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.
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.
About 6 o'clock last evening the attention of a reporter was called to the peculiar appearance of Mount Tacoma. On the western slope, from the summit and apparently extending to the snow line at the base, was a well defined track as if the snow had been removed, tearing the face of the mountain bare. The track had the same appearance as a mating track on a hillside when the snow has been worn through. Just before the track reached the base it curved to the north slightly and ended apparently in a gorge. The atmosphere was very clear, and clouds were fast obscuring the mountain when the strange view presented itself. At such a long distance an ordinary view is very deceptive to the naked eye, but it was the impression of those who noticed it that the track on the mountain was caused by an immense snow and ice slide. It has been remarked that the snow at the summit has had the appearance of being unusually heavy of late, and giving the mountain too a more pointed appearance, and the track noticed may have been caused by a snow slide. To have been so clearly defined, and at such a great distance, the width of the track must have been several miles.
“To have been so clearly defined, and at such a great distance, the width of the track must have been several miles.”
Early newspapers frequently documented natural phenomena in the Cascades as grand spectacles, framing the untamed landscape as a point of civic pride. Today, such reports of major ice and snow avalanches are viewed through the lens of geological volatility and climate change, reminding us that the mountain is a dynamic force that continuously reshapes the skyline.
From readers
No comments yet. If you know something about this story — a correction, a family memory, a source — it belongs here.