Research the archive

• Pierce County ×
• Mount Rainier ×

1. They Climbed Rainier First—and Slept in a Sulphur-Scented Ice Cave

   In 1870, Hazard Stevens and P. B. Van Trump reached Mount Rainier's summit after a brutal 10½-hour climb, then spent a freezing night beside volcanic steam vents.

   Jan 6, 1895The Seattle Post-IntelligencerMount Rainier, Pierce CountyStrange But True

2. Six Men Climbed a Smoking Rainier in Midwinter

   When Mount Rainier seemed to erupt in 1894, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer sent Maj. E. S. Ingraham and five companions up the Carbon River in deep winter to find out what was really happening.

   Jan 6, 1895The Seattle Post-IntelligencerMount Rainier, Pierce CountyStrange But True

3. The Ghostly Fire on Mount Rainier

   A mountain party finds their camp transformed into an eerie, glowing scene during an alpine electrical storm.

   Apr 17, 1892The Seattle Post-IntelligencerMount Rainier, Pierce CountyStrange But True

4. The Pigeons That Flew Down From Rainier With News the Mountain Was Smoking

   Seven homing pigeons carried dispatches from Mount Rainier's slopes, disproving the era's altitude limits and delivering word that the volcano was steaming.

   Jan 6, 1895The Seattle Post-IntelligencerMount Rainier, Pierce CountyStrange But True

5. A Weather Station on the Roof of the Cascades

   A scientist's proposal imagined a summit hut on Mount Rainier, heated by volcanic steam and measuring what might be the windiest place on earth.

   Apr 6, 1895The Seattle Post-IntelligencerMount Rainier, Pierce CountyStrange But True

6. Sixteen Seattleites Climb Rainier, With Carrier Pigeons and a Night on the Crater

   Two members of a Seattle climbing party return from Mount Rainier after the rest push on to the summit, where they plan to camp amid volcanic steam and signal the city with bonfires.

   Jul 21, 1894The Seattle Post-IntelligencerMount Rainier, Pierce CountyStrange But True

7. The Night They Slept in Rainier's Ice Caves

   A Seattle climbing party returns from Mount Rainier after a storm-bound night in the summit ice caves—and Tacoma greets them like a circus.

   Jul 25, 1894The Seattle Post-IntelligencerMount Rainier, Pierce CountyStrange But True

8. Four Men Spend the Night in a Boiling Crater: An 1883 Assault on Mount Rainier

   A climbing party from Olympia reaches the summit of Mount Rainier and bivouacs inside the crater, where the ground itself is too hot to touch.

   Aug 24, 1883Seattle Daily Post-IntelligencerMount Rainier, Pierce CountyStrange But True

9. A Christmas on the Ice King: The Climb That Saw Rainier Smoking

   In 1894, Major Ingraham led six men, seven homing pigeons, and a camera onto Mount Rainier’s glaciers. They came back with frostbite, a story of steam and smoke rising from the crater—and one pigeon missing.

   Jan 6, 1895The Seattle Post-IntelligencerMount Rainier, Pierce CountyStrange But True

10. A Steam-Heated Night Inside Mount Rainier

    A local professor and two students discovered steam-filled caverns and potential new plant species while spending a harrowing night inside the crater of Mount Rainier.

    Aug 7, 1903The Evening StatesmanMount Rainier, Pierce CountyStrange But True

11. A Seattle Expedition Sets Out to Map Mount Rainier's Glaciers—and Find a Hidden Volcano

    Major Ingraham's party leaves Seattle for three weeks on the mountain, hoping to name glaciers, test mineral springs, and locate a smoking volcano seen from the foothills.

    Jul 13, 1894The Seattle Post-IntelligencerMount Rainier, Pierce CountyStrange But True

12. A Winter Expedition Saw Steam on Rainier—and Asked if the Mountain Was Awake

    In December 1895, a Post-Intelligencer party climbed to 9,000 feet, reported smoke and steam from the summit, and left the public demanding proof that Washington's sentinel was an active volcano.

    Jan 18, 1895The Seattle Post-IntelligencerMount Rainier, Pierce CountyStrange But True

13. The Mountain That Smoked: A Seattle Expedition Finds Fire Under Rainier

    A Post-Intelligencer party climbs to 9,000 feet, is stopped by glaciers and icy chasms, and reports that Mount Rainier is volcanic.

    Jan 25, 1895The Seattle Post-IntelligencerMount Rainier, Pierce CountyStrange But True

14. Carrier Pigeons and a Cougar on Rainier

    A Puyallup party pushes toward the summit, sending dispatches by carrier pigeon and shooting a cougar for its skin.

    Apr 9, 1895The Seattle Post-IntelligencerMount Rainier, Pierce CountyStrange But True

15. The Myth of the Unclimbable Mountain

    Defying widespread reports that Mount Rainier had been rendered impassable by avalanches, two men successfully summit the peak to set the record straight.

    Jul 29, 1903The Evening StatesmanMount Rainier, Pierce CountyStrange But True

16. Rainier Is Taller Than the Map: The Barometer Fight Over Washington’s Mountain

    A new summit reading revived a two-year-old claim: Olympia’s Dr. Riley had used three government barometers to put Mount Rainier near 15,000 feet—well above the official 14,444.

    Aug 9, 1894The Seattle Post-IntelligencerMount Rainier, Pierce CountyStrange But True

17. The Mysterious Vanishing Snow of Mount Rainier

    A Wallula newspaper reports a strange, massive slide that left a mile-wide track across the face of the mountain.

    Apr 21, 1889The Seattle Post-IntelligencerMount Rainier, Pierce CountyStrange But True

18. The Lead Plate on Rainier's North Peak

    A letter from Yelm corrects the record: five people had already stood atop Mount Rainier's north peak, and two had left a lead plate and tin reflector on the rock.

    Jul 24, 1894The Seattle Post-IntelligencerMount Rainier, Pierce CountyStrange But True

Download all 18 as a spreadsheet (CSV)