The History of Mt. Adams

The Creation of Mount Adams

The mountain as we see it today is the result of volcanic activity and the effects of glaciers on those volcanic deposits. The events listed below are among the most dramatic, but certainly not the only events responsible for the shape of Mount Adams as we know it today.

Recent Avalanche on Mt. Adams (expanded image 1024 x 768 JPEG 99k) Photo by Jim Chamberlain

Among all the volcanic peaks in the Pacific Northwest, Mount Adams has a rich and varied history. Adams lacks the symmetry which often characterizes volcanic cones. Instead, it is a long ridge composed of a complex of several cones that grew from volcanic flows occurring over successive ages.

• 450,000 years ago: oldest eruptions associated with Mount Adams.
• 25,000 to 12,000 years ago: the period of most recent cone-building. The entire mountain above timberline was constructed in a series of eruptions issuing at the true summit, south summit and Suksdorf Ridge.
• 21,000 to 12,000 years ago: the last major glacial expansion when ice covered virtually the entire Wilderness. Tongues of glacial ice extended well down many of the surrounding valleys. The glaciers smoothed and streamlined formerly rough lava surfaces. These surfaces are now covered by deep glacial deposits or more recent lava flows. The road to Morrison Creek and Cold Springs ascends one of these glacier-formed ridges (also called moraines).
• 5,100 years ago: the Pinnacle was formed by a great avalanche. Sulfur gases (mostly hydrogen sulfide) combining with melt water from the ice cap created sulfuric acid. This acidic melt water flowing from the summit, severely weakened the summit rocks resulting in a dramatic avalanche. Debris from this avalanche flowed down the White Salmon River to the Trout Lake Valley. The many large yellow-brown boulders around the valley are conspicuous reminders of this great avalanche.
• 3,500 to 6,000 years ago: the Muddy Fork and Aiken Lava Flows moved down the flanks of Mount Adams, the latest, and probably not the last, volcanic activity of Mount Adams.
• Twentieth century: In 1983 and 1921 large avalanches broke off the Avalanche and White Salmon Headwall, the same headwall created by the great avalanche 5,100 years ago.
• The 1921 avalanche fell nearly one mile, covering almost 6,000 acres with debris. Other avalanche deposits are prominent at Devils Garden, Avalanche Valley, and along the Big Muddy below the Klickitat Glacier.

Other Things to Know

Glaciers on Mount Adams. (expanded image 1024 x 768 JPEG 75k) Photo by Jim Chamberlain

Sheer size: Mount Adams, at 12,276 feet, is the second-highest peak in Washington state. Only Mount Rainier is taller. It is also the second-largest volcano in the continental US - twice the size of Mount Rainer!

For scale: the volume of volcanic materials that make up Mount Adams would fill a rectangle hole 15 miles long and 10 miles wide with almost a thousand feet of debris.

Human use in the Mount Adams area dates back 9,000 years. Numerous Indian tribes used the lands surrounding the mountain for berry picking, fishing, and permanent settlements. Written histories of these people were not make until after exploration by Lewis and Clark in 1805. In the 1890's C.E. Rusk documented encounters with Indians while hiking at timberline on Mount Adams.

Most mountain summits are the scene of only momentary visits, however Mount Adams has a history of human use that is varied and unusual. In 1921, the Forest Service completed construction of the highest fire lookout in the country. Due to the high elevation, heavy snows, and poor visibility, however, it was only staffed until 1924. Meanwhile, over 1,800 pounds of supplies were backpacked to the summit each season.

In 1929, Dean Wade and the Glacier Mining Co. filed a mining claim to obtain sulfur at the summit. Primarily a prospecting operation, the mine was most active from 1932 to 1936. The claim expired 1959. A trail suitable for horses and mules, was constructed to the summit. A total of 168 pack trains made the trip to the summit each year.

Significant Events

• 7,000 B.C. - Evidence of human use in the vicinity of Mount Adams
• 1805 A.D.- First sighting of Mount Adams by white explorers: Lewis and Clark expedition.
• 1854 - First verified ascent by white men.
• 1855 - Yakima Treaty defined the current Yakima Reservation including 14 tribes.
• 1867 - The first recorded ascent by women
• 1942 - Mount Adams Wild Area designated
• 1964 - The Wilderness Act established the 36,356 acre Mount Adams Wilderness
• 1972 - Tract D returned to Yakima Indian Reservation due to revised interpretation of the treaty.
• 1980 - Eruption of Mount St. Helens: Mount Adams closed to the public.
• 1984 - Wilderness expanded to the current size, 47,270 acres

What's in a name?

Mt. Adams Recreation Area (expanded image 640 x 480 JPEG 58k)

The naming of the peak the Indians called Pa-Toe has been a comedy of geographical errors. Due to its easterly location, the mountain was not sighted on Vancouver's exploration of the Northwest. Thus, when Lewis and Clark, who were relying on Vancouver's descriptions, saw it, they thought they were seeing Mount St. Helens. This was the first of many recorded misidentifications.

Both St. Helens and Hood got their "English" names long before Adams, whose name survives from an 1839 scheme by Hall J. Kelly to make the Cascades the Presidential Range. He was inspired, by Lewis and Clark's naming Mount Jefferson in Oregon after the president who supported their journey across the continent. Kelly, however, intended the name Adams to go to Mount Hood -- he left the mountain in Washington out of the plan entirely. And the person who mapped the mountains mixed up Kelly's names and also put the name Mount Adams 40 miles in the wrong direction -- where there happened to be a mountain ready to bear the name. The Native Americans, of course, knew it was there all along -- they called the mountain Pahtoe. "Mount Adams" stuck firmly after 1853, when the Pacific Railroad Expedition put the name on their map. As for the grand Presidential Range scheme, "very few of the names took."

Source: US Forest Service Website; www.fs.fed.us

Because of work, lack of sleep and the move, it will be a few days before I can post a trip report of my summit of Mt. Adams this week. Here is some History of the moutain that I found interesting.