page_title: North Cascades National Park
section_title: Anglo-European Exploration
hierarchical_section_title: North Cascades National Park / Human history / Anglo-European Exploration
context_page_description: North Cascades National Park is an American national park in the state of Washington. At more than 500,000 acres, North Cascades National Park is the largest of the three National Park Service units that comprise the North Cascades National Park Complex. North Cascades National Park consists of a northern and southern section, bisected by the Skagit River that flows through Ross Lake National Recreation Area. Lake Chelan National Recreation Area lies on the southern border of the south unit of the park. In addition to the two national recreation areas, other protected lands including several national forests and wilderness areas, as well as Canadian provincial parks in British Columbia, nearly surround the park. North Cascades National Park features the rugged mountain peaks of the North Cascades Range, the most expansive glacial system in the contiguous United States, the headwaters of numerous waterways, and vast forests with the highest degree of flora biodiversity of any American national park.
  The region was first settled by Paleo-Indian Native Americans; by the time European American explorers arrived, it was inhabited by Skagit tribes.
context_section_description: The first white explorer to enter the North Cascades was most likely a Scotsman named Alexander Ross, who was in the employ of the American-owned Pacific Fur Company. To the southeast of the modern park boundary, Ross and other members of the company constructed Fort Okanogan in 1811, as a base from which to operate during the early period of the Pacific Northwest fur trade. Fort Okanogan was the first American settlement in present-day Washington State, well north of the route followed by members of the Lewis and Clark Expedition of 1804–1806, and also north of Fort Vancouver, on the Columbia River. Fort Okanogan was later owned by the North West Company, and then the Hudson's Bay Company, both of which were British-owned.
  Both Native American and white trappers conducted fur transactions at the trading post, which was staffed by representatives of the fur trading company. During one season, Ross traded 1,500 beaver pelts. In 1814, Ross became the first known white explorer to explore the valleys and high passes of the North Cascades, but he was less interested in exploration than discovering a route that would easily connect the fur trading posts of interior Washington with Puget Sound to the west. Ross was accompanied by three Indians, one of whom was a guide who led the party to a high pass in the North Cascades. Ross and the guide may have traveled as far west as the Skagit River, but failed to get to Puget Sound. Fur trading slowed considerably as demand for furs decreased in the 1840s, but a few residents continued to augment their income by trapping for furs in the area until 1968, when the park was established, rendering the activity illegal.
  Aside from isolated trappers, the North Cascades saw no further explorations until the 1850s. In 1853, US Army Captain George B. McClellan led a party that explored the area for potential locations for the construction of a railroad through the region. McClellan determined the mountains were too numerous and precipitous, and that any railway would have to be constructed well to the south.
  American and British disputes in the region centered on the fur trade, and the Treaty of 1818 allowed for joint administration of Oregon Country, as it was referred to in the United States – the British Empire referred to the region as the Columbia District. The treaty set the international border at the 49th parallel, but this was disputed west of the Rocky Mountains, since the rival fur trading outfits had their own ideas about where the border should be. The Oregon boundary dispute between Britain and the United States eventually led to the Oregon Treaty of 1846, and the 49th parallel forms both the current international border as well as the northern limit of the current park. During the late 1850s, members of the US North West Boundary Commission explored the border region, attempting to identify which mountains, rivers and lakes belonged to which country. One party of the commission was led by explorer Henry Custer, and they explored the northern district of the park, publishing their report in the 1860s. Custer's party crossed Whatcom Pass in 1858, and were the first whites to see Challenger Glacier and Hozomeen Mountain. Impressed with the scenic grandeur of the region, Custer stated, "must be seen, it cannot be described".
  In 1882, US Army Lieutenant Henry Hubbard Pierce led a government-sponsored exploration that traversed the western boundary of the southern section of the current park, in search of transportation routes and natural resources. As with the party led by McClellan in the 1850s, Pierce failed to find a suitable route for a railway, and only marginally suitable routes for roads. However, the expedition discovered gold in a quartz vein on the slopes of Eldorado Peak. Further expeditions by the military in 1883 and 1887 also determined that the mountains were virtually impenetrable. Explorers continued to seek out routes for wagon roads and railways and by the end of the 19th century, much of the park had been explored, but it was not until 1972 that the North Cascades
caption: Goode Mountain is the tallest mountain in the park.
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