UP ON MOUNT TACOMA
August 5, 1891
Explorers from Sumner Make a Successful Trip
JOURNEY OF PERIL AND DANGER.
Twenty Miles Southeast of the Snowcapped Mountain King is a Volcano in a State of Eruption
Special to the Ledger
SUMNER, Aug. 4, — Doctor E. A. Stafford, D. R. Tucker, H. Paulson and S. E. Gline, who were members of a party which set out from this place two weeks ago to explore the Cascades, returned last evening. They report a glorious trip. The permanent camping place of the party was in Paradise valley, six miles above Longmire springs. Of the Sumner party Dr. E. A. Stafford and H. Paulson joined a party composed of four other gentlemen and two ladies, Miss Edith Corbett of Olympia and Miss Susan Longmire of Yelm, and together they successfully made the ascent of Mount Tacoma.
The party made the ascent on July 29th and 30th, spending the night of the 30th in the crater and descending on the 31st. Dr. Stafford succeeded in finding the stone monument upon which the A. G. Rogers party from Enumclaw planted a flag on July 2nd, but the flag had been whipped to pieces and blown away. The doctor described the journey to the top of the Monarch of the Cascades as being one of considerable peril and danger. He is the first resident of Sumner to ascend Mount Tacoma.
During their expedition the party saw a great many goats and as they brought several skins home it is safe to conclude that during their trip they somewhat lost sight of the state goat law. The Sumner party discovered an active volcano located about twenty miles southeast of Mount Tacoma. It emits dense volumes of smoke and is, according to the description of the party, decidedly active and from the summit of Mount Tacoma looks at night, like the smoldering of an immense fire.