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Our Trip to Mount Tacoma , 1902

Overview of the Collection

Title
Our Trip to Mount Tacoma
Dates
1902 (inclusive)
Quantity
1 album (12 photographic prints) : black and white ; 7 x 9.5 inches
Collection Number
PH0647
Summary
Photographs of a trip to Mount Tacoma (now named Mount Rainier) from August 19-28, 1902.
Repository
University of Washington Libraries, Special Collections
Special Collections
University of Washington Libraries
Box 352900
Seattle, WA
98195-2900
Telephone: 2065431929
Fax: 2065431931
speccoll@uw.edu
Access Restrictions

Collection is open to the public.

Request at UW

Languages
English
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Historical Background

Mount Rainier is a mountain peak in central Washington, and the highest peak in the Cascade Range at 14,410 feet high. The name of Mount Rainier has been debated from the 19th to the 20th century. The debate has focused on the legend linking the name "Mt. Tacoma" to the original Native American names for the mountain. The mountain was named Mount Rainier in 1801 by Captain George Vancouver for his shipmate, Admiral Peter Rainier of the British Navy. In 1833, Dr. William Tolmie, a Scottish doctor and scholar sent by the Hudson's Bay Company to Ft. Vancouver, wrote in his diary using both names, "a fine view of Tuchoma or Mt Rainier." Also in 1883, the Northern Pacific Railroad Company declared: " The Indian name Tacoma will hereafter be used in the guidebooks and other publications." A book published posthumously by Theodore Winthrop, The Canoe and the Saddle , which was published in 1862 and based on a canoe trip taken in 1853, claimed "Mount Regnier Christians have dubbed it, in stupid nomenclature, perpetuating the name of somebody or nobody. More melodiously the Siwashes call it Tacoma-a generic term also applied to all snow peaks." In 1880, the U.S. Geographic Board declared Mt. Rainier the official name to be used on all government maps, though the issue was brought again before the board in 1917, and then before Congress in 1925. Mount Rainier National Park was established on March 2, 1899, to protect and preserve its wilderness and natural features for future visitors.

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Content Description

The collection consists of one album of photographs taken by one or more members of a party of six during a ten-day trip to Mount Rainier in August 1902. The photographs document the party's picnics and camps at various locations, as well as their walking explorations of the Mount Rainier area. The Nisqually Glacier, Nisqually River, Carter Falls, Narada Falls, and Mashel River are documented.

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Other Descriptive Information

Handwritten on verso of front album cover: "Mr. A.L. Bell, Mr. H.B. Hendley, Mr. E.N. Henninger, Mrs. K.S. Eisenbeiss, Mrs. C.W. Hendley, Mrs. A.M. Craig."

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Use of the Collection

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Administrative Information

Acquisition Information

The photograph album was purchased from Robert Nord, April 2004.

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Detailed Description of the Collection