National Parks and Forests

Mount Baker - Snoqualmie National Forest

The Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest in Washington State extends more than 140 miles along the western slopes of the Cascade Mountains from the Canadian border to the northern boundary of Mount Rainier National Park.1 The Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest contains many scenic and historical points of interest. A past history, including logging and mining, dominates some areas. Mountain tops gradually rise from 5,000 to 6,000 feet on the south end of the forest to 7,000 to 8,000 feet in the north. Two tall volcanoes, Mount Baker and Glacier Peak, tower thousands of feet above the adjacent ridges. The forest is home to more glaciers and snow fields than any other National Forest in the continental U.S.2

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North Cascades National Park3

North Cascades National Park came into being, officially, on October 2, 1968, when Lyndon B. Johnson signed the North Cascades Act. This act created the North Cascades National Park Service Complex which comprised 684,000 acres of wild land. It also included the park's north and south units, as well as Ross Lake and Lake Chelan national recreation areas. This same act created the adjacent Pasayten Wilderness of 550,000 acres, and enlarged the Glacier Peak Wilderness to 464,000 acres. In 1988 Congress designated approximately 93 percent of the three areas as the Stephen Mather Wilderness to provide additional legislated protection. The Cascades are among the world's greatest mountain ranges. Extending from Canada's Fraser River south beyond Oregon, they contribute greatly to shaping the Pacific Northwest's climate and vegetation.

The North Cascades

History
Fur traders, traveling on foot and by canoe, were among the first Euro-Americans to venture into the North Cascades wilderness in the late 1700s. Many of the early settlers trapped to supplement their income. Trapping was primarily a winter activity, the most difficult season to be afield in the mountains. The Weaver brothers came to Stehekin primarily to trap animals for a living. They were so successful that they opened a taxidermy business across the river at what is now called Weaver Point. John McMillan, a miner, ran traplines along Big Beaver Creek and the upper Skagit River in the late nineteenth century. Beaver, bear, cougar, wolf, lynx, fisher, marten, and fox were all sought by trappers in the North Cascades.

The earliest recorded crossing of the North Cascades by a Euro-American occurred in 1814. Alexander Ross, a fur trader, crossed Twisp Pass and descended Bridge Creek to the Stehekin River, which he then followed upstream. Finally crossing Cascade Pass, he traced the Cascade River downstream to its confluence with the Skagit River. Maps of Washington Territory in 1860 show large areas still labeled "unexplored." The handful of explorers who followed Ross also commented on the region's rugged, isolated nature.

Miners prospected for gold, lead, zinc, and platinum here from 1880 to 1910. They recorded moderate strikes, but transportation proved to be arduous and profits so limited that mining was abandoned. Some logging and homesteading occurred around 1900. The electricity generating potential of the Skagit River was early recognized. Between 1924 and 1961, Seattle City Light built three dams on the river. Mountains do not stop at the park boundaries. The three areas are flanked on the south, east, and west by national forest lands, and on the north by provincial lands of British Columbia, Canada. The national forest lands encompass a number of outstanding federal wilderness areas, including the Glacier Peak Wilderness on the Baker-Snoqualmie and Wenatchee National Forests. Only an invisible boundary separates the first two national park units from the two national recreation areas and the adjoining national forest lands.

Western Red-Cedar

Evidence of Indian use of the Cascades is widespread, but little is know about it. History has touched little of this area. Today, readily reached areas are heavily visited, but some remote locations have yet to feel the boots of today's backcountry traveler. Forest giants of western red-cedar and Douglas-fir dot the deep valleys. Off the trail, tangled growths of alder, vine maple, stinging nettles, and devil's club still defy crosscountry hikers. Glaciers scored by crevasses, permanent snowfields, sheer-walled cliffs, spires, and pinnacles challenge mountaineers.

The Cascade Mountain range runs 500 miles from Northern California to British Columbia, but it is not until it reaches Northwest Washington that the mountains are at their most breathtaking. The Cascades are higher in other parts of the range, but nowhere are they as dramatic. Jagged, rocky peaks of up to 10,000 feet give way to near-sea level valleys; glaciers cling dizzyingly to the sides of foreboding slopes; everywhere waterfalls tumble down from the mountains, the characteristic that gave the Cascades their name.

The elevational distance from valleys to summits throughout the North Cascades can exceed 5,000 feet – a relief as great as any other range in the United States. The steep and imposing North Cascades presented a formidable barrier to early white explorers, and the names they gave some of these mountains betray their dread: Mount Terror, Mount Challenger, Mount Fury, Mount Despair, Mount Torment, Desolation Peak.

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San Juan Island National Historical Park

San Juan Island National Historical Park September 9, 1966

The San Juan Island National Historical Park was created in 1966 based upon an idea: that individuals and nations can solve their problems peacefully without resorting to violence. For it was here in 1859 that the United States and Great Britain nearly went to war over a pig shot by an American farmer. Actually, it was a bit more complicated than that. Pressures had been building between the two nations over possession of the San Juan Island group since 1846 when the Treaty of Oregon left ownership unclear. Thus came the "Pig War" crisis, at the height of which more than 500 U.S. Army soldiers and three British warships were nose to nose on the island's southern shore, not 10 miles from Victoria, BC. Fortunately, officials on both sides quickly restored calm and the nations agreed to a joint military occupation of the island until the boundary could be decided. The American soldiers and British Royal Marines remained for 12 years until Kaiser Wilhelm I of Germany, as arbitrator, awarded the islands to the United States.4 Today the park preserves and protects nearly 1,800 acres on San Juan Island, including prairies, lagoons, forests, and mountains, and more than six miles of saltwater shoreline. Under the park's protective watch are seven historic structures dating to the 1860s, a rich archaeological resource of prehistorical and historical objects, as well as habitats rich with plants and animals.5

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References Cited

1. USDA Forest Service. Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest: Welcome.
<http://www.fs.fed.us/r6/mbs/>

2. USDA Forest Service. Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest: About Us.
< http://www.fs.fed.us/r6/mbs/about/>

3. North Cascades National Park.
<http://www.north.cascades.national-park.com/info.htm>

4. U.S. National Park Service. San Juan Island National Historical Park: In Brief.
<http://www.nps.gov/sajh/>

5. U.S. National Park Service. San Juan Island National Historical Park: For Teachers.
<http://www.nps.gov/sajh/For_Teachers.htm>

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