Rainier Timeline
Rob Carson and Craig Hill; The News Tribune
* 500,000 years ago: Repeated lava flows, ash, pumice ejections cause
the volcano to grow.
* 75,000 years ago: The mountain probably reaches its present size.
* 6,600 to 5,700 years ago: Violent explosions cause mudßows that
diminish the mountain's bulk.
* 5,800 years ago: Osceola Mudflow sweeps down both forks of the White
River to beyond present-day Enumclaw.
* 3,000 to 2,500 years ago: The Columbia Crest forms during the
mountain's last major eruptive period.
* May 7, 1792: British Capt. George Vancouver spots a "round snowy
mountain" during an exploratory visit to Puget Sound. He names the peak Mount
Rainier for his friend, Rear Adm. Peter Rainier.
* 1798: Vancouver publishes the name Rainier in his journal in London,
kicking off the controversy over the mountain's name that lasts more than a
century.
* Winter 1805-06: On their return trip to St. Louis, Meriwether Lewis and
William Clark, who had spent a rigorous winter at the mouth of the Columbia
River, spot Mount Rainier from about the present-day location of Portland.
* 1833: Dr. William Tolmie, a Hudson's Bay Co. physician at Fort
Nisqually, ventures deep into what is now Mount Rainier National Park on a
botanical survey. He becomes the first white man to enter what is now the park
and the first to see glaciers in the United States.
* 1841: Lt. Charles Wilkes, in charge of the U.S. Exploring Expedition,
triangulates Mount Rainier and comes up with a height of 12,330 feet - more than
2,000 feet too low. His failure to correct for the curvature of the Earth,
atmospheric refraction and the height of his instrument above sea level probably
accounted for the error.
* 1853: The Longmire family arrives in Yelm from Fountain County, Ind.
Their group is the first to cross the Cascades north of the Columbia River.
* 1856: A U.S. Coast & Geodetic Survey calculates Rainier's height at
14,444 feet, but the surveyors aren't sure of the figure and don't publish the
information until 1888.
* July 1857: A climbing party led by Army Lt. August Valentine Kautz
makes it above 13,000 feet, but turns back because of snow blindness and
exhaustion.
* 1862: Theodore Winthrop's travel book "The Canoe and the Saddle" makes
the first known published reference to "Tacoma" as the Indian word for Mount
Rainier.
* Aug. 17, 1870: First documented summit climb. Hazard Stevens (who
called the mountain "Takhoma") and Philemon B. Van Trump were led part way up by
Indian guide Sluiskin. They spent the night on the summit, surviving the cold by
warming themselves at a steam vent. Sluiskin, who believed the climb impossible,
thought they were ghosts when they returned the next day.
* Oct. 1870: Second successful ascent: Samuel F. Emmons and A.D. Wilson
* 1881-82: Bailey Willis, a Northern Pacific Railroad geologist, cuts a
horse trail from Wilkeson up the Carbon River to the Carbon Galcier. Willis
writes of enormous trees, awesome silence and oppressive solitude. He calls the
mountain "an awful power clad in beauty."
* 1883: Northern Pacific Railroad first suggests Mount Rainier and its
glaciers be established as a national park and sends a party of influential
writers to the area.
James Longmire, searching for lost horses, discovers natural mineral springs at
what is now Longmire.
Tacomans make their first serious attempt to change the name of the mountain to
Mount Tacoma.
* 1884: Longmires construct first trail to mineral springs.
* 1885: James Longmire's wife, Virinda - or Martha, the wife of his son
Elcaine - visits Paradise Valley for the first time and names it Paradise
because of the beauty of the wildflowers.
The Rev. Warner Fobes, Richard O. Wells and George James of Snohomish attempt
the first ascent via the north side. They reach the summit on the third try.
* 1888: Naturalist John Muir visits Mount Rainier and climbs to the
summit with Maj. Edward S. Ingraham. "Did not mean to climb it," Muir wrote in a
letter to his wife, "but got excited and soon was on top."
The Tacoma City Council asks the Territorial Legislature to petition Congress to
set aside Mount Rainier as a national park.
* 1889: Longmire family completes two bathhouses and some guest cabins at
the mineral springs and begins advertising "Longmire's Medical Springs" in
Tacoma newspapers.
* Nov. 11, 1889: Washington becomes the 42nd state.
* Aug. 10, 1890: Fay Fuller, a teacher from Yelm, is the first woman to
reach the summit. Age 20 and single, her climb alone with four men scandalized
Tacoma society. So did her climbing costume - a long skirt with ankle-length
bloomers, boys shoes and a straw hat.
* 1890: U.S. Board of Geographic Names decides "Rainier" must remain on
all government maps and publications.
* 1890-91: With help of Indian laborers, the Longmires clear a crude
wagon road from Ashford to the springs. They build the mountain's first hotel,
Mineral Springs Resort.
* 1891: First dog climbs the mountain - a deerhound belonging to Dr.
Warren Riley, who accompanied Van Trump.
* 1893: Land that is now Mount Rainier National Park is set aside as a
federal forest reserve - the precursor to what are now called national forests.
The "Pacific Forest Reserve" was roughly a square, 35 miles on a side, with
Mount Rainier on its western edge.
A map at the Chicago World's Fair shows the name of the peak as "Mount Tacoma or
Rainier." The map causes such a controversy that it is banished to a back room.
* Dec. 1893: Washington Sen. Watson C. Squire introduces a bill in
Congress to establish "Washington National Park." It was the first of six bills
introduced in consecutive sessions of Congress before the park was finally
established in 1899.
* 1894: Last known eruption, a minor emission of smoke and ash confirmed
by a climbing party led by Maj. E. S. Ingraham.
Seattle-brewed Rainier beer makes its debut.
* 1895: The Tacoma Ledger reports vandals setting fire to large trees at
Paradise to watch them burn, raising public outrage and strengthening the
argument that the mountain needs national park status to preserve it.
* 1896: Road to Longmire is improved enough to accommodate stagecoaches.
Geologist Israel C. Russell thoroughly explores and maps the mountain.
* Feb. 22, 1897: The Pacific Forest Reserve is enlarged and its name
changed to "Mount Rainier Forest Reserve."
* 1897: University of Oregon professor Edgar McClure carries a barometer
to the summit in an effort to measure its height, then dies in a fall on his way
down - the first climbing fatality recorded on the mountain.
* March 2, 1899: President William McKinley signs a bill authorizing the
creation of Mount Rainier National Park, making it the nation's fifth national
park.
* 1901: The Washington Legislature cedes exclusive jurisdiction over the
national park to the United States. But Congress doesn't accept until 1916,
creating problems for the park's share of federal appropriations.
* 1903: U.S. Rep. Francis W. Cushman persuades Congress to authorize
$10,000 for a better highway from Ashford to Paradise. The task goes to the Army
Corps of Engineers.
* 1904: Tacoma & Eastern Railroad reaches Ashford, seven miles from the
park boundary. Visitors are shuttled to the park by stagecoach.
* 1905: Robert Longmire opens a saloon in the park. The park's acting
superintendent, Grenville F. Allen, immediately closes it down, calling it a
public nuisance.
During a joint outing of the Sierra Club, the Portland Mazamas and two other
clubs, 112 climbers reach the summit.
* 1906: The Park Service turns in its first official count of visitors:
1,786.
National Park Inn opens at Longmire.
Construction starts on road from Longmire to Paradise.
Seattle-area members of the Portland-based Mazamas split off to form The
Mountaineers.
* 1907: First automobile permitted into the park, making Mount Rainier
the first national park to allow cars.
* 1908: Congress bans new mining in the national park. Existing claims
are unaffected.
* 1909: The Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition, located at what is now the
Seattle campus of the University of Washington, opens on Lake Washington,
designed around a view of Mount Rainier.
* 1910: Francois E. Matthes begins a topographical survey of park, which
leads to the Þrst accurate map.
The Army Corps of Engineers completes the new road to Paradise Valley. Cost is
$240,000.
* 1911: President William Howard Taft visits Rainier. The president's
touring car becomes mired in mud short of Paradise and has to be towed by mule
team.
First sewer system installed at Longmire.
The welcome arch of massive peeled cedar logs is built at the Nisqually
entrance.
* 1912: Civic boosters organize the Seattle-Tacoma Rainier National Park
Committee (later the Rainier National Park Advisory Board). The unofficial group
dedicates itself to the "development and exploitation of Mount Rainier National
Park." Photographer Asahel Curtis is its first chairman.
The Kum-an-go Transportation Co. gets a permit to operate a 17-passenger auto
shuttle from Nisqually to Longmire to the Nisqually Bridge.
Olive Rand becomes the first person known to have skied on Mount Rainier. She
brought makeshift skis along on a winter outing sponsored by the Tacoma
Mountaineers.
* 1913: C.H. Birdseye leads U.S. Geological Survey party that determines
Columbia Crest's position and altitude: 14,408 feet.
* 1914: Women are allowed to drive on park roads.
* 1915: Road to Paradise opens to the public.
The system of trails now known as the Wonderland Trail is completed, making it
possible to walk completely around the mountain.
* 1916: Seattle and Tacoma businessmen form The Rainier Na tional Park
Co. to provide tourist facilities inside the park.
The National Park Service is created and given full jurisdiction over the park.
* 1917: Paradise Inn opens. It's built with silver forest logs. Cost is
about $100,000.
* 1918: First campsites constructed.
* 1924: Senate passes a resolution to change name to Mount Tacoma; House kicks
it back to the U.S. Board of Geographic Names, which says no, again.
* 1929: Six climbers slide into a crevasse on their way down the
mountain. Guide Forrest Greathouse and one client, Edwin Witzel, die. The notch
through which their bodies are transported down the mountain becomes "Cadaver
Gap." The Park Service begins requiring crampons or caulked boots on climbs.
* 1931: New road to Sunrise and Sunrise Lodge opens, along with 215
cabins. The Rainier National Park Co. markets Sunrise as a dude ranch and opens
a nine-hole golf course at Paradise. Ohanapecosh area is added to the park.
* 1933: Park visits fall to 7-year low - 170,194 - in the depth of the
Depression.
Civilian Conservation Corps work camps are established in the park. By the
mid-1930s, nearly 1,000 young men were at work refurbishing trails, picnic areas
and campgrounds; building bridges and shelters and maintaining phone and power
lines.
* 1934: The Post Office issues a 3-cent Mount Rainier stamp as part of
its National Parks commemorative series. The stamp shows the mountain from
Mirror Lake. It's the first of three stamps with a likeness of the mountain. The
others were issued in 1953 (Washington Territory centennial) and 1989
(Washington statehood centennial).
* 1935: U.S. Olympic downhill ski team tryouts are held in the park
before 7,500 spectators. CBS Radio covers the events live.
* Winter 1936-37: Part of the narrow ledge along the face of Gibraltar
Rock falls away. That had been the route of choice for most climbers since the
first summit climb in 1870.
* 1938: Paradise is the busiest ski resort in the Northwest, with daily
classes and night skiing under floodlights.
* 1939: Sigurd Hall makes the first ski ascent of the mountain. The first
complete ski descent wasn't made until 1948.
* 1940: Hall is killed in an accident during the Silver Skis race on the
mountain.
* 1942: Ski troops from the 10th Mountain Division stationed at Fort
Lewis train on Mount Rainier.
* June 22, 1945: President Harry S Truman pays a quick surprise visit to
Mount Rainier. He throws snowballs at Paradise, plays the piano in the Paradise
Inn, shakes hands with the staff and spends a half-hour talking and pitching
pennies with Park Superintendent John Preston.
* 1946: Number of visitors to Mount Rainier breaks all previous records
at 468,225.
* Dec. 10, 1946: A Marine C-46 crashes into Success Cleaver, killing all
32 men aboard - the worst of about a dozen fatal civilian and military plane
crashes on the mountain over the years.
* June 24, 1947: Pilot Kenneth Arnold reports seeing nine mysterious
flying objects shooting past the mountain, marking the beginning of
international interest in UFOs.
* 1952: Twins Jim and Lou Whittaker take over the climbing concession at
Mount Rainier.
The Department of Interior buys out the Rainier National Park Co.
* 1955: In a particularly bad weather year, the Nisqually River bridge is
destroyed by a flood in October and in December, a large mudslide covers the
Mountain Highway four miles west of Eatonville, cutting off access to most of
the west side of the park. The road remains closed to this day.
* 1956: A new United States Geological Survey measurement places Mount
Rainier's height at 14,410 feet.
* 1960: Congress OKs building a new park headquarters, Tahoma Woods,
outside of the park near the town of Ashford. Buildings were completed and
occupied in 1976.
* 1962: Seattle World's Fair crowds boost park attendance to a new record
high of 1,905,302.
The American Mount Everest Expedition team trains on Mount Rainier. Jim
Whittaker becomes the first American to conquer Everest the following year.
* 1965: The Paradise Lodge is burned to make room for new parking, and
construction begins on a new saucer-shaped Paradise Visitors' Center. The new
center costs $2 million, making it the most expensive structure in the entire
national park system.
* 1967: A surprise mudflow off the Tahoma Glacier buries the Tahoma Creek
Campground.
* 1968: Lou Whittaker and a partner form Rainier Mountaineering Inc., now
the oldest continually operating guide service and climbing school in the U.S.
* Winter 1971-72: 72.93 feet of snow falls on Paradise, a U.S. record.
* March 4, 1979: Climber and teacher Willie Unsoeld and an Evergreen
State College student die in an avalanche on Cadaver Gap.
* March, 1980: The park is closed briefly after the eruption of Mount
St. Helens.
* June 21, 1981: Eleven climbers die in an avalanche on Ingraham Glacier,
the worst climbing accident in U.S. history.
* 1988: Federal legislation designates most of Mount Rainier National
Park as "wilderness" under the Washington Park Wilderness Act.
* 1989: Satellite measurement done for the state centennial adds 13
inches to Mount Rainier's height: 14,411.1 feet.
* 1990: A November storm dumps 14 inches of rain in five days. The
Westside Road is washed out.
* 1994: Gasoline sales within the park end.
* 1996: Nasty winter weather washes out the Carbon River Road and severly
damages the Cayuse Pass Highway (Washington 123).
Entrance fee doubles to $10.
* 1998: An avalanche on June 11 kills one and injures 11.
The Carbon River road reopens in November, but continues to be plagued by
problems due to rain.
* March 2, 1999: Mount Rainier National Park turns 100.
* 2004: Three accidents on Liberty Ridge claim four climbers.
* 2006: Park entry fee jumps to $15.
* Nov. 6-7, 2006: Flooding does more than $30 million in damage to the
park and forces the longest closure since World War II.
* 2007: International Mountain Guides and Alpine Ascents join RMI as
the only guide services allowed to take climbers up Rainier.
