Wausau pilot. [volume] (Wausau, Wis.) 1896-1940, 1920-09-14


cans WIN vsit if in vacation time. 1t should have
a good American name. change in name, OF
course, means changing the name of Mount kal-
nier since the mountain is One-thlrd OF the who're
park
Peter the Great on his deathbed in 1925, de-
creed that Vitus Behrng. a Dane in his employ,
should cross Siberia to the unknown western sea.
build two ships and search for the tabled passage
to the Atlantic Thus came about The Russian pos
session of Alaska and of the north Pacific coast.
Perez in 1773, and Haceta, in i774 both Span
iards explored the Pacific coast. discovered Moot
ka sound and suspected the Columbia river from
the breakers its bar In 1777 Capt James Cook
discovered Cooks inlet but missed both Juan de
Fuca's straits and the Columbia. Capt. Robert
Means Of the East India company discovered the
straits 81 1888 but dared not cross the Column
bias bar.
International jealousies brought about the Moot
kI Convention of 1890 which gave the British the
right to fish and trade, provided they did nc colo
nizing
Then in 1892 came an American Capt. Robert
Gray Of Boston. in the Columbia. the first Amer
lean ship 10 sail around the world (1790). 1t took
this daUntlpSS American sailor nine days to get
through the breakers on the Coumbias bar He
sailed 30 miles up this noble river and named it
after his gallant ship.
That year Capt. George Vancouver of the
British navy sent TO enforce the Nootka
VentiOn. He explored Puget sound, but baked at
trying the Columbias bar He met Cap
tain Gray who told him of his ascent of the river.
But the British commander baked at the break
ers. took possession of the country in the name
of his sovereign and left Lieutenant Broughton
in the Chatham to explore The river if he could.
Broughton got into the river and assembled 100
miles by launch. He Mount Rainier, about
100 miles away and struck with awe. Like a
true British naval officer he named this magnifi-
cent mountain. rising 14,4OS feet almost from sea
level, after Rear Admiral Peter Rainier.
Mount Rainier is - miles from Tacoma and
81 miles from Seattle. 1t is the sight of sights
from either city. As is well known. these two
cities have feud the name. Tacoma calls
it Tacoma and Seattle calls it Mount Rainier This
is not to say that the controversy should be de-
cided In favor of either city. But "'The mountain
that God" of the Indians of the most
impressive of earth, should have a better name
than Rainier
Here some random extracts from the intro.
ductOry pages of Uncle Sans booklet:
'Of all the tire-mountanS which. like beaconS.
once blazed along the Pacific coast. Mount Rainier
is the noblrSt," wrote John Muir. 1.-THE Mountain
that Was Cod" wrote John d. Williams giving
title to his book
Easily king of NIL is Mount Rainier" wron
F. E. Mauhes of the United States geological sur
vey, reviewing that series of huge extinct volca-
noes towering high above the sky line of the Cas-.
Cade range. Almost $50 feet higher than Mount
Shasta, its nearest rival in grandeur and in mass
ness of its glacial mantle and by the striking
sculpture of its cliffs The total area of its gia
ciers amounts 10 no less than As square miles an
expanSe of ice far exceeding that of any other
single peak in the United States Many of its
individual ice streams between four and six
miles long and vie in magnitude and in splendor
with the most boosted glaciers of the Alps Cas-
cadng from the summit in all directions they
radate like the arms of great starfiSh."
Seen from Tacoma Seattle the vast mountain
appears TO rise directly from sea level so insig-
nificant the ridges about its base Yet these
ridges themselves are OF no mean height They
rise 5000 to 1000 feet above the valleys that cut
through them. and their crests average 5000 feet
In altitude.
But colossal are the proportions of the great
volcano thai they, dwarf mountains of this
size and give them the appearance of mere foot.
hills. In light il is second in the United States
only 10 Mount Whitney.
Mount Rainier stands in round numbers II 600
feet above its immediate base is nearly three
miles high measured from sea level and covers
100 square mites of territory. or one-third of the