The Hood River glacier. (Hood River, Or.) 1889-1933, 1912-05-23

spiration Of the view.
The descent of Mount Hood is much
more hasty, though in some ways more
| tiresome and more dangerous than the
/ lup-elimb. Some Of the mountain
climbers will inevitably beg and plead
to stay on top, beg to see the sunset
/ from the world pinnacle. But the
guide is firm. He knows the mountain.
! He reused the party and started at four
o clock in the morning that he might
get over the snow before It was soft
ened By the rising sun. And he knows
that be must leave the top and get of
the ice surface before 1t again freezes.
But the d0wn-climb has il elements Of
memorable, cxhilarating, true-blue
sport The soft snow on the lower
slopes invites everybody TO slide, the
alpenstoek guiding and checking and
often three-quarters of a mile or more
is clipped off in a brief minute.
About four miles from the noun
tain's perpetual snow-line there lies
a little meadow along the old Barlow
road. Here is Government Camp, "
where the Yoeum family has been 'at
home" to travellers for nearly thirty
years. o. c. Y0eum, veteran noun
tain guide. followed the old Oregon
trail IS a boy with his pioneer parents.
One day, while the OK teams and
horses were plodding westward over
the Barlow road, the immigrant lad
caught q vision. 1t was faint almost
nothing only the sharp white point
of a mountain peak, piercing the dis
tant western horizon, Furnished to
glowing red by the early morning sun.
But il was a finger print Of destiny,
though young Y0cum did not know that
he was Just then being introduced to
lifelong intimacy with Mount Hood.
Years later, when the boy had grown
up and married. the doctors intimated
that he had best make his will. But
nature often fools the men of medi
cine. Y0cum remembered the little
meadow, along the old Barlow road,
only four miles from Mount Hoods
! perpetual snow line. He had never
forgotten, however, for scarcely
summer had passed but that he and his
family had driven up from the William
cite valley to camp out for few
weeks, to climb the mountain, to rusti-
cate, TO dream and hunt and fish.
But this time 1t was a perpetual
camp. He located the old meadow
camping ground as a homestead. He
built a comfortable log cabin in the
shadow of the mountain. Travellers !
stopped and his home soon became |,
known as Government Camp. He |
and his family lived here summer and |
winter, though the snow was often f.
from eight to twelve feet deep. He |
reganed robust health. lie became a
worshiper Of Mount Hood he came TO /
know the mountain rs a preacher
knows his bible. He had a name for
every pinnacle and point and crag,
every barren spot, every snow field,
every glacier.
When Mr.. Yocum first looked out
from the top of Mount Hood, on July
l6, 1888, not to exceed one hundred
persons had preceded him to the top.
81 climbed the mountain hundreds of
times during the twenty-three years
that | was professional guide" Mr..
Yocum said to me. "And every time,
| saw something new. Every time.
the hree-hundred- view over Ore
gon and Washington, and far into Cali
fornia, was more wonderful Every
time the panorama of the wheat fields
and the plains and the hills of the In
land Empire, the orchards and the cit
les and the towns of the Columbia
river valleys and the Willamette val
ley were more inspiring. Every time
The lakes and the rivers and the haze /
IF the Pacific ocean, and the ranges
with their eight visible snow capped :
peaks of more than 10, 600 feet eleva-
Lion, were more beautiful.
Viewed in the light of the present
accessibility of Mount Hood, the day
when Mr.. Yocum first climbed to the
top seems ages ago. The pinnacle of
Mount Hood is now almost as easy to
reach by the average person as the sea
shore. Hundreds climb to the summit
every year. In fact, a number of
lines, more than a hundred persons
have in a single day placed their
names in the copper box at the top.
But there are other Mount Hood en-
-husiasts. One of them is a Portland
business man, who stands in Oregon
for a most peculiar hobby which
hobby IS known to have already alb
5orbed thousands of dollars.
Have you seen the mountain dur
ing the last two morniugs2" he asked
almost before | had had time to glance
about his Office at the several enlarged
pictures of Mount Hood.
Its grand grand p he spoke with
glowing, almost boyish enthusiasm.
Why, Portland people don't-don / |
begin to know what Mount Hood is.
If they did they would all see it-and
not a single one of the thousands of |
tourists VINO 90 through would miss it.
why, If some cities had this mountain
as near them as it issto us, they would
make ut pay them million dollars a
year.
And to prove that there was sub
stance behind his enthusiasm, in an
other five minutes 4. Henry Wemme
had made bold the unqualified state
nent that he would give a quarter :
million dollars for building a hard sur
lace automobile road up to the very
lase of Mount Hood if the state OF
oregon would also give a uuarter-m
ion.
i haven't got a quarter million dol
ars, he continued and explained
But can get it. | can sell bonds
md I've got Portland property to
guarantee the bonds. "
Then the speaker went on to tell of
he great Improvements that had been
made in the automobile road to Mount
lood during the past two years.
earlier than that date, an automobile
arely ever started from Portland on
he slNty-mle run to the base of the
mountain without taking along block !
md tackle. and axes and shovels. They
idn't know what might happen before :
hey returned And they we're fortun- #
tie If able to make the run in half a III
lay, or even day. III
But that time is gone A number of III
automobiles have lately covered the III
distance in less than three hours, and III
ther automobiles that make regular III
aily round trips during the summer HI
months keep their running time to the Ill
nAnnf a in a4ff I'LL