascent of Mt. St. Helens may be found inThe Oregonianof September 3, 1853, and his story of the first ascent of Mt. Hood inThe Oregonian, August 19, 1854, andLittell's Living Age, v. 43, p. 321.

The Mountain Clubs.—For the following list of presidents and ascents of the Mazamas, I am indebted to Miss Gertrude Metcalfe, historian of the club:

PRESIDENTS.OFFICIAL ASCENTS.1894Will G. SteelMt. Hood, Oregon.1895Will G. Steel—L. L. HawkinsMt. Adams, Washington.1896C. H. SholesMt. Mazama (named for the Mazamas, 1896), Mt. McLoughlin (Pitt), Crater Lake, Oregon.1897Henry L. PittockMt. Rainier, Washington.1898Hon. M. C. GeorgeMt. St. Helens, Washington.1899Will G. SteelMt. Sahale (named by the Mazamas, 1899), Lake Chelan, Wash.1900T. Brook WhiteMt. Jefferson, Oregon.1901Mark O'NeillMt. Hood, Oregon.1902Mark O'NeillMt. Adams, Washington.1903R. L. GlisanThree Sisters, Oregon.1904C. H. SholesMt. Shasta, California.1905Judge H. H. NorthupMt. Rainier, Washington.1906C. H. SholesMt. Baker (Northeast side), Wash.1907C. H. SholesMt. Jefferson, Oregon.1908C. H. SholesMt. St. Helens, Washington.1909M. W. GormanMt. Baker (Southwest side), and Shuksan, Washington.1910John A. LeeThree Sisters, Oregon.1911H. H. RiddellGlacier Peak, Lake Chelan, Wash.1912Edmund P. SheldonMt. Hood, Oregon.

The organization and success of the Portland Snow Shoe Club are mainly due to the enthusiastic labors of its president, J. Wesley Ladd. Between 1901 and 1909, Mr. Ladd took a private party of his friends each winter for snow shoeing and other winter sports to Cloud Cap Inn or Government Camp. Three years ago it was determined to form a club and erect a house near Cloud Cap Inn. The club was duly incorporated and a permit obtained from the United States Forest Service. Mr. Ladd, who has been president of the club since its formation, writes me:

"Our club house was started in July, 1910, and was erected by Mr. Mark Weygandt, the worthy mountain guide who has conducted so many parties to the top of Mt. Hood. It is built of white fir logs, all selected there in the forest. I have been told in a letter from the Montreal Amateur Athletic Club of Montreal, Canada, that we have the most unique and up-to-date Snow Shoe Club building in the world. The site for the house was selected by Mr. Horace Mecklem and myself, who made a special trip up there. The building was finished in September, 1910. It is forty feet long and twenty four feet wide, with a six-foot fireplace and a large up-to-date cooking range. The organizers of the club are as follows: Harry L. Corbett, Elliott R. Corbett, David T. Honeyman, Walter B. Honeyman, Rodney L. Glisan, Dr. Herbert S. Nichols, Horace Mecklem, Brandt Wickersham, Jordan V. Zan, and myself."

The Portland Ski Club was organized six years ago, and has since made a trip to Government Camp in January or February of each year. The journey is made by vehicle until snow is gained on the foothills, at Rhododendron; the remaining ten miles are covered on skis. The presidents of the club have been: 1907, James A. Ambrose; 1908, George S. Luders; 1909, Howard H. Haskell; 1910, E. D. Jorgensen; 1911, G. R. Knight; 1912, John C. Cahalin.

The Mountaineers, a club organized in Seattle in 1907, made a noteworthy ascent of Mount Adams in 1911.

Climate.—The weather conditions in the lower Columbia River region are a standing invitation to outdoor life during a long and delightful summer. Western Oregon and Washington know no extremes of heat or cold at any time of the year. The statistics here given are from tables of the U. S. Weather Bureau, averaged for the period of government record:

Mean annual rainfall: Portland, 45.1 inches; The Dalles, 19 inches. Portland averages 164 days with .01 of an inch precipitation during the year, and The Dalles 74 days; but the long and comparatively dry summer is indicated by the fact that only 27 of these days at Portland and 15 at The Dalles fell in the summer months, June to September inclusive.

Mean annual temperature varies little between the east and west sides of the Cascades, Portland having a 57-year average of 52.8° as compared with 52.5° at The Dalles. But the range of temperature is greater in the interior. Thus the mean monthly temperature for January, the coldest month, is 38.7° at Portland and 32.6° at The Dalles, while for July, the hottest month, it is 67.3° at Portland and 72.6° at The Dalles.

While mountain weather must always be an uncertain quantity, that of the Northwestern snow-peaks is comparatively steady, owing to the dry summer of the lowlands. During July and August, the snow-storms of the Alps are almost unknown here. After the middle of September, however, when the rains have begun, a visitor to the snow-line is liable to encounter weather very like that recorded by a belated tourist at Zermatt:

First it rained and then it blew,And then it friz and then it snew,And then it fogged and then it thew;And very shortly after thenIt blew and friz and snew again.

Erratum.—Onpage 72, I have been misled by Dryer's statement into crediting the first ascent of Mount Hood to Captain Samuel K. Barlow, the road builder. The mountain climber was his son, William Barlow, as I am informed by Mr. George H. Himes, of the Oregon Historical Society.

Figures in light face type refer to the text, those in heavier type to illustrations.

Back to Index Next