North Cascades

EARLY IMPRESSIONS: EURO-AMERICAN EXPLORATIONS AND SURVEYS

EXPLORATIONS

Pierce Expedition (1882)

The Army's interest in this region of Washington Territory was sustained after Lieutenant Symons completed another assigned reconnaissance of the Columbia River in 1881. Additional exploration teams were organized by the Army to find efficient routes of transportation and communication. A minor Indian uprising which occurred earlier at the confluence of the Baker and Skagit Rivers further convinced the Army of the value and necessity of a viable route through the North Cascades. As a result, in 1882 Lieutenant Henry Hubbard Pierce was assigned to explore deep into today's park.

Traveling with a party comprised of Assistant Surgeon George F. Wilson, Topographical Assistant Alfred Downing, First Lieutenant George B. Backus, Jr. (mentioned previously for exploring an area outside park boundaries), guide Joe LaFleur, two sergeants, four privates, a musician, a packer, fourteen mules, and fifteen horses, Pierce departed from Fort Colville on the first of August. [86] He was directed to cross the Okanogan and Methow Rivers and to proceed to the head of Lake Chelan:

Thence, if practicable . . . cross the mountains to Skagit River, pass down the river to Puget Sound. . .The principal object of [the] reconnaissance is to obtain such knowledge of the country and its occupants as may be valuable at present or in the future to the military service. [87]

Following the Methow River to the Twisp River, Pierce's party continued up that drainage along a well-traveled Indian path to War Creek. [88] Within seventeen miles the Pierce party reached the summit of a high divide, and, two days later, they had ascended War Creek Pass. The party soon passed "a small, round lake of melted snow to the left" (Lake Juanita), and within a mile's hike they reached "the pass that overlooks the head of Lake Chelan, known today as Purple Pass. [89]

As I gazed westward from a height of 6850 feet above the sea, and 5800 feet above the lake, a scene of remarkable grandeur was presented. To the south and west, were the rugged peaks of the Cascade Mountains covered with everlasting snow. At our feet, reposed [Lake] Chelan, in color like an artificial lake of thick plate-glass; While the Pierce River [the Stehekin River] brought its clay-tinted waters with many a winding down the narrow canyon that opened to the north [west]. No painter could place the view on canvas, and be believed. [90]

Leaving three men to serve as herders at the base camp established near Lake Juanita, Pierce and the others proceeded to descend Purple Pass. His account of this tiring hike is applicable today, one century later:

We began the wearisome descent of over three hours to Lake Chelan by a zigzag path along the back of a narrow, rugged spur [between Purple Creek and Hazard Creek]. After 9 miles, knee deep in dust, like ashes, filled with sharp fragments of rock, and constantly threatened by boulders tumbling from above, the almost perpendicular slope was accomplished. Reaching the canyon bottom, camp was made . . . on a sand-bar one mile from the mouth of Pierce River [Stehekin River]. [91]

Pierce found the Stehekin River valley to be "a dense jungle of cottonwoods, firs, and underbrush, with frequent lagoons covered by an almost tropical growth of rush-grass, ferns, and other marshy vegetation. . ." [92] The party followed "a most imperfect trail" a distance, reaching Little Boulder Creek the next morning. Within one and a half miles Pierce passed Boulder and Rainbow Creeks noticing Rainbow Falls, "a sheer unbroken fall of 300 feet [which] called forth expressions of admiration." [93] Mountain goats and "lusty trout" were also observed.

After a day's respite from the tedium of hiking, the party continued upriver following a trail along the river's north bank which was "quite indistinct." Fourteen miles upriver the group established camp at the confluence of Bridge Creek (which Pierce named Backus Creek) and the Stehekin River (Pierce named the upper Stehekin River Symon's Fork). The following morning they continued upstream, fording Bridge Creek and following "a wretched foot-path" until they stopped to set up camp near present-day Basin Creek. [94] From here the conditions of the chosen route grew worse. Pierce and Downing moved ahead of the packtrain and began the ascent to Cascade Pass. Pierce wrote, "The tiresome zigzag trail seemed interminable." [95] Pierce and Downing persevered, however, and reached the summit without mishap.

Shortly thereafter, Backus and Wilson arrived, followed by LaFleur and the packer. The latter two reported it impossible to get the packtrain up the steep slope in the sleet that was falling, and Pierce felt obliged to send the supply horses back to Fort Colville. While these arrangements were being made, Backus examined the region, reporting that a small grassy prairie lay close ahead, but beyond that, "a precarious, if not wholly impracticable path" led down the mountain's western slope. [96]

The morning of August 26 did not bring improved conditions. All but one of the party wanted to retreat, but Pierce decided to continue westward. The descent of the west slope began the following day and Pierce noted that Cascade Pass

. . . is low and comparatively easy of approach from the east, but westward the descent is at first rapid and precarious. . . the path wound its uncertain way for three miles through an entangled growth of trailing alders, over seven feet high; emerging from which, we came upon the margin of a creek, in and out of whose waters, the footway led us blindly for a considerable distance. [97]

This creek is believed to be the North Fork of the Cascade River. Continuing down the drainage Pierce noted that the existing Indian trail was "exceedingly serpentine and difficult to meander in all its countless bearings," and the party frequently climbed adjacent slopes to avoid dense undergrowth. [98] After several days of hiking Pierce sensed he was near the confluence of the Cascade and Skagit Rivers and sent Backus and LaFleur ahead to locate Indians willing to lead the entire exploring party down the Skagit River to Puget Sound. [99] Pierce bartered the party's three government horses for a canoe ride downriver to Mount Vernon, where the party could obtain a steamboat to Puget Sound. After an exhilarating journey down the Skagit in swiftly gliding canoes, Pierce was motivated to write, "The Skagit is a beautiful stream, often reminding the traveler of some charming tree-fringed river in New England." [100] By this point the Pierce expedition had long since left the boundary of today's national park. Reaching Sterling by sundown, "a mere logging-camp" but a paradise just the same, the ravenous men ate bountiful suppers before retiring amidst the 109 stumps of the "town" (Sterling no longer exists).

Upon reaching Mount Vernon, Lieutenant Pierce evaluated his successful but arduous reconnaissance. He had hiked 295 miles of territory adding "to a correct understanding of the geography of the country, and per chance attract attention to fertile regions and pleasant landscapes, hitherto unknown." [101] Pierce concluded that the route from Fort Colville to Puget Sound could in no way be recommended as a transportation route. Furthermore, he believed that the mountain range itself was a great enough physical barrier to prevent the eastern and coastal Indian tribes from ever becoming allies. Based upon the findings of the Pierce expedition, a military road through this section of the North Cascades was no longer seriously considered.

Pierce's lengthy report with its accompanying map was received at the Army Headquarters in Washington, D.C., on December 13, 1882. After perusing Pierce's work General William T. Sherman wrote:

. . . little is known of the Region of Country between the Upper Columbia and Pugets Sound. Further Explorations will be made, and publication of the information gained should be made, as it is to the national interest that the timber and minerals of that Region should be brought within the reach of the Emigrants who will throng to Oregon and Washington Territory as soon as the Northern Pacific Railroad is completed. [102]