The Desecration of Paradise Valley
Superintendent Schwagerl sounds the alarm on tourists burning ancient trees for fun and the unchecked slaughter of wildlife in the new mountain reserve.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
The superintendent of the park department, Schwagerl, recently returned from a trip to the vicinity of Mount Rainier with a collection of native plant specimens. While he is working to catalog these indigenous varieties for exchange with national and international gardens, his report brings grave news regarding the state of the mountain reserve. Local settlers report that some visitors from Tacoma have taken to setting fire to the ancient, resinous trees simply to enjoy the 'momentary rocket conflagration,' leaving the beautiful park of Paradise valley irreparably damaged. Others are senselessly cutting down live trees for firewood. Furthermore, the few rare animals remaining in the area—mountain goats, white grouse, whistling marmots, and timid bears—are being hunted toward extermination. The report urges the city to petition the Secretary of the Interior for immediate measures to protect this invaluable natural resource before it is destroyed beyond repair.
“This fact induced some of Tacoma's visiting citizens, as reported by settlers and tourists, to set fire to them, merely to enjoy the momentary rocket conflagration.”
Long before Mount Rainier became a protected National Park in 1899, it faced the same issues of over-tourism and resource vandalism that today’s park rangers struggle to mitigate. The 1893 report captures a moment of transition where the 'wilderness' was being treated as an infinite commodity rather than a fragile ecosystem, a tension that remains central to Pacific Northwest environmental politics.
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