The Mountain that was God | Page 5

Trees on North Side George V. Caesar 139
Lupines Herbert W. Gleason 139
* The Mountain, seen from Green River Hot Springs C. E. Cutter 140
Glacial debris on lower Winthrop Asahel Curtis 142
An Alpine Climbers' Cabin From Whymper's "Chamonix and Mt.
Blanc" 144
[Illustration: White River Canyon, from the terminal moraine of White
Glacier. A fine example of glacial sculpture. The river seen in the
distance is 2,000 feet below the plateau through which the glacier has
carved this valley.]
[Illustration {p.013}: Telephoto view from near Electron, 20 miles,
showing vast summit plateau left when the Mountain blew its head off.
1. Crater Peak, built by the two small, modern craters. 2. South Peak, or
Peak Success. 3. North Peak, or Liberty Cap. 4. North Tahoma Glacier.

5. Puyallup Glacier. 6. South Mowich Glacier. 7. North Mowich
Glacier. 8. Snow Cap above Carbon Glacier. The summit peaks (1, 2
and 3) form a triangle, each side of which is two miles or more in
length.]
[Illustration {p.014}: View of the Mountain from Fox Island, forty-two
miles northwest, with part of Puget Sound in the foreground.]

{p.015} THE MOUNTAIN SPEAKS.
I am Tacoma, Monarch of the Coast! Uncounted ages heaped my
shining snows; The sun by day, by night the starry host, Crown me
with splendor; every breeze that blows Wafts incense to my altars;
never wanes The glory my adoring children boast, For one with sun
and sea Tacoma reigns.
Tacoma--the Great Snow Peak--mighty name My dusky tribes revered
when time was young! Their god was I in avalanche and flame-- In
grove and mead and songs my rivers sung, As blithe they ran to make
the valleys fair-- Their Shrine of Peace where no avenger came To vex
Tacoma, lord of earth and air.
Ah! when at morn above the mists I tower And see my cities gleam by
slope and strand, What joy have I in this transcendent dower-- The
strength and beauty of my sea-girt land That holds the future royally in
fee! And lest some danger, undescried, should lower, From my far
height I watch o'er wave and lea.
And cloudless eves when calm in heaven I rest, All rose-bloom with a
glow of paradise, And through my firs the balm-wind of the west,
Blown over ocean islands, softly sighs, While placid lakes my radiant
image frame-- And know my worshippers, in loving quest, Will mark
my brow and fond lips breathe my name:
Enraptured from my valleys to my snows, I charm my glow to
crimson--soothe to gray; And when the encircling shadow deeper
grows, Poise, a lone cloud, beside the starry way. Then, while my

realm is hushed from steep to shore, I yield my grandeur to divine
repose, And know Tacoma reigns forevermore!
South Framingham, Mass. March, 1911. Edna Dean Proctor
[Illustration {p.016}: Copyright, 1906, By Romans Photographic Co.
The most kingly of American mountains, seen from beautiful Lake
Washington, Seattle, distance sixty miles.]
{p.017} [Illustration: A party of climbers on Winthrop Glacier.]

THE MOUNTAIN THAT WAS "GOD."
I.
MOUNT "BIG SNOW" AND INDIAN TRADITION.
Long hours we toiled up through the solemn wood, Beneath
moss-banners stretched from tree to tree; At last upon a barren hill we
stood, And, lo, above loomed Majesty.
--Herbert Bashford: "Mount Rainier."
The great Mountain fascinates us by its diversity. It is an inspiration
and yet a riddle to all who are drawn to the mysterious or who love the
sublime. Every view which the breaking clouds vouchsafe to us is a
surprise. It never becomes commonplace, save to the commonplace.
[Illustration: Ice Terraces on South Tahoma Glacier. These vast steps
are often seen where a glacier moves down a steep and irregular slope.]
Old Virgil's gibe at mankind's better half--"varium et mutabile semper
femina"--might have been written of this fickle shape of rock and ice
and vapor. One tries vainly, year after year, to define it in his own mind.
The daily, hourly change of distance, size and aspect, tricks which the
Indian's mountain {p.018} god plays with the puny creatures swarming
more and more about his foot; his days of frank neighborliness, his

swift transformations from smiles to anger, his fits of sullenness and
withdrawal, all baffle study. Even though we live at its base, it is
impossible to say we know the Mountain, so various are the spells the
sun casts over this huge dome which it is slowly chiseling away with its
tools of ice, and which, in coming centuries, it will level with the plain.
[Illustration: Mineral Lake and the Mountain. Distance, eighteen
miles.]
We are lovers of the water as well as the hills, out here in this
northwestern corner of the Republic. We spend many days--and should
spend more--in cruising among the hidden bays and park-like islands
which make