The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1895-01-06


whole outfit were seedlezs ra1ssus and
bareback. and these were neither desir-
able nor filing.
Christmas ON the Glacier.
And this was to be their Christmas.
How should they spend 1t? There SEEM
e5 TO be no doubt In the majors mind
but that they should spend IL in climb
Ing. for after two hours and half OK
steady marching. with liberal use OF
the life lire, the men succeeded in cross
ing Winthrop glacier and reaching St
EiHo's pass. where another pigeon was
liberated. bearing message 20 Seattle.
which arrived safely. II was released
from an altitude OF over a.eoo feet.
Crossing winthrop glacier proved q
hard mornings work for the already half
exhausted little party. The constant cau~
ton that was necessary to keep from
treading In blind crevasse, whose opeia-
Ing could not be traced by reason of the
newly fallen snow. and the great Gre
vases that were plainly seen and down
which the eye could ind no bottom, tried
the men Eot a little. DIR. Lessey led the
party most OF the way. picking out the
crevasses which could not be seen on ac-
count of the snow, and located the route
in a zig-Zag course over the glacier. On
several occasions the life line was all
that saved the doctor from finding grave
at no enc knows what depth. down a
yawniag. Icy abyss. When the party
reached st. Eis,o's pass they were In any
thing but good condition.
The return Trip Begins.
After the pigeon was liberated the
climbers assembled to the head of Inter
glacier, reaching height of $500 feet,
which overlooked Blaine glacier and the
entire east side OF the mountain Here
the major halted. To the east the foot
hills Of the Cascades were enveloped in
snow clouds. which the wind was rapidly
driving toward Mount Rainier. while fur
Their to the south the sky was overcast,
showing that rain had set in on the levels
lower down. From the position at the
head OF Inter glacier the wind blew keen
iy and the men suffered almost as much
there from the cold as they had the night
before in the snow cave. The major
stated that, while he had ascertained ell
that he had been sent for, and all that
he had agreed to. he would proceed to the
summit IL the other members of the party
desired TO accompany him. He said 1t
might be possible to so up 1900 feet high
er, but that the apparent broken and un-
even condition OF Blaine glacier would
not permit the top Of the mountain to be
reached by that route. Blaine glacier
stretched above and before them and did
not present an inviting view. There were
great ereyasses. Cliffs of Ice. and noun
tains Of snow with black basaltic rock
mingled with the mass of dazzling white
ness, showing the route OF recent avail
anches. After some little hesitation part
OF the expedition declined to- so higher
declaring that loss OF sleep and lack OF
proper onGrishfnent had left them in such
weakened condition that they did not
feel equal to the emergency.
To have gone any higher would have
necessitated the spending of the night in
the wilderness of ice and snow on Blaine
glacier. a prey 10 the bowling elements,
and the major feeling that the expert
ment would be disastrous and probably
fatal. ordered that the return 10 the foot
OF Carbon glacier be commenced. The
downward tramp was quite easy. compar-
ell With the climb upward. and the dis
lance OF six miles. which going up had
required nearly three days and necessi-
tatei spending two nights on the rugged
sides OF the mountain, was covered with
in seven hours. the men continuing to
walk by starlight.