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106-456: After Mount Rainier , Mount Baker has the heaviest glacier cover of the Cascade Range volcanoes; the volume of snow and ice on Mount Baker, 0.43 cu mi (1.79 km) is greater than that of all the other Cascades volcanoes (except Rainier) combined. It is also one of the snowiest places in the world; in 1999, Mount Baker Ski Area , located 9 mi (14.5 km) to the northeast, set

212-576: A Nooksack tribal member who has been part of the Lhéchelesem Teacher Training Language Immersion Project. In the project, students will spend mornings in language immersion , and afternoons working on special projects, focusing on the language use in one aspect of local native culture such as fishing or crafts. After two years, the students will obtain a certificate similar to an Associate Degree, and after four years they will be fully qualified language teachers, with

318-419: A confirmed VEI level had a VEI of 2 but two possible eruptions had a VEI of 3. In 1843, explorers reported a widespread layer of newly fallen rock fragments "like a snowfall" and that the forest was "on fire for miles around". These fires were unlikely to have been caused by ashfall, however, as charred material is not found with deposits of this fine-grained volcanic ash , which was almost certainly cooled in

424-541: A large one occurred on July 27, 2007. In early March 1975, a dramatic increase in fumarolic activity and snow melt in the Sherman Crater area raised concern that an eruption might be imminent. Heat flow increased more than tenfold. Additional monitoring equipment was installed and several geophysical surveys were conducted to try to detect the movement of magma. The increased thermal activity prompted public officials and Puget Power to temporarily close public access to

530-403: A major debris avalanche and the resulting Osceola Mudflow approximately 5,000 years ago. In the past, Rainier has had large debris avalanches, and has also produced enormous lahars ( volcanic mudflows ), due to the large amount of glacial ice present. Its lahars have reached all the way to Puget Sound , a distance of more than 30 mi (48 km). Around 5,000 years ago, a large chunk of

636-564: A mudflow might also reach down the Duwamish estuary and destroy parts of downtown Seattle , and cause tsunamis in Puget Sound and Lake Washington . Rainier is also capable of producing pyroclastic flows and expelling lava. A 2012 Washington State Department of Natural Resources estimate showed that a significant lahar could cause up to $ 40 billion in damage downriver. According to Kevin Scott,

742-784: A result of high snowfalls during the 1960s and 1970s. Since the early-1980s, however, many glaciers have been thinning and retreating and some advances have slowed. In a study using data from 2021, National Park Service scientists removed Stevens Glacier from its inventory of Mount Rainier glaciers due to its dwindling size and lack of evidence that it was moving. Using satellite data in 2022, researchers at Nichols College determined that both Pyramid and Van Trump glaciers had also ceased to exist with only fragments of ice remaining. A significant decline had been noted between 2015 and 2022. The glaciers on Mount Rainier can generate mudflows through glacial outburst floods not associated with an eruption. The South Tahoma Glacier generated 30 floods in

848-519: A scientist with the USGS: A home built in any of the probabilistically defined inundation areas on the new maps is more likely to be damaged or destroyed by a lahar than by fire... For example, a home built in an area that would be inundated every 100 years, on the average, is 27 times more likely to be damaged or destroyed by a flow than by fire. People know the danger of fire, so they buy fire insurance and they have smoke alarms, but most people are not aware of

954-581: A small hydrovolcanic eruption occurred at Sherman Crater, triggering a second collapse of the flank just east of the Roman Wall. That collapse also became a lahar that mainly followed the course of the first lahar for at least 20 mi (32 km), and also spilled into tributaries of the Baker River. Finally, an eruption cloud deposited ash as far as 40 mi (64 km) downwind to the northeast and east. Several eruptions occurred from Sherman Crater during

1060-429: A spa and hotel, drawing other visitors to the area to seek the benefits of the spring. Later, the headquarters of the national park would be established at Longmire, until flooding caused them to be relocated to Ashford. The area also became the site of features like a museum, a post office, and a gas station, with additions like a library and a gift shop soon following; many of these buildings were ultimately nominated to

1166-432: A very high conspicuous craggy mountain ... presented itself, towering above the clouds: as low down as they allowed it to be visible it was covered with snow; and south of it, was a long ridge of very rugged snowy mountains, much less elevated, which seemed to stretch to a considerable distance ... the high distant land formed, as already observed, like detached islands, amongst which the lofty mountain, discovered in

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1272-403: Is a common mineral around these fumaroles. At Sherman Crater, collapses of this weakened rock generated lahars in the 1840s. Around 6,600 years ago, a series of discrete events culminated in the largest tephra-producing eruption in postglacial time at Mount Baker. This is the last episode of undoubted magmatic activity preserved in the geologic record. First, the largest collapse in the history of

1378-734: Is a large active stratovolcano in the Cascade Range of the Pacific Northwest in the United States. The mountain is located in Mount Rainier National Park about 59 miles (95 km) south-southeast of Seattle . With an officially recognized summit elevation of 14,410 ft (4,392 m) at the Columbia Crest, it is the highest mountain in the U.S. state of Washington , the most topographically prominent mountain in

1484-577: Is a peak known as Little Tahoma Peak , 11,138 ft (3,395 m), an eroded remnant of the earlier, much higher, Mount Rainier. It has a prominence of 858 ft (262 m), and it is almost never climbed in direct conjunction with Columbia Crest, so it is usually considered a separate peak. If considered separately from Mount Rainier, Little Tahoma Peak would be the third highest mountain peak in Washington. The National Park Service and United States Geological Survey cite Mount Rainier's elevation at

1590-613: Is drained on the north by streams that flow into the North Fork Nooksack River , on the west by the Middle Fork Nooksack River , and on the southeast and east by tributaries of the Baker River. Lake Shannon and Baker Lake are the largest nearby bodies of water, formed by two dams on the Baker River. Two ammunition ships of the United States Navy (traditionally named for volcanoes) have been named after

1696-559: Is involved. A considerable amount of research has been done at Mount Baker over the past decade, and it is now among the most-studied of the Cascade Volcanoes . Recent and ongoing projects include gravimetric and GPS-based geodetic monitoring, fumarole gas sampling, tephra distribution mapping, new interpretations of the Schriebers Meadow lava flow, and hazards analyses. Mapping of Carmelo and Sherman craters, and interpretations of

1802-523: Is known to the several Indigenous peoples surrounding the mountain by different names. The Nooksack , who live in the closest proximity to the north face of the mountain, have multiple names for different areas of the mountain. The name Kweq' Smánit , meaning "white mountain," refers to Mount Baker as a whole, and specifically, to the glacier-covered summit above 7,000 feet. The open slopes of Mt. Baker, between about 5,000 feet and 7,000 feet, are known as Kwelshán , meaning "shooting place," referring to

1908-438: Is south of the summit, and its ice-covered floor is 1,000 ft (300 m) below the summit ice dome. This crater is the site of all Holocene eruptive activity. Hundreds of fumaroles vent gases, primarily H 2 O , CO 2 , and H 2 S . Lava flows from the summit vent erupted between 30,000 and 10,000 years ago, and during the final stages of edifice construction, blocky pyroclastic flows entered

2014-422: Is the largest; it has a surface area of 1,285 acres (5.2 km). The other large glaciers—which have areas greater than 625 acres (2.5 km)—are Roosevelt Glacier , Mazama Glacier , Park Glacier , Boulder Glacier , Easton Glacier , and Deming Glacier . All retreated during the first half of the century, advanced from 1950 to 1975 and have been retreating with increasing rapidity since 1980. Mount Baker

2120-567: Is the most heavily glaciated peak in the lower 48 states. The summit is topped by two volcanic craters , each more than 1,000 ft (300 m) in diameter, with the larger east crater overlapping the west crater. Geothermal heat from the volcano keeps areas of both crater rims free of snow and ice, and has formed the world's largest volcanic glacier cave network within the ice-filled craters, with nearly 2 mi (3.2 km) of passages. A small crater lake about 130 by 30 ft (39.6 by 9.1 m) in size and 16 ft (5 m) deep,

2226-481: The Lily Formation (about 2.9 million to 840,000 years ago). The early deposits formed a "proto-Rainier" or an ancestral cone prior to the present-day cone. The present cone is more than 500,000 years old. The volcano is highly eroded, with glaciers on its slopes, and appears to be made mostly of andesite . Rainier likely once stood even higher than today at about 16,000 ft (4,900 m) before

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2332-509: The Lummi or Halkomelem-speaking peoples , use names for the mountain borrowed from the Nooksack term, as, due to the distance to the mountain from the core homelands of those peoples, only those closely related to the Nooksack might travel to hunt and gather with them at Kwelshán . Thus, the names for Mount Baker in Lummi and Halkomelem are Kwelshan and Kwelxá:lxw respectively. In

2438-764: The Mount Meager massif , nor has it erupted frequently. During this period, four episodes of magmatic eruptive activity have been recently recognized. Magmatic eruptions have produced tephra , pyroclastic flows , and lava flows from summit vents and the Schriebers Meadow Cone . The most destructive and most frequent events at Mount Baker have been lahars or debris flows and debris avalanches. Many, if not most, of these were not related to magmatic eruptions, but may have been induced by magma intrusion , steam eruptions, earthquakes , gravitational instability, or possibly even heavy rainfall. Research beginning in

2544-546: The Nooksack and Upper Skagit peoples hunted and gathered on the north and south faces of the mountain. For the Nooksack, Mount Baker is extremely important in traditional religious beliefs, and was historically a great source of wealth (in the form of mountain goat wool, a highly prized commodity) and food. Nooksack families would travel via the North Fork ( Nooksack : Chuw7álich ) or Middle Fork ( Nooksack : Nuxwt'íqw'em ) of

2650-645: The Nooksack River in Whatcom County , Washington . Linguistically, Nooksack is most closely related to the Squamish , shíshálh and Halkomelem languages, which are all spoken in nearby parts of British Columbia , Canada . Some researchers have questioned whether the Nooksack language is simply a divergent dialect of Halkomelem, but research has proved that Nooksack is in fact a distinct language. The Nooksack language has only one fluent speaker as of 2020. In

2756-405: The Nooksack River to the alpine meadows where they would set up temporary summer camps to dry picked berries and meat. From those camps, people would disperse across the mountain to pick berries or hunt. The high slopes of the mountain were prime territory for hunting deer, elk, mountain goat, bear, marmot, and grouse. Nooksack families held almost exclusive usage rights to the northwestern areas of

2862-638: The Pacific Ocean . The 1846 Oregon Treaty between the United States and United Kingdom set new borders between British and American territory along today's approximate borders . In 1853, the land between the Columbia river and the border with British Canada was organized into the Washington Territory , which was the administrative status of the region at the time of the first successful ascent of Mount Rainier. In 1833, William Fraser Tolmie explored

2968-508: The Puyallup , Sumner–Bonney Lake , Orting , White River , and Carbonado School Districts. During the exercise, emergency operations centers in the cities of Puyallup , Bonney Lake , and Buckley were activated to help the movement of school students and staff. Typically, up to five earthquakes are recorded monthly near the summit. Swarms of five to ten shallow earthquakes over two or three days take place from time to time, predominantly in

3074-490: The Spanish Navy set sail from Nootka , a temporary settlement on Vancouver Island , with orders to explore the newly discovered Strait of Juan de Fuca . Accompanying Quimper was first-pilot Gonzalo Lopez de Haro , who drew detailed charts during the six-week expedition. Although Quimper's journal of the voyage does not refer to the mountain, one of Haro's manuscript charts includes a sketch of Mount Baker. The Spanish named

3180-621: The Strait of Juan de Fuca . Upon reaching what would become California in 1579, Sir Francis Drake claimed the entire northwest coast of North America for England . This claim to the coast of the Pacific Northwest was not further explored until in 1778 Captain James Cook sailed the coastline of modern-day Washington and British Columbia, stimulating a subsequent increase in English ships coming to

3286-544: The United States Geological Survey (USGS), about 150,000 people live on top of old lahar deposits of Rainier. Not only is there much ice atop the volcano, the volcano is also slowly being weakened by hydrothermal activity. According to Geoff Clayton, a geologist with a Washington State Geology firm, RH2 Engineering, a repeat of the 5000-year-old Osceola Mudflow would destroy Enumclaw , Orting , Kent , Auburn , Puyallup , Sumner and all of Renton . Such

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3392-527: The contiguous United States , and the tallest in the Cascade Volcanic Arc . Due to its high probability of an eruption in the near future and proximity to a major urban area , Mount Rainier is considered one of the most dangerous volcanoes in the world, and it is on the Decade Volcano list. The large amount of glacial ice means that Mount Rainier could produce massive lahars that could threaten

3498-427: The last ice age (which culminated 15,000–20,000 years ago), by thick ice sheets that filled the valleys and surrounded the volcano. In the last 14,000 years, the area around the mountain has been largely ice-free, but the mountain itself remains heavily covered with snow and ice. Isolated ridges of lava and hydrothermally altered rock, especially in the area of Sherman Crater, are exposed between glaciers on

3604-494: The 1970s, the linguist Brent Galloway worked closely with the last remaining native speaker, Sindick Jimmy, to compile a dictionary of the Nooksack language. His book, Nooksack Place Names: Geography, Culture, and Language , was published in 2011. In 1988, Nooksack became extinct with the death of Sindick Jimmy. Now, the Nooksack Indian Tribe has offered classes in the language. As of 2020, one fluent speaker remained,

3710-521: The 1980s and early 1990s, and again in August 2015. For thousands of years, the area surrounding Mount Rainier has been inhabited by several Indigenous peoples , who traditionally hunted and gathered animals and plants in Mount Rainier's forests and high elevation meadows. These peoples and their modern-day descendants are represented today by the members of the federally-recognized tribes which surround

3816-736: The 19th century; they were witnessed from the Bellingham area. A possible eruption was seen in June 1792 during the Spanish expedition of Dionisio Alcalá Galiano and Cayetano Valdés . Their report read, in part: During the night [while anchored in Bellingham Bay] we constantly saw light to the south and east of the mountain of Carmelo [Baker] and even at times some bursts of flame, signs which left no doubt that there are volcanoes with strong eruptions in those mountains. Most of Mount Baker's eruptions that have

3922-406: The 19th-century lake is now covered by waters of the modern dam-impounded Baker Lake . Similar but lower-level hydrovolcanic activity at Sherman Crater continued intermittently for several decades afterward. On 26 November 1860, passengers who were traveling by steamer from New Westminster to Victoria reported that Mount Baker was "puffing out large volumes of smoke, which upon breaking, rolled down

4028-415: The 29 named glacial features cover about 30.41 square miles (78.8 km ) of the mountain's surface in 2015 and have an estimated volume of about 0.69 cubic miles (2.9 km ). Glaciers flow under the influence of gravity by the combined action of sliding over the rock on which they lie and by deformation , the gradual displacement between and within individual ice crystals. Maximum speeds occur near

4134-622: The Columbia Crest as 14,410 ft (4,392 m). This value was taken in 1956, but was added to the National Geodetic Vertical Datum of 1929 . Another commonly accepted measurement of the mountain is 14,411 ft (4,392 m) which comes from the National Geodetic Vertical Datum of 1988 . Mount Rainier is a stratovolcano in the Cascade Volcanic Arc that consists of lava flows , debris flows , and pyroclastic ejecta and flows. Its early volcanic deposits are estimated at more than 840,000 years old and are part of

4240-532: The Frying Pan and Emmons glaciers on the east flank and the small near-peak snowfields; the greatest volume loss was concentrated from ~1750 m (north) to ~2250 m (south) elevation. The largest single volume loss is from the Carbon Glacier, although it is to the north, due to its huge area at <2000 m elevation. The Carbon , Cowlitz , Emmons, and Nisqually Glaciers advanced during the late 1970s and early 1980s as

4346-701: The Little Ice Age, the Nisqually Glacier advanced to a position 650 to 800 ft (200 to 240 m) downvalley from the site of the Glacier Bridge , Tahoma and South Tahoma Glaciers merged at the base of Glacier Island, and the terminus of Emmons Glacier reached within 1.2 mi (1.9 km) of the White River Campground. Retreat of the Little Ice Age glaciers was slow until about 1920 when retreat became more rapid. The Williwakas Glacier

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4452-480: The Puget Sound region. Isaac I. Stevens , the first governor of Washington Territory , wrote about Mount Baker in 1853: Mount Baker ... is one of the loftiest and most conspicuous peaks of the northern Cascade range; it is nearly as high as Mount Rainier, and like that mountain, its snow-covered pyramid has the form of a sugar-loaf. It is visible from all the water and islands ... [in Puget Sound] and from

4558-524: The Puyallup River, which discharges into Commencement Bay at Tacoma . The Nisqually empties into Puget Sound east of Lacey . The Cowlitz joins the Columbia River between Kelso and Longview . The broad top of Mount Rainier contains three named summits. The highest of these named summits is known as the Columbia Crest. The second highest summit is Point Success, 14,158 ft (4,315 m), at

4664-666: The Saddle . For a time, both names were used interchangeably, although residents of the nearby city of Tacoma preferred Mount Tacoma. In 1890, the United States Board on Geographic Names declared that the mountain would be known as Rainier. Following this in 1897, the Pacific Forest Reserve became the Mount Rainier Forest Reserve , and the national park was established three years later. Despite this, there

4770-642: The United States. In 1824, Russia ceded all land claims south of parallel 54°40′ north to the United States as part of the Russo-American Treaty . In 1818, the United States and the United Kingdom signed a treaty, agreeing upon the joint settlement and occupation of the Oregon country which consisted of the territory north of 42°N latitude , south of 54°40′N latitude , and west of the Rocky Mountains to

4876-558: The act of going hunting up on the slopes. The third main name for the mountain is Spelhpálhx̠en , meaning "many meadows," refers to the sheltered meadows below around 5,500 feet. The Upper Skagit peoples , who live in the closest proximity to the south face of the mountain along the Skagit River watershed, call the mountain təqʷubəʔ in Lushootseed , which means "permanently snow-covered mountain." Other Indigenous peoples, such as

4982-413: The afternoon by the third lieutenant, and in compliment to him called by me Mount Baker, rose a very conspicuous object ... apparently at a very remote distance. Six years later, the official narrative of this voyage was published, including the first printed reference to the mountain. By the mid-1850s, Mount Baker was a well-known feature on the horizon to the explorers and fur traders who traveled in

5088-677: The area as part of the fur trade . On July 22, 1793, Sir Alexander Mackenzie of the British Northwest Fur Company reached the Pacific Ocean via overland route that crossed the Rocky Mountains. The first American, John Ledyard , reached the region aboard Captain Cook's ship in 1778. By 1787, six Americans from Boston formed a company which began trading along the northwest coast. The Lewis and Clark overland expedition reached

5194-417: The area looking for medicinal plants. Hazard Stevens and P. B. Van Trump received a hero's welcome in the streets of Olympia after their successful summit climb in 1870 . The first female ascent was made in 1890 by Fay Fuller , accompanied by Van Trump and three other teammates. Descending from the summit in 1883, James Longmire discovered a mineral spring; this ultimately led to his establishment of

5300-457: The area now within the boundaries of Mount Rainier National Park and extended to the perimeter of the present Puget Sound Basin. Between the 14th century and 1850, many of the glaciers on Mount Rainier advanced to their farthest extent downvalley since the last ice age. Many advances of this sort occurred worldwide during this time period known to geologists as the Little Ice Age . During

5406-478: The atmosphere before falling. Rivers south of the volcano were reportedly clogged with ash, and Native Americans reported that many salmon perished. Reports of flooding on the Skagit River from the eruption are, however, probably greatly exaggerated. A short time later, two collapses of the east side of Sherman Crater produced two lahars, the first and larger of which flowed into the natural Baker Lake, increasing its level by at least 10 feet (3.0 m). The location of

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5512-637: The banded appearance of a classic podzol but the E horizon is darker than usual. Under meadows a thick dark A horizon usually forms the topsoil. The most recent recorded volcanic activity was between 1820 and 1854, but many eyewitnesses reported eruptive activity in 1858, 1870, 1879, 1882, and 1894 as well. Additionally, the Smithsonian Institution's volcanism project records the last volcanic eruption as 1450 CE. Seismic monitors have been placed in Mount Rainier National Park and on

5618-456: The border gather research of the past eruptions of each in order to predict how mountains in this arc will behave and what they are capable of in the future, including Mount Rainier. Of these, two have erupted since the beginning of the twentieth century: Lassen in 1915 and St. Helens in 1980 and 2004. However, past eruptions in this volcanic arc have multiple examples of sub-plinian eruptions or higher: Crater Lake's last eruption as Mount Mazama

5724-472: The direction of Juan Francisco de la Bodega y Quadra , a boat was sent ashore to Destruction island . Upon landing, the crew was attacked and killed by the local indigenous population. Although attempts were made in 1792 to create a permanent Spanish settlement at Neah Bay , the project was unsuccessful and by 1795, Spain had given up on the region. Although not documented anywhere, it is likely that Spanish sailors first observed Mount Rainier while sailing in

5830-643: The eastern rim of the Pacific Ring of Fire . This includes mountains and calderas like Mount Shasta and Lassen Peak in California, Crater Lake , Three Sisters , and Mount Hood in Oregon, Mount St. Helens , Mount Adams , Glacier Peak , and Mount Baker in Washington, and Mount Cayley , Mount Garibaldi , Silverthrone Caldera , and Mount Meager in British Columbia . Many of the above are dormant, but could return to activity, and scientists on both sides of

5936-411: The effect would be cumulatively greater, because of the far more massive amounts of glacial ice locked on the volcano compared to Mount St. Helens, the vastly more heavily populated areas surrounding Rainier, and the fact that Mount Rainier is almost twice the size of St. Helens. Lahars from Rainier pose the most risk to life and property, as many communities lie atop older lahar deposits. According to

6042-628: The entire Puyallup River valley and other river valleys draining Mount Rainier, including the Carbon , White , Nisqually , and Cowlitz (above Riffe Lake ). According to the United States Geological Survey 's 2008 report, "about 80,000 people and their homes are at risk in Mount Rainier's lahar-hazard zones." Between 1950 and 2018, 439,460 people climbed Mount Rainier. Approximately 84 people died in mountaineering accidents on Mount Rainier from 1947 to 2018. The many Indigenous peoples who have lived near Mount Rainier for millennia have many names for

6148-526: The equivalent of a Bachelor of Arts. The aim is to revive the use of the Lhéchelesem language in all aspects of daily life. The program has an annual budget of $ 110,000, with 60 percent funded by the Administration for Native Americans (ANA) and 40 percent funded by the Nooksack Indian Tribe. The following table includes all the vowel sounds found in the Nooksack language. The following table includes all

6254-440: The eruptive history, continue, as well. The Mount Baker Volcano Research Center maintains an online archive of abstracts of this work, and an extensive references list, as well as photos. Mount Baker has an alpine tundra climate ( ET ) Eleven named glaciers descend from Mount Baker. Two additional glaciers ( Hadley Glacier and Sholes Glacier ) descend from lower slopes detached from the main glacial mass. The Coleman Glacier

6360-451: The federal government for lahar protection in the area has dried up, leading local authorities in at-risk cities like Orting to fear a disaster similar to the Armero tragedy . To prevent against such tragedies, authorities downriver from Rainier have conducted annual large-scale evacuation exercises in cooperation with local school districts. The 2024 drill included 45,000 students and staff from

6466-520: The geophysical surveys, nor were any other precursory activities observed that would indicate that magma was moving up into the volcano. Several small lahars formed from material ejected onto the surrounding glaciers and acidic water was discharged into Baker Lake for many months. Activity gradually declined over the next two years, but stabilized at a higher level than before 1975. The increased level of fumarolic activity has continued at Mount Baker since 1975, but no other changes suggest that magma movement

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6572-584: The highest in North America with a surface elevation of 14,203 ft (4,329 m), occupies the lowest portion of the west crater below more than 100 ft (30 m) of ice and is accessible only via the caves. The Carbon , Cowlitz , Nisqually , Puyallup River , and North Mowich Rivers begin at eponymous glaciers of Mount Rainier. The sources of the White River are Winthrop , Emmons , and Fryingpan Glaciers . The White, Carbon, and Mowich join

6678-409: The language of the unidentified "Koma tribe," the name is Tukullum or Nahcullum. The first Europeans to see and name the mountain were the Spanish. Gonzalo Lopez de Haro was the first European to record the mountain, calling it Gran Montaña del Carmelo , meaning "Great Mount Carmel ". The current English name for the mountain, Mount Baker, was chosen by George Vancouver . Vancouver named

6784-456: The largest number of events of any swarm at Rainier since seismic monitoring began over two decades earlier. Further swarms were observed in 2011 and 2021. Glaciers are among the most conspicuous and dynamic geologic features on Mount Rainier. They erode the volcanic cone and are important sources of streamflow for several rivers, including some that provide water for hydroelectric power and irrigation . Together with perennial snow patches,

6890-515: The late 1990s shows that Mount Baker is the youngest of several volcanic centers in the area and one of the youngest volcanoes in the Cascade Range. The Pliocene Hannegan caldera is preserved 16 miles (25 km) northeast of Mount Baker Volcanic activity in the Mount Baker volcanic field began more than one million years ago, but many of the earliest lava and tephra deposits have been removed by glacial erosion . The pale-colored rocks northeast of

6996-410: The modern volcano mark the site of the ancient (1.15  million years old) Kulshan caldera that collapsed after an enormous ash eruption one million years ago. Subsequently, eruptions in the Mount Baker area have produced cones and lava flows of andesite , the rock that constitutes much of the other Cascade Range volcanoes such as Rainier, Adams , and Hood . From about 900,000  years ago to

7102-572: The mountain Tax̱úma , which is borrowed from Cowlitz. Another anglicized name is Pooskaus. George Vancouver named Mount Rainier in honor of his friend, Rear Admiral Peter Rainier . The map of the Lewis and Clark expedition of 1804–1806 refers to it as "Mt. Regniere". Although Rainier had been considered the official name of the mountain, Theodore Winthrop referred to the mountain as "Tacoma" in his posthumously published 1862 travel book The Canoe and

7208-555: The mountain for 3rd Lieutenant Joseph Baker of HMS Discovery , who saw it on April 30, 1792. Mount Baker is sometimes also known by the alternative English name "Kulshan" which is the Anglicized form of the Nooksack name Kwelshán . The other related name, "Koma Kulshan," is likely the Anglicized version of the Nooksack phrase, Kwóma Kwelshán , meaning "go up into the mountains to Kwelshán ." Prior to European colonization,

7314-460: The mountain in their various languages . Lushootseed speakers have several names for Mount Rainier, including xʷaq̓ʷ and təqʷubəʔ . xʷaq̓ʷ means "sky wiper" or "one who touches the sky" in English. The word təqʷubəʔ means "snow-covered mountain". təqʷubəʔ has been anglicized in many ways, including 'Tacoma' and 'Tacobet'. Cowlitz speakers call the mountain təx̣ʷúma or təqʷúmen . Sahaptin speakers call

7420-401: The mountain itself to monitor activity. An eruption could be deadly for all living in areas within the immediate vicinity of the volcano and effects from an eruption could be noticed from Vancouver, British Columbia to San Francisco , California because of the massive amounts of ash blasting out of the volcano into the atmosphere. Mount Rainier is located in an area that itself is part of

7526-510: The mountain suggest primary use of subalpine meadows and low alpine habitats that provided relatively high resource abundance during the short summer season. Evidence suggests that there existed a tradition of Native Americans setting fire to areas of the region each year as a way to encourage meadow development. The first Europeans to reach the Pacific Northwest were the Spanish who arrived by sea in 1774 led by Juan Perez . The next year, under

7632-968: The mountain, including the Nisqually Indian Tribe , the Cowlitz Indian Tribe , the Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation , the Puyallup Tribe of Indians , and the Muckleshoot Indian Tribe , among others in the area. The archaeological record of human use of the mountain dates to over 8,500 years before present (BP). Sites related to seasonal use of Mount Rainier and its landscapes are reflected in chipped stone tool remains and settings suggesting functionally varied uses including task-specific sites, rockshelters, travel stops, and long-term base camps. Their distribution on

7738-538: The mountain, while the usage rights to the southeastern half were held by Skagit families. Certain families of tribes such as the Lummi or Halkomelem-speaking peoples could travel to the mountain if they were intermarried and closely allied with Nooksack families. This meant that some groups which had more hostile relations with the Nooksack, such as the Thompson, were generally barred from the mountain. In 1790, Manuel Quimper of

7844-536: The mountain. After approaching via the North Fork of the Nooksack River, the party navigated through what is now known as Coleman Glacier and ascended to within several hundred feet of the summit before turning back in the face of an "overhanging cornice of ice" and threatening weather. Coleman later returned to the mountain after two years. At 4:00 pm on August 17, 1868, Coleman, Eldridge, Tennant and two new companions (David Ogilvy and Thomas Stratton) scaled

7950-423: The mountain. Ice-filled Carmelo Crater is under the summit ice dome. This crater is the source for the last cone-building eruptions The highest point of Mount Baker, Grant Peak, is on the exposed southeast rim of Carmelo Crater, which is a small pile of andesitic scoria lying on top of a stack of lava flows just below. Carmelo Crater is deeply dissected on its south side by the younger Sherman Crater. This crater

8056-562: The mountain. The first was USS Mount Baker (AE-4) , which was commissioned from 1941 to 1947 and from 1951 to 1969. In 1972, the Navy commissioned USS Mount Baker (AE-34) . She was decommissioned in 1996 and placed in service with the Military Sealift Command as USNS Mount Baker (T-AE-34). She was scrapped in 2012. Mount Rainier Mount Rainier ( / r eɪ ˈ n ɪər / ray- NEER ), also known as Tahoma ,

8162-403: The national historic register of historic places. Longmire remains the second most popular place in the park. In 1924, a publication from the park described the area: "A feature at Longmire Springs of great interest to everyone is the group of mineral springs in the little flat to the west of National Park Inn. There are some forty distinct springs, a half dozen of which are easily reached from

8268-401: The new park "for the benefit and enjoyment of the people" and "... for the preservation from injury or spoliation of all timber, mineral deposits, natural curiosities, or wonders within said park, and their retention in their natural condition." On June 24, 1947, Kenneth Arnold reported seeing a formation of nine unidentified flying objects over Mount Rainier. His description led to

8374-583: The northwest coast in 1805 and observed Mount Rainier for the first time in the Spring of 1806. The first documented sighting of Mt. Rainier by a European was by the crew of Captain George Vancouver on May 7, 1792, during the Vancouver Expedition (1790–1795). On May 8, 1792, Vancouver gave the name of Mt. Rainier to the observed peak in homage to Vancouver's friend Rear Admiral Peter Rainier . At

8480-491: The original because it is imperforate . Both stamps and souvenir sheets are widely available. The Washington state quarter , which was released on April 11, 2007, features Mount Rainier and a salmon . Nooksack language Nooksack (Nooksack: Lhéchelesem , /'ɬə.t͡ʃə.lə.səm/ ) is a Coast Salish language of the Salishan language family . Nooksack is spoken by the Nooksack people , who reside primarily along

8586-471: The outset of the 19th century, the region where Mt. Rainier was located was claimed by Spain, the U.S., Russia, and Great Britain, with most claims being based on instances of early naval exploration of the region's coast. Spain relinquished all remaining claims to the Pacific Northwest that had not already been handed over with the Louisiana Purchase in 1819 with the purchase and cession of Florida by

8692-417: The popular Baker Lake recreation area and to lower the reservoir's water level by 33 feet (10 m). If those actions had not been taken, significant avalanches of debris from the Sherman Crater area could have swept directly into the reservoir, triggering a disastrous wave that could have caused human fatalities and damage to the reservoir. Other than the increased heat flow, few anomalies were recorded during

8798-496: The present, numerous andesitic volcanic centers in the area have come and disappeared through glacial erosion. The largest of these cones is the Black Buttes edifice, active between 500,000 and 300,000  years ago and formerly bigger than today's Mount Baker. Mount Baker was built from stacks of lava and volcanic breccia prior to the end of the last glacial period , which ended about 15,000 years ago. Two craters are on

8904-561: The region of 13,000 feet (4 km) below the summit. These earthquakes are thought to be caused by the circulation of hot fluids beneath Mount Rainier. Presumably, hot springs and steam vents within Mount Rainier National Park are generated by such fluids. Seismic swarms (not initiated with a mainshock) are common features at volcanoes, and are rarely associated with eruptive activity. Rainier has had several such swarms; there were days-long swarms in 2002, 2004, and 2007, two of which (2002 and 2004) included M 3.2 earthquakes. A 2009 swarm produced

9010-663: The risks of lahars, and few have applicable flood insurance. The volcanic risk is somewhat mitigated by lahar warning sirens and escape route signs in Pierce County , part of the Mount Rainier Volcano Lahar Warning System , which was implemented by the USGS in 1998, and has been maintained by Pierce County since. The more populous King County is also in the lahar area, but has no zoning restrictions due to volcanic hazard. More recently (since 2001) funding from

9116-419: The road. An analysis of the waters show that they all contain about the smae [sic] mineral salts but in slightly differing proportions. All the water is highly carbonated and would be classed as extremely "hard". Certain springs contain larger amounts of soda, iron and sulphur, giving them a distinct taste and color." John Muir climbed Mount Rainier in 1888, and although he enjoyed the view, he conceded that it

9222-472: The snow-covered sides of the mountain, forming a pleasing effect of light and shade." In 1891, about 15 km (3.6 cu mi) of rock fell producing a lahar that traveled more than 6 mi (9.7 km) and covered 1 sq mi (2.6 km). Activity in the 20th century decreased from the 19th century. Numerous small debris avalanches fell from Sherman Peak and descended the Boulder Glacier;

9328-687: The snowy volcano La Gran Montana del Carmelo , as it reminded them of the white-clad monks of the Carmelite Monastery. The British explorer George Vancouver left England a year later. His mission was to survey the northwest coast of North America. Vancouver and his crew reached the Pacific Northwest coast in 1792. While anchored in Dungeness Bay on the south shore of the Strait of Juan de Fuca, Joseph Baker made an observation of Mount Baker, which Vancouver recorded in his journal: About this time

9434-448: The south, from Seattle (and on clear days Tacoma ) in Washington. Indigenous peoples have known the mountain for thousands of years, but the first written record of the mountain is from Spanish explorer Gonzalo Lopez de Haro , who mapped it in 1790 as Gran Montaña del Carmelo . The explorer George Vancouver later named the mountain for 3rd Lieutenant Joseph Baker of HMS Discovery , who saw it on April 30, 1792. Mount Baker

9540-612: The southeastern horizon in most of the Seattle-Tacoma metropolitan area to such an extent that locals sometimes refer to it simply as "the Mountain". On days of exceptional clarity, it can also be seen from as far away as Corvallis, Oregon (at Marys Peak ), and the North Shore Mountains in British Columbia . With 26 major glaciers and 36 sq mi (93 km ) of permanent snowfields and glaciers, Mount Rainier

9646-492: The southern edge of the summit plateau, atop the ridge known as Success Cleaver. It has a topographic prominence of about 138 ft (42 m), so it is not considered a separate peak. The lowest of the three summits is Liberty Cap, 14,112 ft (4,301 m), at the northwestern edge, which overlooks Liberty Ridge, the Sunset Amphitheater, and the dramatic Willis Wall . High on the eastern flank of Mount Rainier

9752-494: The summit via the Middle Fork Nooksack River, Marmot Ridge, Coleman Glacier, and the north margin of the Roman Wall. The present-day cone of Mount Baker is relatively young, perhaps less than 100,000 years old. The volcano sits atop a similar older volcanic cone called Black Buttes , which was active between 500,000 and 300,000 years ago. Much of Mount Baker's earlier geological record eroded away during

9858-492: The surface and along the centerline of the glacier. During May 1970, Nisqually Glacier was measured moving as fast as 29 inches (74 cm) per day. Flow rates are generally greater in summer than in winter, probably due to the presence of large quantities of meltwater at the glacier base. The size of glaciers on Mount Rainier has fluctuated significantly in the past. For example, during the last ice age , from about 25,000 to about 15,000 years ago, glaciers covered most of

9964-884: The term " flying saucers ". In 1998, the United States Geological Survey began putting together the Mount Rainier Volcano Lahar Warning System to assist in the emergency evacuation of the Puyallup River valley in the event of a catastrophic debris flow. It is now run by the Pierce County Department of Emergency Management. Tacoma, at the mouth of the Puyallup, is only 37 mi (60 km) west of Rainier, and moderately sized towns such as Puyallup and Orting are only 27 and 20 mi (43 and 32 km) away, respectively. Mount Rainier appears on four distinct United States postage stamp issues. In 1934, it

10070-408: The upper flanks of the volcano; the lower flanks are steep and heavily vegetated . Volcanic rocks of Mount Baker and Black Buttes rest on a foundation of non-volcanic rocks. Deposits recording the last 14,000 years at Mount Baker indicate that Mount Baker has not had highly explosive eruptions like those of other volcanoes in the Cascade Volcanic Arc , such as Mount St. Helens , Glacier Peak , or

10176-533: The volcano occurred from the Roman Wall and transformed into a lahar that was over 300 feet (91 m) deep in the upper reaches of the Middle Fork of the Nooksack River. It was at least 25 ft (7.6 m) deep 30 mi (48 km) downstream from the volcano. At that time, the Nooksack River is believed to have drained north into the Fraser River ; this lahar is unlikely to have reached Bellingham Bay . Next,

10282-464: The volcano slid away and that debris avalanche helped to produce the massive Osceola Mudflow, which went all the way to the site of present-day Tacoma and south Seattle. This massive avalanche of rock and ice removed the top 1,600 ft (500 m) of Rainier, bringing its height down to around 14,100 ft (4,300 m). About 530 to 550 years ago, the Electron Mudflow occurred, although this

10388-431: The volcano's southeastern drainages. An eruption from Sherman Crater 6,600 years ago erupted a blanket of ash that extended more than 40 mi (64 km) to the east. Today, sulfurous gases reach the surface via two fumarole pathways: Dorr Fumarole, northeast of the summit, and Sherman Crater , south of the summit. Both are sites of hydrothermal alteration , converting lavas to weak, white-to-yellow clays ; sulfur

10494-824: The whole southeastern part of the Gulf of Georgia, and likewise from the eastern division of the Strait of Juan de Fuca. It is for this region a natural and important landmark. Edmund Thomas Coleman, an Englishman who resided in Victoria, British Columbia , Canada and a veteran of the Alps , made the first attempt to ascend the mountain in 1866. He chose a route via the Skagit River , but was forced to turn back when local Native Americans refused him passage. Later that same year, Coleman recruited Whatcom County settlers Edward Eldridge, John Bennett, and John Tennant to aid him in his second attempt to scale

10600-532: The world record for recorded snowfall in a single season—1,140 in (29 m; 95 ft). Mount Baker is the third-highest mountain in Washington and the fifth-highest in the Cascade Range, if Little Tahoma Peak , a subpeak of Mount Rainier, and Shastina , a subpeak of Mount Shasta , are not counted. Located in the Mount Baker Wilderness , it is visible from much of Greater Victoria , Nanaimo , and Greater Vancouver in British Columbia , and to

10706-644: Was best appreciated from below. Muir was one of many who advocated protecting the mountain. In 1893, the area was set aside as part of the Pacific Forest Reserve in order to protect its physical and economic resources, primarily timber and watersheds . Citing the need to also protect scenery and provide for public enjoyment, railroads and local businesses urged the creation of a national park in hopes of increased tourism. On March 2, 1899, President William McKinley established Mount Rainier National Park as America's fifth national park . Congress dedicated

10812-581: Was large enough to cause its cone to collapse, and Mount Rainier's closest neighbor, Mount St. Helens, produced the largest recorded eruption in the continental United States when it erupted in 1980. Statistics place the likelihood of a major eruption in the Cascade Range at 2–3 per century. Mount Rainier is listed as a Decade Volcano , or one of the 16 volcanoes on Earth with the greatest likelihood of causing loss of life and property if eruptive activity resumes. If Mount Rainier were to erupt as powerfully as Mount St. Helens did in its May 18, 1980 eruption,

10918-526: Was not as large-scale as the Osceola Mudflow. After the major collapse approximately 5,000 years ago, subsequent eruptions of lava and tephra built up the modern summit cone until about as recently as 1,000 years ago. As many as 11 Holocene tephra layers have been found. Soils on Mount Rainier are mostly gravelly ashy sandy loams developed from colluvium or glacial till mixed with volcanic tephra. Under forest cover their profiles usually have

11024-414: Was noted as extinct during the 1930s. Between the height of the Little Ice Age and 1950, Mount Rainier's glaciers lost about one-quarter of their length. Beginning in 1950 and continuing through the early 1980s, however, many of the major glaciers advanced in response to relatively cooler temperatures of the mid-century. The glaciers and snowfields of Mount Rainier also lost volume during this time, except for

11130-438: Was still a movement to change the mountain's name to Tacoma and Congress was still considering a resolution to change the name as late as 1924. Mount Rainier is the tallest mountain in Washington and the Cascade Range. This peak is located southeast of Tacoma, approximately 60 miles (97 km) south-southeast of Seattle. Mount Rainier has a topographic prominence of 13,210 ft (4,026 m). On clear days it dominates

11236-418: Was the 3-cent issue in a series of National Park stamps, and was also shown on a souvenir sheet issued for a philatelic convention. The following year, in 1935, both of these were reprinted by Postmaster General James A. Farley as special issues given to officials and friends. Because of complaints by the public, "Farley's Follies" were reproduced in large numbers. The second stamp issue is easy to tell from

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