Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1912-09-13
ON PICTURESQUE MT. RAINIER
J. c. COnine Of Yelm Writes Interesting
Letter On Trip.

Many have been the stories written
about Mount Rainier and the beauty
and the wildness of its scenery, but the
following letter, written by ]. c.
Conine of Yelm on Indian Henry's
grounds recently, gives the reader
mountain that was God"
So it is with great pleasure that
THE WASHINGTON STANDARD prints Mr..
Confines letter in full, though its pub
LEGATION was unavoidably delayed. MIR.
Conine visited the mountain during
August-here is what he had to say
about the trip:
Editor of the Standard:
Thinking little sketch from the ele
waited regions of Western Washington
might interest the readers of your pa
per and not having much to occupy
the time in consequence of the rain.
which is the cause of great disappoint-
ment to hundreds of mountain climb
ers. l borrowed a tablet from my old
friend VanTrump. the mountain climb
err of the Coast. and the result follows:
Leaving Yelm on the 5th, l went to
Tacoma, stayed over night and next
morning started at $50 a. m. for Ash
ford. arriving there about noon. Found
several tourist autos waiting to con-
vey US to Longmire Springs. the end
of the route. Fare. round trip, unlim-
tied, Sc. Quite a number of the Y. M.
C. A. occupied the same train and we
had a jolly time. Arrived at the
Springs we found an enthusiastic crowd
at both hotels and enjoyed fine din
ner at Longmire's. where 1 always put
up. After a good nights rest. Mrs.
Lewis. a lady from Tacoma, and my
self started at a. m. on the trail for
Indian Henry's hunting ground. a dis
tancc of seven miles from the Springs,
and arrived at the wigwam, managed
by Mrs. Sue Hall (nee Longmire) at
1890 p. m. 1t Is a delightful trip. but
requires some exertion. Here 1 met
Mr.. Van Trump and my old friend, Joe
Stampfier, the official guide. They had
just returned from an all-day trip over
the ice fields of THE Mountain That
Was God" I would have to invent
new vocabulary of language to describe
the beauties of this region. Stupen-
dous mountains in every direction in
cts interspersed with beautiful flowers
of most every conceivable color. l am
told there are over $50 different vari-
cites. From the wigwam Mount Ia
coma-Rainier-looms up apparently
not a quarter of a mile distant, but in
reality two or three miles. Three diff
ferent glaciers are in plain view. Near
by is Mirror lake. SO called from the
beautiful inverted reflection of the
mountain on it's surface. Pyramid peak,
Crystal peak and Iron mountain are in
close proximity all In plain view and
short distance from the wigwam to
the east, with Mount Ararat, the land
ing place OF Noah's ark. to the south
west. / climbed Mount Ararat in COM
pany with Mrs Lewis. but failed to find
any relics of that Anticipated structure.
These are some of the most cOnspic-
uous wonders of nature that l have had
the pleasure Of viewing on account OF
the Indictment weather. Even while l
am writing it Is raining like blazes."
but they alone are sufficient to justify
the trip aside from the vitaliZing bene-
fits Of the mountain air. Here all con-
ventionalism is throw to the winds and
all meet on a common level. Here we
meet all classes of people from most
every cline, and all seeking the same
objects-the wonderful beauties Of ma
ture unadorned by the hand of man.
l append herewith a short sketch
from Mr. Van Trump which will, no
doubt, be interesting to many of your
readers:
ION August 2, 1912, a small party of
mOuntaineers in charge of Joseph
Sampler, official guide. made a sue
cessful ascent of the mountain from In
dian Henry's hunting grounds, de-
scending by way of Gibraltar and the
Cowlitz crevice into Paradise valley.
They climbed in an almost direct line,
up the west face of Peak Success and
ate their luncheon in the large crater
of Crater peak. the real summit of the
mountain. They established the third
distinct line of ascent from the west
side, and it is unique in being the one
all rock line of ascent. 1t will appeal
to those European climbers who prefer
rock work to ice or snow climbing"
We hope that Mr.. Conine will take
another such trip soon and will write
about it, too. And if more of our
readers would get the habit, it would
be better still.