258
THE WEST SHORE.
September, 1879
At we look northward again at Mt. spreading, fragrant coronals dot the
Adan, we Me that it stands isolated irrassvpark. Through the eastern edge
f rom its brotherhood of mountains, of it, the river, with an average width
Unlike Hood, which itandi right on of fifty feet, a current broken constantly
the main ridge of the mountains, Ad
ams has been severed from all connect
inn rid get.
The backbone of the Cascade range
li.i-' apparently been torn asunder at
this point, anil the shattered vertebra-
piled in Adams and St. Helen.
The former, shaggy and massive,
bound with chains of stiffened lava anil
beaded w Ith half-melted boulders, seems
ust mi the verge of boiling forth again.
The latter, smooth and symmetrical,
has vailed the old volcanic strife be
neath 1 mantle of the purest mow.
The pilgrim to Mt. Adams lands at
White Salmon on the sand, into which
the strainer hutts head-first with force
enough to bold her during the few mo
ments of her Stay. Then with an im
path nt SnOft, she backs oflf and hounds
I all s .ml.
White Salmon, with its peaches and
tomatoes, lifts the physical man to a
point Commensurate with the elevated
task belbre him, while its pine groves
ami curiously carved rocks form a tit
vestibule to the majestic temple in
Which he is about to worship.
I n entyflve milt - on the hacks of
horsoa obtained fot money, not tor love,
bungs us to (.'amas l'rairie. There
would Ik- nhotit as much sense, hv the
way, in naming every other hill on this
sale the Mountains, Pit hill, as there is
in laslcnii.g upon every other prairie
on the othei tide, the odious appellation
Ol Camas. ( hn people should ecu isc
S little more ingenuity in christening
linn homes. Prom this prairie, which
is 1 lie ptimipal feature ol the
hv rapids, as cold as ice from the snows
of the mountain right above us, makes
ils sw ift and noisy way.
Havinfe followed the river for a dis
tance of four miles, we begin the ascent
of the long ridge leading to the sum
mit. This ridge has the same lawn
like beauty as the valley helow.
Flowers of all colors variagate the
rich green of the grass. The mountain
itself, with alternate streaks of snow
and rock, is constantly visible through
the trees. The grass becomes smaller
and fresher, the trees hecome dwarfed,
and the soil ashy. Then an ice-cold
little creek, hahling on the chunks of
basalt that have been thrown down
from their high station above. Pretty
soon a smutty snow-hank appears amid
the tree-. Beyond this is a little valley,
which the architect of this mountain
must have designed expressly for camp
ing parties, a perfect oval, embracing
about three acres, fringed with minia
ture hemlocks and traversed by the
little stream, this charming spot has
yet one dreadful plague mosquitoes I
They say that every house has its
skeleton, and there seems to be no
mountain retreat where persecuted
man can he free from all articulated
pests. Let us draw a vail over the
piercing experiences of that night.
Indeed, we made strenuous efforts to
draw vails over ourselves nt the time,
hut to no avail whatever. The hills of
our tormentors made light of all de
fense. There w as a definite line of at
tack arranged between mosquitoes and
upper gnats, i K. mosquitoes covered us as
Klukit.it, pafMin can make almost a j thickly as their size would permit, and
OOnplete plot of his course up the then the gnats tilled all the interstices,
mountain. Time aie time summits, after which both varieties of animal
ranging li"in northwest to southeast, gorged themselves.
From the tout booster!) of these, e
tends a long rock) ridge, dividing the
it........ .1... 1 .
..,.. v., tmwi me lances 01 the
lli.llwl MMB I.,.. I I . ..
...II-.. 1.-I- LI. . . ..... " " " M,S ".
o, ,h rsiKM.an.omtha.o. the eai.h and the gentle, touch of the I
U m M0a had cooled its fever, the attentions of
Crossing the loot ot this ridge, we our tuneful adversaries became les
antM again the valley of t)u. V,iU. pointed, and by the time the starlight
Salmon. A lH-autilul scene awaits , had liegun to sparkle on the frosted
V.. I i - 1 1
r 1 1. hi
the vallcv cvp.inds to a width of sV Itrctchcd out its long lingers and half creeps lown the black and chilly cl.tw
cral miles. It j, parptUd w ith the! throttled the murmuring creek we which once were hissing hot. A hug
green, .! giass, and brighter.. flower., "etc left in h;.cc. island of basalt which has survived the
( 1. .. ....it. . .1 . . . . L. I rt. . .. . mmmnn .l..v .O'.ll .lanJi IfllltltflV l!tt'
" r"" Miaigiiij me morning light revealed a Ion Z ' ,"V - , ,- ,ta
Uicciii Lolumiv in.l wild .. i 1 1 11 . ""'pwawti almost the only barnertotoa
1 ' ' ",,! " K '"n 1 '.ldci, tanging i sire I general congelation. '
from a man's fist to a piano. This
stairway extends, with n few fow
ruptions, to the first summit of the
mountain. The boulders of which it
is composed, look as if they had been
half melted and then stuck together,
They furnish a much less wearisome
road than the slippery snew-fields.
Mt. Adams has a much wider base
than I Iood. It is fully five miles, if not
more, from the snow-line to the sum
mit. It is quite possible, however, that
the snow limits are greater this year
than usual. These five miles furnish
no dangerous climbs along the edge of
fathomless ice-creeks as Hood does, nor
does one seem so near the infernal re
gions as on the latter mountain. A
faint sulphurous odor is noticeable at
one or two points, but it is faint indeed
compared wit!, the brimstone breath of
Hood. Nor .do the rocks go booming
into the crevices at a slight touch as on
Hood. Though neither so upright nor
so holy as our great Oregon peak, ML
Adams is much, better regulated, and
altogether graver. Almost any o'ie of
good lung and leg capacity, and of av
erage moral character, can attain the
summit of Adams. The toppling crest
of Hood is reserved for the stout
thighed few whose battle-cry is "Ex
celsior." Our long rock-stairway of many
thousand steps terminates in the south
eastern peak of the mountain. The
central dome is about three hundred
feet higher and half a mile further.
Midway between the two is a beautiful
snow-field, which terminates on the
northeastern side in a tremendous preci
pice, over which hangs a frozen Ni
agara. That cataract, with its grcea
waters above, its black depths Inrlow,
and the foam-flecked, rainbow-girdled'
flood between, with its perpetual smoke
of mist and its roar and rumble from
the under-world, is a revelation of sub
limity which reduces man to a mere
atom. Here on Mt. Adams, at the
other end of the continent, is the ghost
of the great waterfall. With a invc
ment apparent only to the eye that sec
it always, with a silence that is more
awful than the loudest noise, the great
ice-fall, of mingled green and white,