, 1891-10-14

LIZ 1IOm uuOO 10 O OAAehN
Then we struggle through an iunbroken mesh
of thorned underbrush for a day and ahalf I'M
til we reach the snow line. We have pursued
a course but little north of east from the lake
and find ourselves almost directly east from
Mount Baker. Here we go into camp for q
day while the lady of the party rests from her
fatigue.
monday morning the tug Of war commenc-
ed, and for nine and a half hours we did as hard
climbing as people ever did. We followed as
near as possible up the east side of the noun
tain, part Of the way over the brim of a yawnlng
crater, where one mis-step would have carried
us over to death in the abyss below.
GAS we neared the top WI had to get down
in crevas SEES Of ice, work our way through them,
and with axe in hand cutsteps in their oppo-
site sides and, placing our feet in the steps thus
made, climb to their opposite heights, only
to Fl nd another ahead Of US. We were finally
compelled to take to the heights of projecting
rock because Of the depth of melting snow and
thick grouping of the crevasses.
"When we had thus assembled to within
about 100 feet of the submit we encountered a
crevice in the snow Is or 80 feet across and
from 80 to rs feet deep, the opposite wal! OF
which seemed to be a perpendicular wall OF Ice
Right here we all sat down, disheartened and
discouraged, for it seemed impossible to over
come this final ba rrier.
Robert Woods, resolving to make one more
effort, left the party and found the end OF the
c~revice, where he was enabled to let himself
down. After half an hour of persistent work
with his axe he succeeded in skinning up the
other side of the ~crevice. He was then lost to
sight, but soon the air was rent with his trium-
phant whoops, which assured us that he had
reached the summit. We followed his directions
and under the inspiration Of refreshed courage
we were at his side half an hour later-4.3O
o'clock, Monday, August "a.
'The extreme summit of Mount Baker is a
slope as steep as the side of a house and small
er than many of Seattle's business blocks, oc-
cupying a position near the southeast corner OF
a comparatively level plateau, which should
think is nearly 100 acres in extent. There is
no crater visible. If any exists it is long since
extinct, deeply covered with snow and Ice.
We made careful and diligent search for evil
dences of the visit of the Whatcom party, said
to have planted a flag on Mount Baker. Our
search being ~fruitless, we were forced to the
belief that the Whatcom party failed to reach
the extreme summit.
eve had with us no stars and stripes, but
Miss Nevin made a flag of a portion of a red
blanket from her pack, and this we dashed to a
staff driven four feet in the snow. We wrote
the names and addresses of the respective
members Of our party on slips of paper with
date of visit, and these We put in a bottle, cork
ed and suspended to the flag staff. We now
took a photograph of the members of our party
formed in line beneath the flag. Here we
also improved the opportunity of photograph
ing the feecy clouds many hundred feet be-
meath us and hiding from our view the hills
and valleys below.
1.-THE intense cold cut our visit short. We
had no thermometer, but l firmly believe the
temperature was not higher than zero. 1t
seemed much colder, and we nearly froze.
1.-THE ascent had been difficult, indeed, but
the real struggle came as we retraced our
steps. Beneath those steep inclines OF ice,
yawned great, dark abysses, over which life
seemed to hang byavery slenderthread. Dark
ness overtaking us added to our peril, but at
8 o'clock we reached camp in safety. The
Journey homeward was u%neventful."
Miss Nevin, the lady of the party, seems to
have stood the fatigue Of the trip fully as
well as did her companions. She is a brave
Iowa girl, and has been a member OF her (.
brother-in-law' j. 0. Boen, family at La
Conner since December, 1889. She is a viva
cious young woman just out Of her Teens, a
blue-eycd blonde, FIVE feet, five and a half
inches tall and weighs ITO pounds. She bears
the honored distinction of being the only
woman thatever climbed the heights of Mount
Rakor She annaars modart1u nroud of her