The Oakley herald. [volume] (Oakley, Idaho) 1908-1961, 1920-09-17

homa and the Kautz glaciers. But many OF great
size and impresslveness are born or the SHOWS
In rock pockets crques ice-scuptured po"s
Of great dimensions and ever-increasing depth.
from which they merge into the glistening armor
of the huge volcano. The most notable OF these
are the Cowlitz the Paradise, the Fryingpan, the
Carbon the Russell, the North and South Mowich.
the Puyallup and the Pyramid glaciers
Twenty eight glaciers, great and small, clothe
Ranler--rivers of ice, with many of the charac-
terstics OF rivers Of water. roaring at times over
precipces like waterfalls, ripping and tumbling
down rocky slopes-veritable noisy cascades, ris-
ing smoothly up hidden rocks to foam brook
like, over It's lower edges.
Every winter the moisture-laden winds from the
Pacific suddenly cooled against Its summit, deposit
upon Its top and sides enormous SHOWS. These
settling In the crater which was left after the
great explosion in some prehistoric age carried
away perhaps 1000 feet of the volcanoes former
height press with overwhelming weight down the
mountains sloping sides
Thus are born the glaciers. for the snow under
It's own pressure quickly hardens into Ice. Through
IA valleys selfcarved in the solid rock flow these
rivers of ice, turning rivers of water turn,
to avoid the harder rock strata, roaring over
precipces like CONCEALED waterfalls, now ripping,
like currents, rough bottoms pushing.
pouring relentlessy until they reach those
parts of their where warmer air turns
them into rivers OF water.
In glowing contrast to this marvellous spectacle
Of ice the gardens of wild flowers surrounding
the glaciers. These fowery spots called parks.
One will find the accompanying map Spray
Park st. Andrews Park, Indian Henry's Hunting
Ground Paradise, Summer Land; and there
many others.
"Above the forests" writes John Muir there
Is zone OF the oveest flowers, fifty miles in cir
cult and nearly two miles wide, so closely planted
and luxurious that 1t seems II nature glad to
make open space between woods dense and
ice deep, We're economizng the precious ground
and trying to see how many Of her darlings she
can get together In one mountain wreath-daisies,
anemones. coiumbine, erythroniums larkspurs, etc.
among which wade knee deep and waist deep,
the bright coroas In myrads touching petal to
petal. Altogether this is the richest subalpine
garden have found perfect flower elysium"
The lower attitudes of the park are densely TIM
bered with FIR, cedar, hemlock. maple, aides cot
tonwood and spruce. The foreste6 areas extend
ing to altitude of about $500 fext gradually
decrease In density of growth after an altitude nf
1000 feet is reached and the high, broad plateans
between the glacial canyons present incompatible
of diversified beauties.
A large part of the area above the 45OO-foot
contour consists of open, grassy parks, rocky and
barren submits, snow fields, and glaciers. Tracts
of dense subaIpine forest occur In sheltered loca-
tons, but they are nowhere very extensive and
their continuity is broken by open swamp glaaes
and meadows and small bodies OF standing wa
vuiging from the main ridges frequently COW
cred with stunted, scraggy growth of low trees
firmly rooted In the crevices between the rocks.
The most beautiful of the alpine trees are about
the mountain parks Growing In scattered groves
and standing in groups sngly in the open
grassland and on the margins of the lakes they
produce a peculiarly pleasing landscape effect
which agreeably relieves the traveller from the
extended outlook to the snow fields of the noun
tain and broken ridges about it. At the lower
of fI,o o1rfp +l1
of the largest trees Is from 90 to 60 feet The
size dminishes rapidly as the elevation increases
The trees dwarfed by the cold and their
trunks are bent and twisted by the wind Small;
patches of low weather beaten and stunted noun.
tain hemlock, alpine fir, and white-bar', pine occur
up to 1,oC0 feet. The trunks quite PROSTATE
and the crowns hattened mats Of branches
lying close to the ground The extreme limit Of
tree growth on Mount Rainier is about 1000 feet.
There is no distinct timber line.