Arizona republican., 1915-08-17
MI. RA|NIER'S
 |CY TENTACLES
More Than Twenty Giant Glaciers Reach Frosty Arms Downward and Be- tween Them Grow Lux uriant Wild Flowers.

! A frozen octopus of enormous bulk | whose glittering armored body rises three miles into the sky, with twenty or more huge wrinkled arms reaching down among thousands of acres of the | most gorgeous and luxuriant wild flow CTS, to squirt, from each finger tip, a river of ice water into the valley below. | Surely a quotation from the Arabian Nights Or q ghost tale to frighten | children on Halloween,
 But no, however figurative, this is a | true statement of an actual fact. There really exists such an ice-armored octo- pus in these United States. It is jus tifiable description of the most inter esting mountain in Uncle Sam's domin- ions, and perhaps in the world Mount Rainier is in the state of Washington, 56 miles southwest of Ia coma. II is one of the celebrated range of volcanoes which were supposed to be extinct until, within the year, Lassen Peak broke forth again. Rainier though supporting one of the most re- marka ble single-peak glacial systems in the world, emits steam from certain crevices. evidence of continued internal heat.
 Seen from Tacoma or Seattle, the vast mountain appears to rise directly from sea level so insignificant seem the ridges about it's base. Yet these ridges themselves are of no mean height. They rise 5000 to 4,0O0 feet above the valleys that cut through them and their crests average 5000 feet in altitude. Thus at the southwest entrance to the Mount Rainier National Park. which congress created to protect this natural marvel from private encroachment, the eleva- tion above sea level is 2.00O feet, while Goat Mountain, close by rises to an altitude of 6,045 feet.
 A VeritabIe Colossus
 But so colossal are the proportions of the great volcano that they dwarf even mountains of this size and give them the appearance of mere foothills in height Rainier is second in the United States only to Mount Whitney.
 Mount Rainier stands, in round num- hers, 10000 feet high above it's immedi- ate base and covers 100 square miles of territory. In shape it is not a simple cone tapering to a slender, pointed summit like F'ujiyama the great volca- no of Japan. It is rather broadly truncated mass resembling an enorm- ons tree stump with spreading base and irregularly broken top.
 Its life history has been a varied one. Like all volcanoes, Rainier has built un it's cone with the materials elected by it's. own eruptions-with cinders and steam shredded particles and Jumps of lava and with occasional flows of liquid lava that have solidified into lav- CTS Of ,iard basaltic rock At one time 1t attained an altitude of not less than 16,000 feet, if one may judge by the steep inclination of the lava and cinder layers visible in it's Hanks. Then fol- lowed a great explosion that destroyed the top part of the mountain and re- duced its height by some 2.O0O feet. The volcano was left beheaded, with a ca raoious hollow crater surrounded bv jagged rim
 Later on this great cavity. which measured nearly three miles across from south to north, was filled by two small clnder cones. Successive feeble eruptions added to their height until at last they formed together a low round- ed dome-the eminence that now con- stitutes the mountains summit The higher portions of the old crater rim rise to elevations within few hundred feet of the summit and. especially when viewed from below, stand out boldly as separate DeaFs that mask and seem to overshadow the central dome.
 Hard to Establish Altitude
 The altitude of the main summit has for many years been in doubt. Several figures have been announced from time