Origins of landmark names

Buell Peak: Elevation 5,938 feet. John Lattimore Buell and Jennie Lightfoot Buell owned a hardware store in Orting.

Camp Curtis: High camp between Emmons and Winthrop glaciers named for photographer Asahel Curtis. He brought his 8-by-10 view camera on The Mountaineers' first climb to the peak in 1906.

Camp Hazard: Camp on the Kautz Glacier was named for Joseph T. Hazard. A Texan who taught school in Everett, Seattle and Lester, he wrote several books about Cascade glaciers and forests.

Camp Muir: One of the mountain's most popular climbing destinations, located near Cowlitz Glacier at 10,062 feet, originally was called Cloud Camp. Named for John Muir, the Scottish-born writer, naturalist and champion of American forests. Hikers still use the stone shelter, built for $573 in 1916.

Camp Schurman: Camp at Steamboat Prow named for Clark E. Schurman, a scoutmaster and guide at Paradise and Sunrise. Died in 1955. Schurman always ended his summer nights lantern-slide show at Paradise, where he was known as "The Chief," by reciting these lines:

"Last campfire never die. And you and I

On separate ways to life's December,

Will always dream by this last fire

And have this mountain to remember."

Carbon Glacier: The gray tinge of water spilling from the snout of this glacier on the mountain's northwest side can be attributed to rock and gravel released as the ice melts. This murky water becomes the Carbon River.

Columbia Crest: P.B. Van Trump and Hazard Stevens called the 14,410-foot summit Mount Rainier Crater Peak. It was thought to be the highest point in the United States. Columbia is considered a poetic synonym for America. Just as the national park was America's fifth, Mount Rainier is the fifth-highest mountain in the continental United States.

Cowlitz Cleaver, Glacier, Park & Rocks: All from a native term, meaning "capturing the medicine spirit."

Crystal Mountain: There are two. The ski area at the park's northeast edge got its name from a 1909 book by James A. Sproule, who wrote "Crystal mountain is remarkable for its glass-like formations." Another Crystal Mountain is north of Squaw Lake on the park's southwest side. The 6,306-foot peak was named for its crystal-like snow.

Edmunds Glacier: On the western slope; named for Vermont Sen. George F. Edmunds, who visited in 1883. He supervised the impeachment trial of President Andrew Johnson, wrote legislation creating the current Electoral College, helped suppress polygamy in the territories, moved to California after 25 years in the Senate and lived to be 91.

Emmons Glacier: Rainier's largest glacier is named for Boston geologist Samuel Franklin Emmons. He helped on the first Geological Survey attempts to map the mountain in 1870.

Fay Peak: Fay Fuller, the first woman to the top, did it in 1890 and again in 1897. She married Fritz von Briesen and moved to New York, where she died in 1958. Her peak, 6,492 feet high, is near Mowich Lake.

Flett Glacier: Professor John B. Flett was a Scot who came to Tacoma in 1893 and taught botany in Tacoma Public Schools. An enthusiastic explorer of Mount Rainier and the Olympics, helped formed the Tacoma branch of The Mountaineers in 1912.

Fryingpan Glacier: The name comes either from campers who lost a fry pan in the creek or the glacier's odd shape. Fred Plummer, who wrote a guidebook to the mountain in 1893, calls it Urania after the Urania Society of America.

Ingraham Glacier: Originally from Maine, Maj. Edward Sturgis Ingraham was superintendent of King County schools and then Seattle schools from 1875 to '89. Climbed Mount Rainier 11 times. Ingraham named more than his share of places.

Indian Henry's Hunting Ground: Sotolick, an American Indian, hunted in the area that became the national park above Kautz Glacier. Henry Winsor, a pioneer mail carrier, called him Indian Henry. Legend places a gold mine in the area.

Kautz Creek: Flows into the Nisqually River. Named for the illustrious August V. Kautz, who climbed to within 400 feet of the peak in 1857. Born in Germany, Kautz was a graduate of West Point's class of 1852, a soldier at Northwest forts and the officer responsible for the construction of Fort Steilacoom. He commanded the Army in Arizona Territory. Retired to Seattle, where he died in 1895.

Liberty Cap: The summit's north peak, elevation 14,112 feet, was named by Bailey Willis, a revered professor of geology at Stanford, and one of the mountain's most dedicated disciples. While employed by the Geological Survey in 1883, Willis thought the peak resembled the head and crown of the Statue of Liberty.

Meany Crest: Elevation 7,200 feet. Edmond S. Meany was president of The Mountaineers, a state senator and a University of Washington history professor for 40 years. Wrote many books about the Pacific Northwest, including early studies on place names.

Ohanapecosh: Pronounced "Oh-HAN-uh-puh-cawsh." Indian for "clear stream" or "blue waterhole." A river, glaciers, a hot spring, a campground and a National Park Service visitor's center all bear this five-syllable name.

Paradise: The park's most popular destination is home to a hotel, visitors center, a hiker's hub and paved trails. The most accepted of many stories places the name to a conversation in which Virinda Longmire told Benjamin Harvey of a valley with green lawns and alpine flowers. It was, she said, "a paradise."

Plummer Peak: Elevation 6,370 feet. Fred G. Plummer was a Forest Service cartographer. He taught geography in Tacoma Public Schools.

Russell Cliff: It's a ledge at the 13,000-foot level north of the summit. Israel Cook Russell was a University of Michigan geology professor. He studied rocks and glaciers in the American West. Russell made pioneer studies into ice age glaciation on Puget Sound. Named Moraine Park, Ingraham Glacier, Steamboat Prow and The Wedge, among others.

Seymour Peak: Elevation 6,337 feet. Tacoma politician William W. Seymour was president of the park board, mayor from 1911 to '14 and donor of the wonderful Victorian-style conservatory named for him in Wright Park.

Sunrise: The eastern, or sunrise, side of the mountain is one of four national park developments. The others are Paradise, Longmire and Ohanapecosh. Sunrise rewards visitors with unsurpassed views.

Tolmie Peak: It's surprising that more places in Puget Sound are not named for William F. Tolmie. This 5,939-foot peak and a nearby creek spilling into the Carbon River are named for the Hudson's Bay Company chief factor - or agent - at Fort Nisqually. Born in Inverness, Scotland, and educated as a physician and a naturalist, he conducted the first scientific botanizing at the mountain in 1833.

Van Trump Glaciers: Born in Lancaster, Ohio, a law student at Kenyon (Ohio) College and New York University, Philemon Van Trump never became a lawyer. He and Hazard Stevens made the first ascent of Mount Rainier in 1870. Van Trump was secretary to his brother-in-law, Territorial Gov. Marshall F. Moore. Van Trump worked at Mount Rainier National Park in its early years.

Wallace Peak: Elevation 5,800 feet. Hugh Wallace was a Tacoma real estate developer and Democratic Party activist who was ambassador to France in 1919-21. On Christmas Day 1904, he and wife, Mildred, donated the brass bells and chimes that still ring in Old City Hall. The bells were a memorial to their daughter.

Winthrop Glacier: This north slope glacier was named for the mountain's first tourist. In 1853, Theodore Winthrop was a Pacific Mail Steamship Co. employee who traveled with Indians by canoe from Port Townsend to Nisqually, rode a horse over the Cascades to The Dalles, Ore., and visited Mount Rainier. The account of his travels was a book, "The Canoe and the Saddle," published posthumously in 1862 after he was killed in a Civil War battle near Great Bethel, Va.

SOURCE: “Origins of Pierce County Place Names" (R&M Press, 1989) by Gary Fuller Reese, director of Tacoma Public Library's Northwest Room.