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

One of the most important and interesting features of the Mount Rainier expedition was the sending of messages to the Post-Intelligencer by the seven homing pigeons taken by the party, by which the outside world was kept informed as to the movements and observations of the explorers. The birds, which have broken all records for flying from great altitudes, were owned by Fred S. Meeker, of Puyallup, who is the author of the following article on the origin and uses of homing pigeons.

Homing pigeon is the accepted term now given to pigeons used for flying journeys, whether or not they are also given messages to carry. All pigeons are strongly attached to their homes and will fly back to them as far as their powers allow. From time immemorial this tendency has been used to make the birds carry messages. The homing pigeon is a bird which, originally bred from various sources, has been perfected by simply breeding together the best performers, irrespective of shape or color. All good flyers will be found to have a bold eye, a capacious forehead and powerful wings.

It has been a mooted question to what altitude a homing pigeon will fly, and various experiments have been made by taking pigeons up in balloons and liberating them at different heights. As a result of these experiments the statement has gone forth, and is quite generally accepted as a fact, that a pigeon cannot sustain itself nor will it attempt flight at a greater height than 300 rods (4,350 feet) from the surface of the earth.

This has been disproved in more than one instance within the past six months by birds liberated on Mount Rainier. During the month of July 1894, Maj. E. S. Ingraham took with him some homing pigeons on one of his exploring expeditions to this mountain, and at an altitude of 10,800 feet a bird was liberated. While the performance was not altogether satisfactory on this occasion, the bird sustained itself and flight was accomplished.

A more exact experiment, with results that speak for themselves, was accomplished by the party sent out by the Seattle Post-Intelligencer under Maj. Ingraham to investigate the reported volcanic eruptions that took place on Mount Rainier. This party took with them for the purpose of acting as carriers seven trusty homing pigeons. The most notable flight on this expedition was from an altitude on the side of Mount Rainier of 9,000 feet. From this great altitude the bird had no apparent difficulty in making its ascension and circles, which seem to be a necessary preliminary before determining its course and starting on the homeward journey. The message that this bird carried from an altitude of 9,000 feet was delivered at its home loft, some fifty miles distant from Mount Rainier, in but little over two hours after the message was written, and reported in the Post-Intelligencer the next morning, bringing the startling news that Mount Rainier was smoking and steaming. Thus it was proven by this flight that pigeons can make successful journeys from much greater altitudes than they are generally credited with. It is now the intention to continue the experiment with these birds from higher altitudes, and those persons in the best position to form an opinion say that they believe such flights can be obtained from the very top of Mount Rainier, nearly 15,000 feet above the sea.