The Van Buren press., 1893-08-26
GLACIERS OF MOUNT TACOMA,
-Four rImes ~ Large ~ Those OF Mont
BlAnc-V VOlcnnhc Fire.

GLACIERS OF MOUNT TACOMA,
Four Times ~ Large ~ Those of Mont
Bianc-volcAnhc Fire.
There are probably not a dozen people
in the United States who have any idea
of the wonderful system Of glaciers to
be found on the slopes of Mount Ia
coma, in Pierce county, Washington.
Thousands of people gaze upon this
grand and majestic peak from the city
Of Tacoma, forty-four miles away, but
have no idea of its real magnitude
Fred G.. Plummer, secretary of the
Washington Alpine club, recently gave
the Sun correspondent some facts and
figures about the mountain. The state
Of Washington is traversed north and
south by mountains Of lava and lava
hows forming section of that great
system which stretches from Alaska to
Cape Horn and marks upon the sur
face of the earth probably the greatest
geological catastrophe the world has
ever seen. To the westward of this
range stand three great'volcanic peaks
Mount Baker, Mount Tacoma and
Mount St. Helens. All are active, but
not violently. Several eruptions of
Mount Baker are recorded, notably
that of 1858, when streams of lava cov-
cred the western slopes. st. Helens
has often cloudcd the skies of Wash
ington with dry volcanic ashes, but ii
is otherwise quiet and peaceable.
Steam and smoke often issue from the
crater of Mount Tacoma. It is proba-
BILE, however, that the Puget sound
valley is as safe as any volcanic country
could be, as its wonderful growth Of
large timber upon the foothills testitics.
When George Vancouver saw Mount
Tacoma in the year 1792 he named it
Mount Rainier, after friend of his in
Epgland--a British admiral and an
enemy of America. In doing this he
ignored the Spanish discoveries Of sew
eral years preceding and also the old
Indian named Tahoms, which is pro-
nounced as if spelled .'tachoma." The
nearest English spelling is Tacoma,
and the word is pronounced without
sccent. The Tacoma Academy of Sci
ence, after an exhaustive investigation,
has decided that Tacoma is the name,
and in this 1t is upheld by all the lead
ing geographical societies, many of
which have passed resolutions favoring
the action of the Tacoma academy.
Mount Tacoma rises from the sea level
to height of "A, ,450 feet. 1t is an al
most symmetrical dome, surmounted
by three small peaks. Above the eleva-
tion Of 4, 900 feet the mountain Is COW
cred with perpetual snow, save where
the rocky ribs project and mark the
boundaries of the glaciers. To those
who love large figures it may be well
to say its mass is roughly about 200
cubic miles. Its glacial system is on
the same magnificent scale, and is
probably the largest in the world radi-
ating from one peak. 81
The glacial system is simply stupen-
dous, and cannot be compared with
that OF Mont Blanc, Switzerland, which
is not one-quarter the size OF Mount
Tacoma's The Mer de Glace of Mont
Blanc does not cover one-half the area
Of the Carbon glacier, which is only
one of the medium-sized ice rivers that
flow down the slopes of Mount Tacoma,
A curious fact is that although these
glaciers are arranged ON radial lines,
yet all their vast drainage goes west
ward to Puget sound and the Columbia
river, forming four rivers-the White,
Puyallup, Nisqually and Bowlitz Tho
mountain is fianked on the south by
the Tatoisch range and on the north by
the Sluiskin range, both spurs of the
Cascades, forming q natural park,
which has lately been reserved by proc
Iamation of the president.
Paradise park, on the southern slope
Of the mountain, Is already favorite
resort for the people of Tacoma who
have the strength and pluck to make
the journey to this charming spot.
Many persons who have seen the finest
scenery in the world say that nature
has exhausted her resources to make
Paradise park one of the most beauti-
full spots on earth. Words are made
quate and photographs hardly better
in describing it. The valley is cafe
peted with lovely flowers of oil colors
and dotted with clumps Of mountain
tir and ash. Through it runs Paradise
river, which comes from Sluislxin falls
600 feet.) The Tatoisch range Of vol
canic bluffs, peaks and pinnacles form
rugged and grotesquc outline against
the southern sky, and to the eastward
the enormous mass OF. the Cascades
rises in successive folds until lost In
distance To the north, and at the
head of the valley, stands Mount Ia
coma which seems by it's very presence
to compel the absolute silence Of man
and nature.-N. Y. Sun. q ~