Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1911-06-30

flow Of frost and heat help greatly to
tear down the cliffs.
\ glacier flow varies from hun
dred 10 a thousand feet IA year. de-
pending upon lis volume, its width.
and the slope of its bed A. the de-
cadrs pass, its level is greatly low
cred by the melting of the ice. More
and more. earth and rocks accumu-
late upon the surface, as il travels
onward, and are scattered over it bv
the rains and melting snow. At
last, in its old age, when far down its
canyon, the glacier is completely hid
den. Only at its snout, where it
breaks off as Il rule is a high wall of
ice, do we realize how huge d Volume
and weight it must have. far above
toward its sources, or why so many
of its crevasSeS on the upper ice-iicldS
seem almost bottomiesS.
These hints Of the almost incon-
ce,vablc mass of Il glacier suggest
how much of the Mountain has al
ready been whitfield and planed away.
But here we may do better than spec
ulate. The original surface of the
peak Is clearly indicated by the tops
of the great rock wedges that have
survived the glacial Sculpturing.
These rise from one to two thousand
feet above the glaciers. which are
themselves several thousand feet in
depth.
Whatever lava flows that occurred
in the building of the Mountain, stra-
ia formed, and such stratification is
clearly shown at intervals on the
sides of the cliff jlst mentioned. Its
incline, of course, is that of the for
mer surface. The strata point up
ward-not towards the summit which
we see, but far above it. For this
reason the geologists who have eX-
amined the aretas most closely agree
that the peak has lost nearly two
thousand feet of height. 1t blew its
own head of
Such explosive eruptiOnS are among
the worst vices of volcanoes. Every
visitor in Naples remembers how
plainly the landscape north of Vesu-
vius tells of "a prehistoric decapita-
tion, which left only low, broad
platform, on the south rim of which
the little Vesuvius that many of US
have climbed was formed by later
eruptiOns.
Like Nesuvius, too, Mt. Rainier
was built upon the plateau left when
it lost its head. South Peak. or
Peak Success. and Liberty Cap, the
northern elevation, seen from Seattle
and Tacoma, are nearly three miles
apart on the west side of the broad
summit. These are parts of the rim
of the old crater, Fast of the line
uniting them, and about two miles
from each, the volcano built up an
elevation now known as Crater Peak,
comprising two small adjacent era
tcrS. These burnt-Out craters are
now filled with snow, and where the
rims touch. big Snow-hill rises
the strange creature of eddying
winds that sweep up through the
great fiume cut by volcanic explosion
and glacial action in the west side of
the peak,
This mound OF snow is the present
actual top. Believing it the highest
point in the Uni,ed States south of
Alaska. party of climbers, in 1894,
named it Columbia's S Crest" This
was long thought to be the mountain s
rightful distinction, for different
computations by experts gave var
ious elevations ranging as high as
l4,529 feet. Even upon a govern
mcnt map published as late as 1907,
the height is stated at 1926 feet
In view of this variety of expert
opinion, the fattering name, not un-
naturally, has stuck. in spite of the
fact that the government geograph-
ers have now adopted, for the Die
tionary of Attitudes, the height found
by the United States Geological Sur
vey in 1902. l4,363 feet. That de-
cisiOn leaves the honor of being the
loftiest peak between Alaska and
Mexico to Mt. Whitney in the Cali
fornia Sierra 04,502 feeD. This.
however, will not lessen the pride
of the Northwest in its great peak
\ few feet of height signify nothing.
No California mountain masked be-
hind the Sierra cali vie in majesty
with the lonely pile that rises in
stately grandeur from the shores of
puget Sound.
THE Governor has appointed the