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.
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.
Tacoma—Prof. J. B. Flett, instructor in the botanical department of the Tacoma high school, has just returned from a two weeks' outing in the mountains. He was accompanied by Frank Weymouth and Arthur Gillespie, pupils of the high school. The party ascended Mount Rainier from the northeast side and came down the mountain on the south side after spending one night in the crater. While in the mountains Prof. Flett discovered several plants that are new to him and, he believes, new to science. The experiences of the party in the crater of the mountain are interesting. Just before they reached the rim, a number of small fissures in the rock were discovered, and from them issued steam. When they crossed the rim of the crater the wind was blowing hard, and in looking about for a sheltered spot Prof. Flett found a hole in the earth which he determined to explore. He entered the place feet first and found himself in a large chamber, which was heated by steam coming in from below. His two companions followed the professor, and they spent the night in the chamber. There was an opening from this chamber running downwards, and Prof. Flett allowed his alpenstock to slip and fall down the opening. One of the young men volunteered his services to go after it. A rope was fastened around his body and he was lowered a distance of seventy-five feet before he recovered the alpenstock. When he returned he reported that there were a number of chambers similar to the one first entered, as far down as he had gone. At an unknown depth there was a body of water, discovered by throwing pebbles down and hearing them splash.
“At an unknown depth there was a body of water. This was discovered by throwing pebbles down and hearing them splash.”
Mount Rainier's crater remains an active geothermal environment, and the 'fissures' described by Prof. Flett are still studied today. Early 20th-century botanical exploration in the Pacific Northwest was often a collaborative effort between amateur enthusiasts and educators, helping to build the foundational knowledge of our modern park systems.
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