The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1883-09-28
American Volcanoes.
Northern California, Oregon and Wash
ington Territory.

attached to the Geological Exploration OF
the Fortieth Parallel made preliminary
| reconnaissance of several of the extinct vol
canic cones of northern California, Oregon
and Washington Territory, for the purpose
| of blaming detailed Investigations Of the
| principal volcanoes of the Sierra and Cas-
cade ranges. A further study OF these vol
canoes however, was never undertaken, and
although the explorers brought back most
interesting geological and Theological mate
| rial, the results and observations of the work
have never been published, with the excep=
| tion of an announcement in this journal Tor
March, 1871, of ''the discovery of actual
| glaciers on the mountains of the Pacific
SLOPE" and popular paper on "The volca-
noes of the United States Pacific Coast
read by Mr.. S. F. Emmons before the Amer
lean Geographical Society, March 10, 1877.
Among the more prominent peaks along
this belt of volcanic cones may be men
toned Lassen's Peak and Mt. Shasta in
California, Mt Pitt, Three Sisters, Mt. JEFF
ferson and Mt. Hood in Oregon and Mt. st.
HeIens, Adams, Rainier and Baker in Wash
ington Territory. From this long line OF
volcanoes the geologists of the Fortieth Par
| allel Survey selected for the purpose of ex-
ploration of the four peaks which, from their
size, position and geological relations, might
| be taken as typical of the chain. Mr.. Clar-
| ence King explored the two great cones of
| California; at the same time Mr.. S. f. Elm
mons undertook the examination of Mt.
Rainier, while Mt. Hood was visited by one
| of the writers of the present article. The
| collections which they made at that time
were deposited in the cabinet of the survey.
Lassen's Peak is situated in California
just north of the fortieth parallel of latitude,
where the continuity of the bold crest of the
Sierra Nevada range breaks down and is
replaced by lower and less regular ridges.
From Lassen's Peak this magnificent chain
of volcanoes extends northward at irregular
intervals for nearly five hundred miles. The
principal volcanoes follow in general the AK
ial lines of the Sierra and Cascade ranges,
breaking out either along the main line Of
upheaval or at short distances to the west
ward Volcanic extrusions along fissure
lines and flows of lava of greater or less ex-
tent unite the main peaks, forming nearly
continuous belt of igneous rocks.
Mt. Rainier is the grandest of all the vol
canoes of the northwest, and forms the most
prominent typographical object in Washing
ton Territory, rising proudly above all other
peaks, and towering far above the crest of
the Cascade Range, which lies about twenty
miles to the eastward. The surface features
of the western portion of the Territory have
been greatly modified by the great lara flows
of the volcano, and no less than four impor-
tant rivers of the Territory rise among the
glaciers of the mountains-the Nisqually,
Puyallup and White rivers, which flow INTO
Puget Sound, and the Cowlitz, which, run
s~44o
the Columbia. Snow and ice cover the top
of the volcano, reaching downward for five
or six thousand feet, while with the most
marked contrast the broad base of the noun
tain supports dark, dense forest vegetation
of great grandeur. The summit of Mt. Raj
nier is formed by three peaks, the highest
situated to the eastward of the other two and
separated from then by deep and nearly in
accessible gorges, although they attain
within few hundred feet of the same alti-
tude. The main peak presents perfect,
circular cone with crater about quarter
of mile in diameter. The altitude of the
peak as determined by the United States
Coast Survey is IA, ,444 feet
Mt. Hood is situated directly on the crest
of the Cascade Range. abou. twenty-five
miles south of the Columbia River. 1t has
an altitude of II, ,225 feet above the sea level,
rising about 5000 feet above the main range,
but the long lava flows extending in every
direction from the base of the volcano have
buried beneath their masses nearly all rem
nants of pre-existing rocks. Mt. Adams and
Mt St. Helens, on the north side Of the
Columbia river, form with Mt. Hood tri-
angle, the area of which has peen the centre
of great volcanic activity. The summit of
Mt. Hood is a single peak, a portion of a
rim of an ancient crater, opening to the
south. The crater is about one-half mile
wide from east 10 west, the encircling wall
for three-6fths of the circumference rising
450 feet above the snow and ice which fills
the basin.
None of the volcanoes along this belt oe-
cupy so comparatively isolated position as
Mt. Shasta, which stands upon an open
plain with the neighboring hills and ridges
many thousand feet lower. The great range
of the Sierra has fallen away, and is followed
by low, obscure ridges, confused and broken
up by volcanic outbursts, The altitude of
Mt. Shasta is given at IA 440 feet above sea
level, and as the neighboring ridges rarely
attain an altitude of over three thousand
feet, the volcano presents an imposing spec
tacle, surpassed by few mountains in the
world. As seen from the west the volcano
presents double cone, with the smaller
built upon the fanks of the larger one and
about two thousand feet lower. The main
cone possesses very regular outline, with
remarkably steep slopes of uniform angle.
Around the broad base of Mount Shasta nu-
merous lesser cones have broken out, offer
ing great variety of volcanic phenomena,
One of these, which has been named Little
Shasta, rises to more than 5000 feet above
the neighboring valley. Seventy miles
southeast of Mount Shasta, not far from the
boundary between Nevada and Colorado, oc-
ours Lassen's Peak, lying, as already men.
toned, along the direct line of the Sierras,
where the granite of the main range has
been abruptly broken down. The region
has been the seat of great volcanic activity
lasting through long periods of time, the
present mountain forming but remnant of
former extrusions, and so far as geological
interest is concerned is probably unsurpassed
by any other mountain. Lassen's Peak,
however, is by no means as conspicuous an
object as many of the volcanoes, being sur
rounded by other cones of considerable ele-
walton, all OF them rising out of great vol
canic table. The altitude of Lassen's Peak
is given at about 10,500 feet. 1t is broad,
rregularly-shaped mountain, with four
prominent SUBMITS, and abundant evidences
on the slopes of comparatively recent extru-
siOnS of lava.
As the rocks brought back may be con-
sidered as representing the principal types
of the elected lavas from the different flows,
large number of thin sections have recent
ly been prepared for the purpose of compar-
dLlN6 Siuuy Will Iuo NOiSdulC AOSho VI tuo
Great Basin, and their microscopic examina-
tion has been followed up by chemical inves-
tigation. While cursory examination of
these rocks shows certain special character
istics in color, habit and form of crystals.
which in many cases easily identifies hand
specimens with one or the other of the volca-
noes, comparative study of their mineral
ological structural and chemical features
shows the closest identity in the nature of
the elected material from the four volcanoes.
In their Theological characters they possess
so many features in common that general
description might be given which would be
applicable to them all.-Journal of Science,
The Kicker and the Hopper.
| A kicker known to the world at large as
| StubbornuS attended strawberry festival
| one evening at which some grass-hoppers