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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.

Page numbers corresponding to full page illustrations
(which have been inserted in the caption of the illustration)
may seem out of order; the 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  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 <DW72>s.
* * * *

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 of its
readers to delightful days of recreation and adventure.

  Tacoma, June 1, 1910.                      J. H. W.

Second Edition.--The text has been carefully revised, much new matter
added, and the information for tourists brought to date. The
illustrations have been rearranged, and more {p.008} than fifty new
ones included. Views of the west and south sides, mainly, occupy the
first half of the book, while the later pages carry the reader east
and north from the Nisqually country.

Nearly five thousand negatives and photographs have now been examined
in selecting copy for the engravers. In the table of illustrations I
am glad to place the names of several expert photographers in
Portland, San Francisco, Pasadena and Boston. Their pictures, with
other new ones obtained from photographers already represented, make
this edition much more complete. For the convenience of tourists, as
well as of persons unable to visit the Mountain but wishing to know
its features, I have numbered the landmarks on three of the larger
views, giving a key in the underlines. If this somewhat mars the
beauty of these pictures, it gives them added value as maps of the
areas shown. In renewing my acknowledgments to the photographers, I
must mention especially Mr. Asahel Curtis of Seattle. The help and
counsel of this intrepid and public-spirited mountaineer have been
invaluable. Mr. A. H. Barnes, our Tacoma artist