The Mountain that was God

Mountain that was 'God', by
John H. Williams

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Title: The Mountain that was 'God' Being a Little Book About the
Great Peak Which the Indians Named 'Tacoma' but Which is Officially
Called 'Rainier'
Author: John H. Williams
Release Date: July 12, 2007 [EBook #22056]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
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MOUNTAIN THAT WAS 'GOD' ***

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[Transcriber's note: Obvious printer's errors have been corrected, all
other inconsistencies are as in the original. Author's spelling has been

maintained.
Probable typo: Pages named by the author are under the format (p. xx).
Original pagination of the book have been kept under the format
{p.xxx}.
Missing page numbers correspond to blank pages.
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illustration having been moved out of the paragraph.
The illustrations of the page 31 and 89 share their captions with the
illustration above them.]

THE MOUNTAIN THAT WAS "GOD"
BEING A LITTLE BOOK ABOUT THE GREAT PEAK WHICH
THE INDIANS NAMED "TACOMA" BUT WHICH IS OFFICIALLY
CALLED "RAINIER"
By JOHN H. WILLIAMS
O, rarest miracle of mountain heights, Thou hast the sky for thy
imperial dome, And dwell'st among the stars all days and nights, In the
far heavens familiarly at home. --William Hillis Wynn: "Mt. Tacoma;
an Apotheosis."

Second Edition revised and greatly enlarged, with 190 illustrations,
including eight colored halftones.

TACOMA: JOHN H. WILLIAMS NEW YORK: G. P. PUTNAM'S
SONS: LONDON 1911

[Illustration: Copyright, 1905, By Kiser Photo Co. Great Crevasses in
the upper part of Cowlitz Glacier.]

Copyright, 1910, 1911, by John H. Williams.
{p.007} [Illustration: On the summit of Eagle Rock in winter. Boys
looking over an 800-foot precipice.]

FOREWORD.
Every summer there is demand for illustrated literature describing the
mountain variously called "Rainier" or "Tacoma." Hitherto, we have
had only small collections of pictures, without text, and confined to the
familiar south and southwest sides.
The little book which I now offer aims to show the grandest and most
accessible of our extinct volcanoes from all points of view. Like the
glacial rivers, its text will be found a narrow stream flowing swiftly
amidst great mountain scenery. Its abundant illustrations cover not only
the giants' fairyland south of the peak, but also the equally stupendous
scenes that await the adventurer who penetrates the harder trails and
climbs the greater glaciers of the north and east slopes. * * * *
The title adopted for the book has reference, of course, to the Indian
nature worship, of which something is said in the opening chapter.
Both the title and a small part of the matter are reprinted from an article
which I contributed last year to the New York Evening Post. Attention
is called to the tangle in the names of glaciers and the need of a
definitive nomenclature. As to the name of the Mountain itself, that
famous bone of contention between two cities, I greatly prefer
"Tacoma," one of the several authentic forms of the Indian name used
by different tribes; but I believe that "Tahoma," proposed by the Rotary
Club of Seattle, would be a justifiable compromise, and satisfy nearly
everybody. Its adoption would free our national map from one more of

its meaningless names--the name, in this case, of an undistinguished
foreign naval officer whose only connection with our history is the fact
that he fought against us during the American Revolution. Incidentally,
it would also free me from the need of an apology for using the hybrid
"Rainier-Tacoma"! * * * Many of the illustrations show wide reaches
of wonderful country, and their details may well be studied with a
reading glass.
I am much indebted to the librarians and their courteous assistants at
the Seattle and Tacoma public libraries; also to Prof. Flett for his
interesting account of the flora of the National Park; to Mr. Eugene
Ricksecker, of the United States Engineer Corps, for permission to
reproduce his new map of the Park, now printed for the first time; and,
most of all, to the photographers, both professional and amateur. In the
table of illustrations, credit is given the maker of each photograph. The
book is sent out in the hope of promoting a wider knowledge of our
country's noblest landmark. May it lead many