First Successful Ascent of Mt. Rainier, 1870

Hazard Stevens and P.B. Van Trump, aided by the Indian guide Sluiskin, made the first documented successful ascent of Mt. Rainier on August 17, 1870. Hazard's account of the climb was first published in the Atlantic Monthly in 1876 and later reprinted with an introduction by Edmond S. Meany in 1916. Sluiskin tried to disuade the climbers. "Takhoma” (the Indian name for Mt. Rainier) "was an enchanted moutain, inhabited by an evil spirit, who dwelt in a fiery lake on its summit. No human bein...