Cascade Range Volcanoes
Newspaper Clippings

The visiting party fired a rifle several times into the water, at an angle of forty-five degrees, and were able to note several seconds of time from the report of the gun untill the ball struck the water. Such seems incredible, but is vouched for by some of our most reliable citizens. The lake is certainly a most remarkable curiosity. -- Jacksonville Sentinel.

-- Newspaper Source found at: Washington Secretary of State Website Database, 2007

"There is quite a phenomenon down on the Sierra Nevadas at the had of Kern river. The earth has been shaking for more than two weeks -- almost a constant shake. It shakes the rocks down the mountain and makes the earth wave like the sea. It has not been felt here. I suppose it is a volcano getting ready to burst out. The mountain opens like a hinge, hence it is not felt at a great distance off. The atmosphere has been very thick here for a week, and reminds me of the description given by Bulwer of the scene of darkness that covered Pompeii before its destruction. Such a thing might occur here."

-- Newspaper Source found at: Brigham Young University, Harold B. Lee Library Digital Archives, 2007

There is no doubt that Mount Hood at times sends forth eruptions of smoke, though such manifestations are not of frequent occurrence, or at least are not often reported. We have lived within view of the mountain for nearly 30 years, and have only once before, about 15 years ago, seen unmistakable emission of smoke, which lasted about an hour, and came from the same part of the mountain that we observed it yesterday, and each time the fact of its being smoke was not to be doubted. Fifteen years ago the phenomenon occurred upon a Winter day, when the sky was blue, without a speck of cloud to fleck it, and the smoke streamed northward from the mountain in a dense black cloud. We have seen the time when excitement was created some years ago by the rumor that Mount Hood was smoking. A crowd gathered on a high roof and observed it with glasses, but the phenomenon was caused by atmospheric conditions that drew the mists and fogs from the lower gorges, and made them wreath around the summit. The difference between this light-colored, enveloping mist, rising from the base of the mountain, and the black, sulphurous appearance of smoke pouring directly out of the side of it from among the snows, was evident to any practical eye. Yesterday morning the sky was clear, with a slight haze and a few light, fleecy clouds hanging above the Cascade range at intervals, but the whole base and summit of Mount Hood were clear of them, while the unmistakable wreath of sulphur smoke hung just below the very summit, remaining there for over two hours, contorted by the movement of the winds. Toward noon fleecy coulds enveloped the mountain, and for a while the difference between cloud and smoke was distinctly visible, but afterward the outlines of the snowy peak were obscured, and when they were plain again, at 2 o'clock P.M., there was no smoke to be seen.

-- Newspaper Source found at: The New York Times Archives, 2008

On the western slope of the mountain the glacier is engaged in a titanic task. Here are tremendous cracks, chasms and crevices of every form and in all directions. Ice bridge after ice bridge was crossed, until it was unsafe to go farther. In one place a mighty cube of ice, an acre in extent perhaps, had been heaved from its bed and stood partly on edge. The force required to lift such a weight is appalling. Far down through the deep fissures of hard green ice could be heard the rush of waters. While I stood and wondered, again and again I heard a croaking sound beneath. It was the slow but irresistible motion of the mightly ice field down the mountain side, heaving these millions of tons of ice and snow into a thousand fantastic forms, while crevice and cave, grotto and roaring stream are all around. Six gentlemen and four ladies constitute the scaling party, which is doubtless the largest number which ever stood at one time upon the lofty summit of Mount Hood. The view is described as sublime. Over the valleys hangs a thick veil of smoke; but the crests of the Cascade range rise above the mantle of smoke, like billows above a calm sea. Further to the northward tower the snow clad summits of Mount Adams, St. Helens, and Tacoma; the latter over a hundred miles away. To the southward rise Mount Washington, Jefferson, the Three Sisters, and the far away hights of southern Oregon; all snow-clad and gleaming in the summer sun, and seeming to float like great rocks in mid-heaven. The party spent over two hours on the summit, in an atmosphere at a temperature of 60 degrees, eating dinner and finding nice snow water for drinking purposes. They found boxes, bottles, flags, books, etc., left by former visitors; and after fully satisfying their curiosity the descent began. On the way down they stopped at Crater rock to explore Pluto's cavern, an immense cave on the north side of the rock just mentioned. The cave is caused by the volcanic heat of the mountain, and is 100 feet deep, 200 feet long, and rises in a dome 100 feet high. The vast roof is arched over by immense rafters of ice in the form of five-sided crystals, three feet in diameter.

The cavern is full of wonders. Sulphur, which is supposed to be one of the chief commodities of his satanic majesty, abounds in every form. Hot gasses and steam issue from cracks and crevices in the rocks. The place is not without its perils. Pluto, resenting the invasion of his dominions by daring mortals, hurled one stone, which struck the dean of the woman's college on the head, inflicting a slight wound, but not of a serious nature.

-- Newspaper Source found at: Washington Secretary of State Website Database, 2007

While we do not believe that the cloud seen on Saturday was really smoke, still it may be supposed very reasonably that it was such. Mr. S. A. Clark, the well known writer of pioneer records, said in a recent article that twice during a third of a century he has seen dense black smoke pour forth from the crater, and Prof. Powell, formerly State Superintendent of Public Instruction, reports that at the time of his visit, some years back, the crater was discharging sulphurous heat. It is well known that Mount St. Helens, the comparatively near neighbor of Hood, is a volcano more or less disposed to activity. It was climbed in 1875 by the Hon. T.A. McBride and others, who found a crater from which a light steam with hot and sulphurous gases constantly issued.

... (see clipping for rest of article, about 1842 Mount St. Helens eruption)

-- Newspaper Source found at: The New York Times Archives, 2008

Seattle, Wash., Nov.21. -- Mount Rainier is in a state of mild eruption. The appearance of the summit is entirely chaned, and a new peak has appeared in tis center. Soon after sunrise this moring, the sky and air being remarkably clear, clouds of black smoke were seen curling from the southwestern part of the peak, where the crater is located, coming at intervals of about fifteen seconds.

The dome-like top had disappeared and been replaced by a flat top with a large crevasse extending down the side, while in the center of its summit a new peak had appeared on the northern side. The snow was all gone from the summit as though melted off. Falling masses of rock, stripped of their white covering, could be plainly discerned. Steam is also seen mingling with the smoke, which rises 100 feet above the summit.

Mount Rainier is a cone shaped peak and stands slightly to the west of the main Cascade range, sixty-five miles souteast of Seattle. It rises fully 9,000 feet above the range. It has three craters, of which the principal and most perfect is the scene of the present volcanic disturbances. This crater is half a mile across with walls of rock fifty feet high, and thousands of jets of hot air and steam issue from this rim. The inside of the crater is filled with snow and ice, in which the smouldering volcano and steam jets have formed innumerable caves, one of which ahs been penetrated by explorers to a depth of 100 feet, while they have used the steam jets for cooking.

It is supposed that the walls of the crater, having been gradually wekened at the base, have fallen, leaving a peak composed of the rock on which the snowy cone named Columbian Crest had formed, and that the internal fies thus freed have burst forth in new vigor. The eruption became hidden by clouds soon after 8 a.m.

EARTHQUAKE AT TACOMA.

Tonight exactly at 6:30 o'clock, several slight shocks of earthquake were felt here. Windows were rattled throughout the city. The first shock was most severe, being accompanied by rumbling noises, as of a distant explosion, and simultaneously a sheet of flame was observed in the eastern heavens.

Inquiry tonight develops the fact that several persons here saw the smoke arising from Mount Tacoma, or Rainier, this morning. Mrs. Lovell, an Iowa lady visiting friends, says she saw at 8 o'clock, just before sunrise, a good sized column of smoke rising from the mountain top. Professor F.O. Plummer, a local scientist, who has made a special study of earthquake phenomena in the northwest says:

"Old Hialon, the oldest Indian on the Puyallup reservation, said, through an interpreter, before the Tacoma Academy of Science, on February 6, 1893, that he had many times seen fire and smoke coming out of Mount Tacoma. This was when he was a boy. General John O. Fremont reported on November 13, 1848, that Mount Tacoma was in eruption. According to Mr. Holden of the Lick Observatory, a violent eruption of the mountain occurred October 17, 1873 at 4 p.m. In May, 1880, volumes of smoke were observed issuing from the crater. On June 17, 1884, jets of steam were observed shooting upward from the mountain at intervals of one minute, floating eastward. Steam was continually issuing from the crater's peak in volume varying with the hight of the barometer.

"It is interesting to note, says Professor Plummer, "that several of the planets, including the earth, are at present in line, a fact which bears out the theories of Professor Alexis Perrey and others, that such conditions are favorable to earthqakes and volcanic phenomena.

"There have been so far twenty-two large earthquakes throughout the world during the months of October and November of the present year.

-- Newspaper Source found at: Utah Digital Newspapers Archives, 2007

The eruption of Mount Rainier has explained to the satisfaction of many a mystery here which had baffled all. The waterworks reservoir here suddenly became exhausted. Investigation showed a crevice running along the hill north and south, and from one inch to one foot in width and of unknown depth. It ran directly through the reservoir, letting the water out. It has been traced several feet along the hill, and is supposed to be due to volcanic action. No shocks of earthquake have been felt here so far as known.

-- Newspaper Source found at: Utah Digital Newspapers Archives, 2007

From The San Francisco Bulletin, Nov.23.
The old story about the eruption of Mount Rainier is revamped and given currency about once a year. This time it is set forth with more than usual plausibility. Sundry witnesses have seen smoke and vapor. They have noted a change in the configuration of the mountain, and one witness has even testified that he has seen both smoke and fire on the top of it. There is no doubt that Mount Rainier is a spent volcano. Mount Baker is probably another. Mount Shasta is in the same category. There are half a dozen mountain peaks in California that are known to have once been volcanoes. But no amount of fiction can start one of these cones into flame.

It is a curious circumstance that the inhabitants of Tacoma, who still persist in calling Mount Rainier by the name of that city -- and with very good reason -- have not seen any volcanic activity of their beloved mountain. But the Seattle people, a rival city, or some of them at least, maintain that Mount Rainier is in a state of unusual activity. When these reports are carefully examined they are very unsatisfactory. They do not go to the one point of making out an active volcano, nor even of showing that there is likely to be one on Mount Rainier for the present. It is pretty well established that at times there has been sufficient heat on the crown of Mount Rainier to create a vapor that had the appearance of smoke. More than this has not been established by any authentic testimony during the last twenty years.

The same phenomena have been witnessed many times on Mount Shasta. One mountaineer who made the ascent of this mountain spent the night on the top of it. It was a bitter cold night, and the elements were in the wildest commotion. The mountaineer was in a suffering condition from extreme cold. But at last he found a spot where the ground was warm, evidently from internal heat. He lay down on this warm ground, and made a comfortable night of it. At least, he was saved from freezing. Wherever a spent volcano has still some latent heat it will send up vapor, which will be precipitated at times many miles distant. That is just about all that Mount Rainier or Mount Shasta has done for many years. It is on this slender thread that the story of an eruption is probably hung. If fiction could have been converted into fact, there would have been quite an assortment of volcanoes near the Pacific coast.

-- Newspaper Source found at: The New York Times Archives, 2008

Seattle, Wash., Dec. 25. -- The Post-Intelligencer exploration party has fully confirmed the previous statements that smoke has ascended from the summit of Mount Rainier in the last two months, for the explorers are now encamped on the side of the mountain over half way to the summit and have actually seen great volumes of smoke and geysers of steam pouring from the crater. This news was brought by a homing pigeon to Fred S. Meeker's loft at Puyallup. The following is the meassage:

"St. Elmo's Pass, altitude 8000 feet, 12 m. Christmas day. -- The expedition has demonstrated beyond all doubt that Mount Rainier has been smoking. Yesterday afternoon while crossing the vast snow-field dividing the Elysian field and Winthrop glacier, Major Ingraham suddenly shouted: 'See the smoke; see the steam!" The top of the mountain was fully five miles away, and jets of steam like geysers shot upward 200 feet or more, and further to the right a column of densely black smoke rose from the crater in fitful curls to a height of several hundred feet."

-- Newspaper Source found at: Utah Digital Newspapers Archives, 2007

"Camp Mountain View, Foot of Carbon Glacier, Wednesday, Dec. 26. -- While crossing the Winthrop glacier yesterday, Major Ingraham made a critical examination of Blaine glacier, by way of which the ascent to the summit was to have been made, and found that the ice and snow was so broken up that an attempt to climb up would have proven diastrous. Consequently, the summit was not attempted."

The expedition has been an entire success. It has demonstrated that wile the mountain has been both smoking and steaming the change is due principally to tremendous avalances and not to an eruption. The new peak observed from Seattle is off Columbia's crest, and was formed by spiral winds carrying the snow and whipping it into the con-shaped peak described. The party will be home Friday.

-- Newspaper Source found at: Utah Digital Newspapers Archives, 2007

The phenomenon was first observed there Saturday morning by Deputy United States Marshal McGinnis, who was surprised to see smoke curling upward in great quantity, and brought a binnacle to bear on the mountain's crest, and thereby ascertained to a certainty that the old volcano was in a state of mild eruption.

All day Saturday and Sunday the streets at Whatcom were crowded with people, who brought every field glass in the city into requisition. The smoke arose in regular puffs from Mount Baker's crater, and, forming clouds, fleeted off to the south. To-day the mountain is obscured by clouds.

-- Newspaper Source found at: The New York Times Archives, 2008

Castle Rock, Wash., April 5. -- Great consternation is felt among the people living in proximity to Mount St. Helens on account of its showing plainly and distinctly evidences of an eruption. The stately old mountain has for centuries looked peacefully down on the valleys surrounding it, until this morning it seemed weary of its peaceful lassitude, and began emitting great volumes of smoke, with every evidence of greater eruptions to follow.

The near-by residents who have reported the awakening of the mountain are considerably exercised as to the result, and hope it will have a speedy and peaceful ending.

-- Newspaper Source found in: Northwest Discovery, June 1980, p.38.

H.C. Banning and D.P. Simons, the latter a well-known mining man, of this city, visited the scene of the eruption. They declare it a genuine eruption, with evidences the Mount Baker is likely to burst out anew as a volcano. Great fissures were opened in the earth, and in the valley of the Nooksack, a big mountain stream, a huge mound of earth, seventy feet high and a quarter of a mile long, was raised across the valley. The stream was dammed and rose to a considerable height, forming a lake before breaking through. The earth trembled and there was a rumbling noise lasting several minutes. There is great excitment among the ranchers of the district.

-- Newspaper Source found at: U.S. Library of Congress, Chronicling America, 2007

H.C. Banning and D.P. Simons, the latter a well-known mining man, of this city, visited the scene of the eruption. They declare it a genuine eruption, with evidences the Mount Baker is likely to burst out anew as a volcano. Great fissures were opened in the earth, and in the valley of the Nooksack, a big mountain stream, a huge mound of earth, seventy feet high and a quarter of a mile long, was raised across the valley. The stream was dammed and rose to a considerable height, forming a lake before breaking through. The earth trembled and there was a rumbling noise lasting several minutes. There is great excitment among the ranchers of the district.

-- Newspaper Source found at: The New York Times Archives, 2008.

This eruption and upheaval is centered about Mount Baker, one of the highest and most interesting peaks of the Cascades. It occurred March 27, and was accompanied by a sound not unlike the heavy rumble of thunder. Hamilton, a town ten miles distant, heard the report.

News of the phenomenon came from D.P. Simons, jr., who was in the vicinity of Mount Baker, timber cruising, at the time of the earthquake. He says the upheaval turned the river from its course and from the center of the great mass thrown up by the earth's belching can now be seen a lake. Such trees as escaped destruction stand at a remarkable height in comparison with other timber growth. Gaping cracks and crevasses large enough to engulf a team and wagon were seen. A strong scent of sulphur permeated the air immediately following the upheaval.

A cabin occupied by William Hadley, a trapper, was demolished. It stood in the center of the great new mound. Hadley was not in his home at the time, else he could not have escaped death.

The lake formed in the center of the thrown-up ground is declared to be a quarter of a mile in length and half as wide.

-- Newspaper Source found at: U.S. Library of Congress, Chronicling America, 2007

"I have lived almost at the foot of Mount Lassen for ten years and have never heard any of the rumblings that have been spoken of nor any evidence whatever of volcanic eruption. There are numerous hot springs and geysers surrounding the foot of the mountain and this fact no doubt accounts for many of the exaggerated stories. The so-called smoke is always seen when south wind traveling sixty miles an hour are blowing at a high altitude. Fog or vapor is carried up Mill Creek Canyon, which ends at the south side of Mount Lassen. High winds carry the vapor above the surface of the mountain and it can be plainly seen for a distance of fifty or sixty miles. It frequently happens that a dense fog will hide my barn from the house, and it will travel along the mountain, and when it rises above the horizon it can only be distinguished from smoke by experienced eyes. There is no danger of any voclanic eruption, and these stories are started at intervals by people who do not understand the surroundings."

-- Newspaper Source found at: U.S. Library of Congress, Chronicling America, 2007

Special Dispatch to The Call.

WHATCOM, Wash., Sept. 1. -- Mount Baker is a semi-active volcano and belches forth sulphurous smoke in volume almost sufficient to overcome a person standing near the crater.

This news has just been brought down by a mountain climbing party composed of J.A. Lee, principal of the New Whatcom High School; F.F. Handschy, Deputy Treasurer of Whatcom County; F.W. Eply and Robert Valie, members of the State Normal School faculty of this place, and Charles McPherson, a well-known local druggist. After a perilous climb they reached the crater of the mountain on August 21.

Joe Morovitz, a mountaineer, thoroughly familiar with the vicinity, acted as guide. But three times before has the crater been reached, the last time in 1891. The ascent was made from the east side, the party leaving Baker Lake on the morning of August 20. After a hard trip through a Washington jungle of underbrush and devil-club, up the steep and almost precipitous hillside, they reached the snow line that evening and camped for the night. At 7 o'clock the next morning they started to climb up on the snow and ice, over a field almost litterally honeycombed with crevasses. These were broken in such confusion as to at times make the climbers think they were cut off from progress. One of the climbers lost his footing and would have fallen to the bottom of a crevasse had not his arms caught on the rope held across by companions. At 3:20 o'clock the crater was reached, and it is described by Mr. Lee as follows:

"The crater is an orifice in the snow, about thirty feet in diameter, from which rise sulphurous vapor and smoke. Formerly the basin must have extended for acres between the smaller and larger peaks, but this is now filled with snow and ice and only a small hole remains. At times the odor of sulphur almost overpowers one, and sulphur crustations have formed all over the bordering snow. The vapor was so thick as to cloud the sun and at times the smoke would rise as from a stack for fully 1000 feet before dissolving. Some distance below the crater our guide, Morovitz, in prospecting for a passage over one crevasse, found fumes rising from it and was for a moment nearly overcome. It must have followed through an underground channel from the crater. The entire mountain in the vicinity is of volcanic formation.

"After spending a while at the crater all the party but Handschy and McPherson, who remained to get views, continued the ascent of the main peake or dome, 1060 feet higher. The crater lies almost directly south from it, and the climb is comparatively easy. At the top of the dome there is a tract of 100 acres almost perfectly level. On this day the clouds obscured a view of the lower country, but the surrounding mountains could be seen, their peaks piercing the sea-like strata of clouds. Mount Rainier, more than 100 miles away, stood out in plain view. The temperature was about twenty-five degrees above zero.

"We did not remain long, owing to the lateness of the hour. Our trip back to the timber line, 6000 feet below, was made in an hour and three-quarters. We would sometimes sit down on the snow, which would bank into a kind of sled under us, and slide for a quarter of a mile. We camped that night at the timber line again, where there was no snow. The surroundings were park-like and beautiful. The next day we reached Baker Lake, which is really at the base of the mountain."

Mount Baker lies forty miles east of this city and ten miles south of the British Columbia boundary line. It is nearly 11,000 feet high and is one of the most rugged peaks on the continent, being considered perhaps the hardest to ascend. This was the first ascent made from the east side and is the most successful ever accomplished. It establishes beyond all question the fact that Mount Baker is a semi-active volcano. In 1895, a party of Mazamas from Portland made an unsuccessful attempt to climb the mountain from the north.

-- Newspaper Source found at: U.S. Library of Congress, Chronicling America, 2007

Special Dispatch to The Call.
REDDING, June 14. -- Redding's population is fearful of an eruption of Mount Lassen, the ancient volcanic cone which stands sixty miles to the southeast. To-day it was learned definitely that there is some disturbance within the crater which, for nearly two centuries, has remained inactive. Springs and crevices on the south side of Lassen are emitting volumes of steam, which give the impression to the approaching climber that the mountain is sending up a cloud of smoke. A party of men, who have sheep ranges and a summer home near the base of the mountain, has gone to the scene to make an investigation and see if their portable property needs to be moved out of danger's path.

The summit of Lassen is a peak which on more than one side is so nearly sheer as to be inaccessible. A mile and a half below the summit a plateau, varying in width from 200 yards to a mile, extends clear around the peak. The surface of this is extremely rough and broken. The volcanic rock is shifted into curious piles and the whole plateu abounds in springs and in caverns, many of which have become lakes. The remarkable thing about these springs is that, while some are very cold and mineralized, others, but a few yards distant, are boiling hot.

On the south extreme of the plateau is a region called "Bumpus' Hell." It is full of springs, some of which are so hot that they have constantly emitted steam. Most of these springs, however, have flowed with cold water.

Responsible mountaineers now report that all the springs of "Bumpus' Hell" have suddenly turned boiling hot and that steam issures from them and through cracks in the lava in such volumes as to form a thin cloud. Beyond doubt fuel has been added to the ancient furnace within Mount Lassen.

So far none of the disturbances had made themselves apparent at the summit of the cone, though no one has yet reached the top to peer down into the crater. Geological parties that have examined the crater declare that the uppermost stratum of lava which covers the surrounding country has been deposited there within 200 years. Nervous people have claimed in recent years that they could hear strange rumblings. The report of the stock owners who have gone to the scene will be anxiously awaited. One man, who owns valuable land adjacent to the mountain, offered it for sale at a bargain this week for the first time.

-- Newspaper Source found at: U.S. Library of Congress, Chronicling America, 2007

Special Dispatch to The Call.
REDDING, June 16. -- Away to the southeast, more than fifty miles form Redding, rugged Mount Lassen is giving yet stronger evidence that the geologists were correct when they declared that if there were a one-time active volcano in California which was not dead, but merely slumbering, Lassen was that one. From a keen interest in the reports within a fortnight that new boiling springs had begun to cloud the mountain sides with steam, the more timid people of Redding have passed to an actual fear at the latest news brought to-day by a courier, to the effect that the steam vents were growing larger and that away down in the crater the fire has set to rumbling. At some spots even where there are no springs the ground is so hot as to make walking upon it painful.

Fred E. Hunter has brought the latest news from Lassen. On his journey to Redding from Fall River Mills he was intercepted at Pawnee by a lumberman hastening from the scene. This lumberman was with a party of timber cruisers who were working upon the mountain. He declared that the springs, many of which were cold formerly, are all throwing out boiling water now in a way to make a close approach unsafe.

But more ominous than the hissing steam are the low rumblings which are heard. They are described as sounding like distant peals of thunder.

"What do the people who are in the immediate vicinity think about it?" Hunter asked.

"They think that old Lassen is about to have its head blown off," replied the lumberman, "and those who don't have to hang around there are doing just what I'm doing -- they are going somewhere else for their health."

Many persons from the northern counties make the rough trip by wagon or pack horse to Mount Lassen during the summer to study the strange conditions and sights which it presents and there has been a belief for years among those who know the peak that the internal fires were not by any means extinct and might cause a fresh eruption at any time.

-- Newspaper Source found at: U.S. Library of Congress, Chronicling America, 2007

Frickey says he encounted an army of mosquitoes that were far more troublesome than are the locusts and grasshoppers in Central California. At the head of Battle Creek the mosquitoes appeared in clouds and farmers and sheep men were greatly bothered. Around Mount Lassen, however, there were none of the pests, the sulphurous gas being too strong.

-- Newspaper Source found at: U.S. Library of Congress, Chronicling America, 2007

All visitors to the top of the mountain have observed steam arising from one or more of its three craters, and climbers usually go part way down into at least one of the craters to get warm. It is supposed that, in consonance with subterranean activity elsewhere, the amount of steam coming up through these craters has increased.

Gilstrap finds that the volcanic debris is now bare for the first time within the historic period of Horizon peak, a distance of at least 1000 feet from the north crater, and extending downward from 100 to 400 feet.

-- Newspaper Source found at: U.S. Library of Congress, Chronicling America, 2007

Carter is uncertain whether the mountain is in a mild state of steam eruption, as has been supposed. He says that hurricane winds and avalanches are largely responsible for laying bare great areas on the north and west sides of the triple peaks. The sides of this mountain are covered by thirteen distinct glaciers, making it extremely interesting to mountain climbers.

-- Newspaper Source found at: U.S. Library of Congress, Chronicling America, 2007

The triple peaks show indications of great disintegrating forces at work. Crater peak, which is the central one of the three, appears as though it had been flattened on top by a widening of the crater. The southern rim of the crater, which has been barely visible from Paradise Valley heretofore, can now be seen standing in fine relief from different points in the valley. Phenecle declares the district surrounding Rainier has been visited by heavy earthquakes, as there are no indications of volcanic disturbances which would have produced the changes on the top of the mountain.

-- Newspaper Source found at: U.S. Library of Congress, Chronicling America, 2007

A hissing noise can be plainly heard all about the crater and steam issues in volumes from small fissures. On Friday when the earthquake shock was felt several mountain climbers were near the summit of St. Helens. So severe was the shock that they were thrown to their knees. Rocks were hurled in different directions and trees swayed to and fro as in a hurricane.

For years past steam has been noticed in the crater of Mount Rainier, a hundred miles north of St. Helens. Sulphuric fumes are also emitted through the crater from the interior of the mountain.

-- Newspaper Source found at: U.S. Library of Congress, Chronicling America, 2007

In his proclamation concerning Lassen peak, President Roosevelt describes it as "the southern terminus of the long line of extinct volcanoes in the Cascade range from which one of the greatest volcanic fields in the world extends and of special importance in tracing the volcanic phenomena of that vicinity."

The establishment of national monuments at Cinder cone and Lassen peak is not intended to prevent the use of the lands for forest purposes under the proclamation establishing the Lassen peak national forest. In all respects in which the reservations are inconsistent the mountain peaks are made the dominant reservations.

-- Newspaper Source found at: U.S. Library of Congress, Chronicling America, 2007

Old Indians of Whatcom county say that this crater has been active since the days of their forefathers several generations removed. About the crater are several large heated areas and extensive deposits of sulphur.

A Tacoma mountain climbing club will ascend Mount Baker in July and investigate the new crater and its sulphur deposits. Mount Baker can be ascended from its southern slope in one day. It is known to the Indians as the Great White Watcher, and it is the most northern volcano in the State. It has an elevation of 11,250 feet above sea level. Its sides are covered with glaciers and snow fields.

-- Newspaper Source found at: U.S. Library of Congress, Chronicling America, 2007

No alarm is felt over the discovery, as steam and sulphur fumes are likewise constantly arising from Mount Rancor's crater, further south. At least one mountain-climbing club will ascend Mount Baker in July and thoroughly investigate the new crater.

-- Newspaper Source found at: The New York Times Archives, 2008

Mr. SYLVESTER of the Geological Survey says, however, that Mount Hood must be taken from the list of extinct volcanoes and placed at least among the doubtful. He made this discovery while surveying for the special topographic sheet of the Mount Hood district last year. He found steam escaping from numerous fissures in the rock on the south side of the mountain, and these emissions had melted the glaciers that covered their vents so that considerable areas of bare rock were revealed, deeply walled in by the glacial ice around them, a peculiar phenomenon not often seen. On August 28 twelve or more persons, including two members of Mr. SYLVESTER'S party, saw a column of "smoke," probably dense steam, rising above the summit of the mountain. We have had no reports of further activity this year.

The behavior of Mount Hood seems to be exactly like that of Mount Cameroon, the highest peak of West Africa, as recently reported by Dr. HASSERT. Perhaps neither volcano has been really active for many generations, but throes of life are manifest from time to time long after the loss of power to be destructively active has passed.

-- Newspaper Source found at: U.S. Library of Congress, Chronicling America, 2007

BELLINGHAM, Wash., Jan. 12. -- It is reported that immediately after yesterday's earthquake shock smoke was seen arising from Mount Baker, an extinct or dormant volcano. At Blaine several buildings were slightly damaged.

Reports fromt he San Juan islands, in Puget Sound, say that yesterday's shock was severe there. At Point Stanley, Lopez, East Sound, Olga, and other places buildings were damaged to a considerable extent. No casualties are reported.

-- Newspaper Source found at: The New York Times Archives, 2009

The mountain is an extinct volcano, but of late years there have been ample evidences of a renewal of life in the region.

Hot springs have been discovered, and in one or two instances hot mud has been found oozing from crevices in the sides of the mountain.

This year the rumblings hav been the only indications of activity in these bowels of the old volcano, but these have been sufficient to cause alarm, and some of the residents of the region are getting ready to scatter at the first outward sign of trouble.

-- Newspaper Source found at: U.S. Library of Congress, Chronicling America, 2007

Vancouver, British Columbia, Oct. 2 -- Four citizens of Mission Junction, directly north of Mount Baker, on the Canadian side, announced to-day that on Tuesday last they plainly saw Mount Baker in eruption.

They declared they saw a column of smoke issuing from the mountain last Sunday, and on Tuesday obtained powerful field glasses and again saw a huge column of smoke and vapor. After nightfall Tuesday, they declared, a lurid flame issuing from the peak could plainly be seen. Since Tuesday the summit of Mount Baker has been hidden by clouds.

-- Newspaper Source found at: U.S. Library of Congress, Chronicling America, 2007

Special to The New York Times.
REDDING, Cal., June 1. -- Mount Lassen, in Shasta County, is in eruption. The ancient volcano became active on Sunday and opened up a new crater on the north side of the peak from which a great column of steam is still rising and hiding the mountain from view. The cloud covering the mountain is visible all over the upper end of the Sacramento Valley.

The new crater was formed by an explosion which showered the whole mountain with rock and ashes, hurling rocks at least a mile from the crater and scattering lighter material over a much larger radius. Forest Ranger Harvey Abbey ascended the mountain on Sunday and found near the summit a smoking crater thirty feet wide by fifty feet long, with many fissures in the mountain side.

For two or three hundred yards around the crater the ground was covered with rock debris from one to two feet deep, some of the rock pieces thrown out were boulders thirty inches in diameter and the ranger found ashes on the ground as far as three miles away. With the boulders was an outpouring of mud and sand as well as a cloud of ashes. No lava was to be seen. The crater is on the north side of the main peak, about a quarter of a mile from the fire lookout house, which the Forest Service maintains on the mountains in the Summer, and which stands on the edge of the ruined walls of the old crater. As an active volcanic vent the old crater has been dormant so long that its walls have been worn away in most places and only the general outline of the original basin can be traced.

No damage has been done by the eruption so far, according to the Forest Service. There are no inhabitants within many miles of that side of the mountain, and the north slope is of such rugged lava that the forest on that side does not begin for nearly two miles from the summit of the mountain.

The sound of the explosion in which the opening was formed was not heard in Redding nor in any of the towns to the west of the mountain, none of which are less than fifty miles away. Today a greater cloud than ever is hanging over the mountain. While Shasta stands out clearly, although twice as far away, Lassen is entirely obscured. Owing to the great height of the peak the steam from the crater is quickly condensed into fog by the chill of the upper atmosphere. Lassen Mountain, or Butte, is in the southeastern corner of Shasta County. It is a symmetrical cone, 10,480 feet above the sea, and usually bearing more or less snow throughout the Summer. The last eruption of the butte was about sixty years ago.

-- Newspaper Source found at: The New York Times Archives, 2008

Just a year ago a great many volcanoes along the Alaskan peninsula and islands were in violent eruption, and just a year before that Mount Katmai burst, supplying in southern Alaska one of the severest eruptions of history. Mount Lassen in California is the southernmost of the Pacific chain of volcanic mountains that are occasionally active. It is 200 miles from the ocean, too far to admit of leakage that might make it dangerous.

-- Newspaper Source found at: The New York Times Archives, 2008

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-- Newspaper Source found at: Utah Digital Newspapers Archives, 2007

Crater Lake, 2000 Feet Deep, Has No Known Inlet.
Crater Lake National park, Oregon, is the heart of the Cascade mountain range. In this neighborhood the Cascades merge into a broad, irregular platform surmounted by volcanic cones, which vary in size and are distributed without regularilty, says Detroit News.

The fragments, blown up by violent eruption, have fallen upon the volcanic orifice from which they issued and built up cinder cones.

Crater lake itself is a body of water of wonderful blue in the blown-in top of an extinct volcano. The lake is 2000 feet deep in places, having no inlet of any sort, nor is there any stream running out of it. But the water is supposed to escape by underground channels, and to reappear as springs in the Klamath region, a few miles away. Geologists find Crater lake of special interest because of the way nature made it.

Mazama Fell in Upon Itself.
Long before man came to this region, the entire upper part of Mount Mazama fell in upon itself in some titanic cataclysm, as if swallowed up by a subterranean cavern, leaving its craterlike lava sides cut sharply downward into the central abyss. The volcano was not quenched, bursting up through the collapsed lavas in three places. The fires ceased and gradually, as the years passed, springs percolated into the vast basin and precipitation flled it with water within 1000 feet of its rim, forming Crater lake.

-- Newspaper Source found at: Wallis & Marilyn Kimble Northwest History Database, Washington State University Website, 2007