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94-594: Tahoma is a name for the volcano otherwise known as Mount Rainier . The nearby city of Tacoma, Washington was named for the volcano. Tahoma can also refer to: Tahoma (mountain) Mount Rainier ( / r eɪ ˈ n ɪər / ray- NEER ), also known as Tahoma , is a large active stratovolcano in the Cascade Range of the Pacific Northwest in the United States. The mountain

188-452: A topographic map . However, when the key col is far away, or when one wants to calculate the prominence of many peaks at once, software can apply surface network modeling to a digital elevation model to find exact or approximate key cols. Since topographic maps typically show elevation using contour lines , the exact elevation is typically bounded by an upper and lower contour, and not specified exactly. Prominence calculations may use

282-420: A "closer" peak than the encirclement parent (if there is one), which is still "better" than the peak in question. The differences lie in what criteria are used to define "closer" and "better." The (prominence) parent peak of peak A can be found by dividing the island or region in question into territories, by tracing the two hydrographic runoffs, one in each direction, downwards from the key col of every peak that

376-494: A "hierarchy" of peaks going back to the highest point on the island. One such chain in Britain would read: Billinge Hill → Winter Hill → Hail Storm Hill → Boulsworth Hill → Kinder Scout → Cross Fell → Helvellyn → Scafell Pike → Snowdon → Ben Nevis . At each stage in the chain, both height and prominence increase. Line parentage, also called height parentage, is similar to prominence parentage, but it requires

470-527: A distance of 360 m (1200 feet). The key col may also be close to the subject peak or far from it. The key col for Aconcagua, if sea level is disregarded, is the Bering Strait at a distance of 13,655 km (8,485 miles). The key col for the South Summit of Mount Everest is about 100 m (330 feet) distant. A way to visualize prominence is to imagine raising sea level so

564-408: A great deal of information about the peak's position. In general, the analysis of parents and lineages is intimately linked to studying the topology of watersheds . Alteration of the landscape by humans and presence of water features can give rise to issues in the choice of location and height of a summit or col. In Britain, extensive discussion has resulted in a protocol that has been adopted by

658-485: A hierarchy which defines some peaks as subpeaks of others. For example, in Figure ;1, the middle peak is a subpeak of the right peak, which is a subpeak of the left peak, which is the highest point on its landmass. In that example, there is no controversy about the hierarchy; in practice, there are different definitions of parent. These different definitions follow. Also known as prominence island parentage , this

752-418: A highest submerged col of about 40 m, or only 8888 m below the peak of Everest. As a result, Mauna Kea's prominence might be subjectively more impressive than Everest's, and some authorities have called it the tallest mountain from peak to underwater base. Dry prominence is also useful for measuring submerged seamounts . Seamounts have a dry topographic prominence, a topographic isolation , and

846-403: A major debris avalanche and the resulting Osceola Mudflow approximately 5,000 years ago. In the past, Rainier has had large debris avalanches, and has also produced enormous lahars ( volcanic mudflows ), due to the large amount of glacial ice present. Its lahars have reached all the way to Puget Sound , a distance of more than 30 mi (48 km). Around 5,000 years ago, a large chunk of

940-579: A mudflow might also reach down the Duwamish estuary and destroy parts of downtown Seattle , and cause tsunamis in Puget Sound and Lake Washington . Rainier is also capable of producing pyroclastic flows and expelling lava. A 2012 Washington State Department of Natural Resources estimate showed that a significant lahar could cause up to $ 40 billion in damage downriver. According to Kevin Scott,

1034-409: A prominence cutoff criterion. The height parent is the closest peak to peak A (along all ridges connected to A) that has a greater height than A, and satisfies some prominence criteria. The disadvantage of this concept is that it goes against the intuition that a parent peak should always be more significant than its child. However it can be used to build an entire lineage for a peak which contains

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1128-437: A prominence-ranked list is that it needs no cutoff since a peak with high prominence is automatically an independent peak. It is common to define a peak's parent as a particular peak in the higher terrain connected to the peak by the key col. If there are many higher peaks there are various ways of defining which one is the parent, not necessarily based on geological or geomorphological factors. The "parent" relationship defines

1222-784: A result of high snowfalls during the 1960s and 1970s. Since the early-1980s, however, many glaciers have been thinning and retreating and some advances have slowed. In a study using data from 2021, National Park Service scientists removed Stevens Glacier from its inventory of Mount Rainier glaciers due to its dwindling size and lack of evidence that it was moving. Using satellite data in 2022, researchers at Nichols College determined that both Pyramid and Van Trump glaciers had also ceased to exist with only fragments of ice remaining. A significant decline had been noted between 2015 and 2022. The glaciers on Mount Rainier can generate mudflows through glacial outburst floods not associated with an eruption. The South Tahoma Glacier generated 30 floods in

1316-523: A scientist with the USGS: A home built in any of the probabilistically defined inundation areas on the new maps is more likely to be damaged or destroyed by a lahar than by fire... For example, a home built in an area that would be inundated every 100 years, on the average, is 27 times more likely to be damaged or destroyed by a flow than by fire. People know the danger of fire, so they buy fire insurance and they have smoke alarms, but most people are not aware of

1410-429: A spa and hotel, drawing other visitors to the area to seek the benefits of the spring. Later, the headquarters of the national park would be established at Longmire, until flooding caused them to be relocated to Ashford. The area also became the site of features like a museum, a post office, and a gas station, with additions like a library and a gift shop soon following; many of these buildings were ultimately nominated to

1504-484: Is Aconcagua (6,960 m), in Argentina , and its prominence is 6,138 m. (To further illustrate the rising-sea model of prominence, if sea level rose 56 m, North and South America would be separate continents and Denali would be 6138 m, its current prominence, above sea level. At a slightly lower level, the continents would still be connected and the high point of the combined landmass would be Aconcagua,

1598-583: Is a peak known as Little Tahoma Peak , 11,138 ft (3,395 m), an eroded remnant of the earlier, much higher, Mount Rainier. It has a prominence of 858 ft (262 m), and it is almost never climbed in direct conjunction with Columbia Crest, so it is usually considered a separate peak. If considered separately from Mount Rainier, Little Tahoma Peak would be the third highest mountain peak in Washington. The National Park Service and United States Geological Survey cite Mount Rainier's elevation at

1692-452: Is a sub-summit of the main summit (which has a height and prominence of 8,848 m). Many lists of mountains use topographic prominence as a criterion for inclusion in the list, or cutoff . John and Anne Nuttall's The Mountains of England and Wales uses a cutoff of 15 m (about 50 ft), and Alan Dawson's list of Marilyns uses 150 m (about 500 ft). (Dawson's list and the term "Marilyn" are limited to Britain and Ireland). In

1786-443: Is becoming preferred. There are two varieties of topographic prominence: wet prominence and dry prominence. Wet prominence is the standard topographic prominence discussed in this article. Wet prominence assumes that the surface of the earth includes all permanent water, snow, and ice features. Thus, the wet prominence of the highest summit of an ocean island or landmass is always equal to the summit's elevation. Dry prominence, on

1880-406: Is defined as follows. In Figure 2 the key col of peak A is at the meeting place of two closed contours, one encircling A (and no higher peaks) and the other containing at least one higher peak. The encirclement parent of A is the highest peak that is inside this other contour. In terms of the falling-sea model, the two contours together bound an "island", with two pieces connected by an isthmus at

1974-404: Is equal to its wet prominence (4205 m) plus the depth of its highest submerged col (about 5125 m). Totaling 9330 m, this is greater than any mountain apart from Everest. The dry prominence of Aconcagua is equal to its wet prominence (6960 m) plus the depth of the highest submerged col of the Bering Strait (about 40 m), or about 7000 m. It is worth noting Mauna Kea

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2068-560: Is equal to its wet prominence plus the depth of its highest submerged col. Because Earth has no higher summit than Mount Everest , Everest's prominence is either undefined or its height from the lowest contour line. In a dry Earth, the lowest contour line would be the deepest hydrologic feature, the Challenger Deep , at 10,924 m depth. Everest's dry prominence would be this depth plus Everest's wet prominence of 8848 m, totaling 19,772 m. The dry prominence of Mauna Kea

2162-662: Is located in Mount Rainier National Park about 59 miles (95 km) south-southeast of Seattle . With an officially recognized summit elevation of 14,410 ft (4,392 m) at the Columbia Crest, it is the highest mountain in the U.S. state of Washington , the most topographically prominent mountain in the contiguous United States , and the tallest in the Cascade Volcanic Arc . Due to its high probability of an eruption in

2256-406: Is more prominent than peak A. The parent is the peak whose territory peak A is in. For hills with low prominence in Britain, a definition of "parent Marilyn " is sometimes used to classify low hills ("Marilyn" being a British term for a hill with a prominence of at least 150 m). This is found by dividing the region of Britain in question into territories, one for each Marilyn . The parent Marilyn

2350-457: Is not used because there is no obvious choice of cutoff. This choice of method might at first seem arbitrary, but it provides every hill with a clear and unambiguous parent peak that is taller and more prominent than the hill itself, while also being connected to it (via ridge lines). The parent of a low hill will also usually be nearby; this becomes less likely as the hill's height and prominence increase. Using prominence parentage, one may produce

2444-590: Is relatively close to its submerged key col in the Pacific Ocean, and the corresponding contour line that surrounds Mauna Kea is a relatively compact area of the ocean floor. Whereas a contour line around Everest that is lower than 9330m from Everest's peak would surround most of the major continents of the Earth. Even just surrounding Afro-Eurasia would run a contour line through the Bering Straight, with

2538-546: Is that the prominence is the height of the peak's summit above the lowest contour line encircling it, but containing no higher summit within it; see Figure 1. The parent peak may be either close or far from the subject peak. The summit of Mount Everest is the parent peak of Aconcagua in Argentina at a distance of 17,755 km (11,032 miles), as well as the parent of the South Summit of Mount Everest at

2632-694: Is the Marilyn whose territory the hill's summit is in. If the hill is on an island (in Britain) whose highest point is less than 150 m, it has no parent Marilyn. Prominence parentage is the only definition used in the British Isles because encirclement parentage breaks down when the key col approaches sea level. Using the encirclement definition, the parent of almost any small hill in a low-lying coastal area would be Ben Nevis , an unhelpful and confusing outcome. Meanwhile, "height" parentage (see below)

2726-567: Is the most heavily glaciated peak in the lower 48 states. The summit is topped by two volcanic craters , each more than 1,000 ft (300 m) in diameter, with the larger east crater overlapping the west crater. Geothermal heat from the volcano keeps areas of both crater rims free of snow and ice, and has formed the world's largest volcanic glacier cave network within the ice-filled craters, with nearly 2 mi (3.2 km) of passages. A small crater lake about 130 by 30 ft (39.6 by 9.1 m) in size and 16 ft (5 m) deep,

2820-488: The Lily Formation (about 2.9 million to 840,000 years ago). The early deposits formed a "proto-Rainier" or an ancestral cone prior to the present-day cone. The present cone is more than 500,000 years old. The volcano is highly eroded, with glaciers on its slopes, and appears to be made mostly of andesite . Rainier likely once stood even higher than today at about 16,000 ft (4,900 m) before

2914-659: The Pacific Ocean . The 1846 Oregon Treaty between the United States and United Kingdom set new borders between British and American territory along today's approximate borders . In 1853, the land between the Columbia river and the border with British Canada was organized into the Washington Territory , which was the administrative status of the region at the time of the first successful ascent of Mount Rainier. In 1833, William Fraser Tolmie explored

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3008-513: The Puyallup , Sumner–Bonney Lake , Orting , White River , and Carbonado School Districts. During the exercise, emergency operations centers in the cities of Puyallup , Bonney Lake , and Buckley were activated to help the movement of school students and staff. Typically, up to five earthquakes are recorded monthly near the summit. Swarms of five to ten shallow earthquakes over two or three days take place from time to time, predominantly in

3102-644: The Strait of Juan de Fuca . Upon reaching what would become California in 1579, Sir Francis Drake claimed the entire northwest coast of North America for England . This claim to the coast of the Pacific Northwest was not further explored until in 1778 Captain James Cook sailed the coastline of modern-day Washington and British Columbia, stimulating a subsequent increase in English ships coming to

3196-557: The United States Geological Survey (USGS), about 150,000 people live on top of old lahar deposits of Rainier. Not only is there much ice atop the volcano, the volcano is also slowly being weakened by hydrothermal activity. According to Geoff Clayton, a geologist with a Washington State Geology firm, RH2 Engineering, a repeat of the 5000-year-old Osceola Mudflow would destroy Enumclaw , Orting , Kent , Auburn , Puyallup , Sumner and all of Renton . Such

3290-464: The United States Geological Survey 's 2008 report, "about 80,000 people and their homes are at risk in Mount Rainier's lahar-hazard zones." Between 1950 and 2018, 439,460 people climbed Mount Rainier. Approximately 84 people died in mountaineering accidents on Mount Rainier from 1947 to 2018. The many Indigenous peoples who have lived near Mount Rainier for millennia have many names for

3384-469: The 1980s and early 1990s, and again in August 2015. For thousands of years, the area surrounding Mount Rainier has been inhabited by several Indigenous peoples , who traditionally hunted and gathered animals and plants in Mount Rainier's forests and high elevation meadows. These peoples and their modern-day descendants are represented today by the members of the federally-recognized tribes which surround

3478-415: The 29 named glacial features cover about 30.41 square miles (78.8 km ) of the mountain's surface in 2015 and have an estimated volume of about 0.69 cubic miles (2.9 km ). Glaciers flow under the influence of gravity by the combined action of sliding over the rock on which they lie and by deformation , the gradual displacement between and within individual ice crystals. Maximum speeds occur near

3572-635: The Columbia Crest as 14,410 ft (4,392 m). This value was taken in 1956, but was added to the National Geodetic Vertical Datum of 1929 . Another commonly accepted measurement of the mountain is 14,411 ft (4,392 m) which comes from the National Geodetic Vertical Datum of 1988 . Mount Rainier is a stratovolcano in the Cascade Volcanic Arc that consists of lava flows , debris flows , and pyroclastic ejecta and flows. Its early volcanic deposits are estimated at more than 840,000 years old and are part of

3666-545: The Frying Pan and Emmons glaciers on the east flank and the small near-peak snowfields; the greatest volume loss was concentrated from ~1750 m (north) to ~2250 m (south) elevation. The largest single volume loss is from the Carbon Glacier, although it is to the north, due to its huge area at <2000 m elevation. The Carbon , Cowlitz , Emmons, and Nisqually Glaciers advanced during the late 1970s and early 1980s as

3760-733: The Little Ice Age, the Nisqually Glacier advanced to a position 650 to 800 ft (200 to 240 m) downvalley from the site of the Glacier Bridge , Tahoma and South Tahoma Glaciers merged at the base of Glacier Island, and the terminus of Emmons Glacier reached within 1.2 mi (1.9 km) of the White River Campground. Retreat of the Little Ice Age glaciers was slow until about 1920 when retreat became more rapid. The Williwakas Glacier

3854-538: The Puyallup River, which discharges into Commencement Bay at Tacoma . The Nisqually empties into Puget Sound east of Lacey . The Cowlitz joins the Columbia River between Kelso and Longview . The broad top of Mount Rainier contains three named summits. The highest of these named summits is known as the Columbia Crest. The second highest summit is Point Success, 14,158 ft (4,315 m), at

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3948-701: The Saddle . For a time, both names were used interchangeably, although residents of the nearby city of Tacoma preferred Mount Tacoma. In 1890, the United States Board on Geographic Names declared that the mountain would be known as Rainier. Following this in 1897, the Pacific Forest Reserve became the Mount Rainier Forest Reserve , and the national park was established three years later. Despite this, there

4042-669: The United States. In 1824, Russia ceded all land claims south of parallel 54°40′ north to the United States as part of the Russo-American Treaty . In 1818, the United States and the United Kingdom signed a treaty, agreeing upon the joint settlement and occupation of the Oregon country which consisted of the territory north of 42°N latitude , south of 54°40′N latitude , and west of the Rocky Mountains to

4136-644: The area as part of the fur trade . On July 22, 1793, Sir Alexander Mackenzie of the British Northwest Fur Company reached the Pacific Ocean via overland route that crossed the Rocky Mountains. The first American, John Ledyard , reached the region aboard Captain Cook's ship in 1778. By 1787, six Americans from Boston formed a company which began trading along the northwest coast. The Lewis and Clark overland expedition reached

4230-417: The area looking for medicinal plants. Hazard Stevens and P. B. Van Trump received a hero's welcome in the streets of Olympia after their successful summit climb in 1870 . The first female ascent was made in 1890 by Fay Fuller , accompanied by Van Trump and three other teammates. Descending from the summit in 1883, James Longmire discovered a mineral spring; this ultimately led to his establishment of

4324-464: The area now within the boundaries of Mount Rainier National Park and extended to the perimeter of the present Puget Sound Basin. Between the 14th century and 1850, many of the glaciers on Mount Rainier advanced to their farthest extent downvalley since the last ice age. Many advances of this sort occurred worldwide during this time period known to geologists as the Little Ice Age . During

4418-658: The banded appearance of a classic podzol but the E horizon is darker than usual. Under meadows a thick dark A horizon usually forms the topsoil. The most recent recorded volcanic activity was between 1820 and 1854, but many eyewitnesses reported eruptive activity in 1858, 1870, 1879, 1882, and 1894 as well. Additionally, the Smithsonian Institution's volcanism project records the last volcanic eruption as 1450 CE. Seismic monitors have been placed in Mount Rainier National Park and on

4512-456: The border gather research of the past eruptions of each in order to predict how mountains in this arc will behave and what they are capable of in the future, including Mount Rainier. Of these, two have erupted since the beginning of the twentieth century: Lassen in 1915 and St. Helens in 1980 and 2004. However, past eruptions in this volcanic arc have multiple examples of sub-plinian eruptions or higher: Crater Lake's last eruption as Mount Mazama

4606-408: The child peak. For example, one common use of the concept of parent is to make clear the location of a peak. If we say that Peak A has Mont Blanc for a parent, we would expect to find Peak A somewhere close to Mont Blanc. This is not always the case for the various concepts of parent, and is least likely to be the case for encirclement parentage. Figure 3 shows a schematic range of peaks with

4700-410: The color underlying the minor peaks indicating the encirclement parent. In this case the encirclement parent of M is H whereas an intuitive view might be that L was the parent. Indeed, if col "k" were slightly lower, L would be the true encirclement parent. The encirclement parent is the highest possible parent for a peak; all other definitions indicate a (possibly different) peak on the combined island,

4794-400: The contiguous United States, the famous list of " fourteeners " (14,000 foot / 4268 m peaks) uses a cutoff of 300 ft / 91 m (with some exceptions). Also in the U.S., 2000 ft (610 m) of prominence has become an informal threshold that signifies that a peak has major stature. Lists with a high topographic prominence cutoff tend to favor isolated peaks or those that are

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4888-472: The direction of Juan Francisco de la Bodega y Quadra , a boat was sent ashore to Destruction island . Upon landing, the crew was attacked and killed by the local indigenous population. Although attempts were made in 1792 to create a permanent Spanish settlement at Neah Bay , the project was unsuccessful and by 1795, Spain had given up on the region. Although not documented anywhere, it is likely that Spanish sailors first observed Mount Rainier while sailing in

4982-488: The disadvantage in using the encirclement parent. A hill in a low-lying area like the Netherlands will often be a direct child of Mount Everest , with its prominence about the same as its height and its key col placed at or near the foot of the hill, well below, for instance, the 113-meter-high key col of Mont Blanc . When the key col for a peak is close to the peak itself, prominence is easily computed by hand using

5076-663: The eastern rim of the Pacific Ring of Fire . This includes mountains and calderas like Mount Shasta and Lassen Peak in California, Crater Lake , Three Sisters , and Mount Hood in Oregon, Mount St. Helens , Mount Adams , Glacier Peak , and Mount Baker in Washington, and Mount Cayley , Mount Garibaldi , Silverthrone Caldera , and Mount Meager in British Columbia . Many of the above are dormant, but could return to activity, and scientists on both sides of

5170-411: The effect would be cumulatively greater, because of the far more massive amounts of glacial ice locked on the volcano compared to Mount St. Helens, the vastly more heavily populated areas surrounding Rainier, and the fact that Mount Rainier is almost twice the size of St. Helens. Lahars from Rainier pose the most risk to life and property, as many communities lie atop older lahar deposits. According to

5264-475: The encirclement parent.) While it is natural for Aconcagua to be the parent of Denali, since Denali is a major peak, consider the following situation: Peak A is a small hill on the coast of Alaska, with elevation 100 m and key col 50 m. Then the encirclement parent of Peak A is also Aconcagua, even though there will be many peaks closer to Peak A which are much higher and more prominent than Peak A (for example, Denali). This illustrates

5358-455: The federal government for lahar protection in the area has dried up, leading local authorities in at-risk cities like Orting to fear a disaster similar to the Armero tragedy . To prevent against such tragedies, authorities downriver from Rainier have conducted annual large-scale evacuation exercises in cooperation with local school districts. The 2024 drill included 45,000 students and staff from

5452-476: The following manner: for every path connecting the peak to higher terrain, find the lowest point on the path; the key col (or highest saddle , or linking col , or link ) is defined as the highest of these points, along all connecting paths; the prominence is the difference between the elevation of the peak and the elevation of its key col. On a given landmass, the highest peak's prominence will be identical to its elevation. An alternative equivalent definition

5546-492: The high contour (giving in a pessimistic estimate ), the low contour (giving an optimistic estimate), their mean (giving a "midrange" or "rise" prominence ) or an interpolated value (customary in Britain). The choice of method depends largely on the preference of the author and historical precedent. Pessimistic prominence, (and sometimes optimistic prominence) were for many years used in USA and international lists, but mean prominence

5640-597: The highest in North America with a surface elevation of 14,203 ft (4,329 m), occupies the lowest portion of the west crater below more than 100 ft (30 m) of ice and is accessible only via the caves. The Carbon , Cowlitz , Nisqually , Puyallup River , and North Mowich Rivers begin at eponymous glaciers of Mount Rainier. The sources of the White River are Winthrop , Emmons , and Fryingpan Glaciers . The White, Carbon, and Mowich join

5734-667: The highest point of their massif ; a low value, such as the Nuttalls', results in a list with many summits that may be viewed by some as insignificant. While the use of prominence as a cutoff to form a list of peaks ranked by elevation is standard and is the most common use of the concept, it is also possible to use prominence as a mountain measure in itself. This generates lists of peaks ranked by prominence , which are qualitatively different from lists ranked by elevation. Such lists tend to emphasize isolated high peaks, such as range or island high points and stratovolcanoes . One advantage of

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5828-424: The highest points around and are likely to have extraordinary views. Only summits with a sufficient degree of prominence are regarded as independent mountains. For example, the world's second-highest mountain is K2 (height 8,611 m, prominence 4,017 m). While Mount Everest 's South Summit (height 8,749 m, prominence 11 m ) is taller than K2, it is not considered an independent mountain because it

5922-503: The key col. The encirclement parent is the highest point on this entire island. For example, the encirclement parent of Mont Blanc , the highest peak in the Alps , is Mount Everest . Mont Blanc's key col is a piece of low ground near Lake Onega in northwestern Russia (at 113 m (371 ft) elevation), on the divide between lands draining into the Baltic and Caspian Seas . This is

6016-456: The largest number of events of any swarm at Rainier since seismic monitoring began over two decades earlier. Further swarms were observed in 2011 and 2021. Glaciers are among the most conspicuous and dynamic geologic features on Mount Rainier. They erode the volcanic cone and are important sources of streamflow for several rivers, including some that provide water for hydroelectric power and irrigation . Together with perennial snow patches,

6110-435: The main sources of prominence data in Britain and Ireland. Other sources of data commonly ignore human-made alterations, but this convention is not universally agreed upon; for example, some authors discount modern structures but allow ancient ones. Another disagreement concerns mountaintop removal , though for high-prominence peaks (and for low-prominence subpeaks with intact summits), the difference in prominence values for

6204-420: The meeting place of two 113 m (371 ft) contours, one of them encircling Mont Blanc; the other contour encircles Mount Everest. This example demonstrates that the encirclement parent can be very far away from the peak in question when the key col is low. This means that, while simple to define, the encirclement parent often does not satisfy the intuitive requirement that the parent peak should be close to

6298-576: The mountain Tax̱úma , which is borrowed from Cowlitz. Another anglicized name is Pooskaus. George Vancouver named Mount Rainier in honor of his friend, Rear Admiral Peter Rainier . The map of the Lewis and Clark expedition of 1804–1806 refers to it as "Mt. Regniere". Although Rainier had been considered the official name of the mountain, Theodore Winthrop referred to the mountain as "Tacoma" in his posthumously published 1862 travel book The Canoe and

6392-460: The mountain in their various languages . Lushootseed speakers have several names for Mount Rainier, including xʷaq̓ʷ and təqʷubəʔ . xʷaq̓ʷ means "sky wiper" or "one who touches the sky" in English. The word təqʷubəʔ means "snow-covered mountain". təqʷubəʔ has been anglicized in many ways, including 'Tacoma' and 'Tacobet'. Cowlitz speakers call the mountain təx̣ʷúma or təqʷúmen . Sahaptin speakers call

6486-401: The mountain itself to monitor activity. An eruption could be deadly for all living in areas within the immediate vicinity of the volcano and effects from an eruption could be noticed from Vancouver, British Columbia to San Francisco , California because of the massive amounts of ash blasting out of the volcano into the atmosphere. Mount Rainier is located in an area that itself is part of

6580-515: The mountain suggest primary use of subalpine meadows and low alpine habitats that provided relatively high resource abundance during the short summer season. Evidence suggests that there existed a tradition of Native Americans setting fire to areas of the region each year as a way to encourage meadow development. The first Europeans to reach the Pacific Northwest were the Spanish who arrived by sea in 1774 led by Juan Perez . The next year, under

6674-1020: The mountain, including the Nisqually Indian Tribe , the Cowlitz Indian Tribe , the Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation , the Puyallup Tribe of Indians , and the Muckleshoot Indian Tribe , among others in the area. The archaeological record of human use of the mountain dates to over 8,500 years before present (BP). Sites related to seasonal use of Mount Rainier and its landscapes are reflected in chipped stone tool remains and settings suggesting functionally varied uses including task-specific sites, rockshelters, travel stops, and long-term base camps. Their distribution on

6768-403: The national historic register of historic places. Longmire remains the second most popular place in the park. In 1924, a publication from the park described the area: "A feature at Longmire Springs of great interest to everyone is the group of mineral springs in the little flat to the west of National Park Inn. There are some forty distinct springs, a half dozen of which are easily reached from

6862-575: The near future and proximity to a major urban area , Mount Rainier is considered one of the most dangerous volcanoes in the world, and it is on the Decade Volcano list. The large amount of glacial ice means that Mount Rainier could produce massive lahars that could threaten the entire Puyallup River valley and other river valleys draining Mount Rainier, including the Carbon , White , Nisqually , and Cowlitz (above Riffe Lake ). According to

6956-401: The new park "for the benefit and enjoyment of the people" and "... for the preservation from injury or spoliation of all timber, mineral deposits, natural curiosities, or wonders within said park, and their retention in their natural condition." On June 24, 1947, Kenneth Arnold reported seeing a formation of nine unidentified flying objects over Mount Rainier. His description led to

7050-604: The northwest coast in 1805 and observed Mount Rainier for the first time in the Spring of 1806. The first documented sighting of Mt. Rainier by a European was by the crew of Captain George Vancouver on May 7, 1792, during the Vancouver Expedition (1790–1795). On May 8, 1792, Vancouver gave the name of Mt. Rainier to the observed peak in homage to Vancouver's friend Rear Admiral Peter Rainier . At

7144-409: The original because it is imperforate . Both stamps and souvenir sheets are widely available. The Washington state quarter , which was released on April 11, 2007, features Mount Rainier and a salmon . Topographic prominence The prominence of a peak is the least drop in height necessary in order to get from the summit to any higher terrain. This can be calculated for a given peak in

7238-402: The other hand, ignores water, snow, and ice features and assumes that the surface of the earth is defined by the solid bottom of those features. The dry prominence of a summit is equal to its wet prominence unless the summit is the highest point of a landmass or island, or its key col is covered by snow or ice. If its highest surface col is on water, snow, or ice, the dry prominence of that summit

7332-479: The outset of the 19th century, the region where Mt. Rainier was located was claimed by Spain, the U.S., Russia, and Great Britain, with most claims being based on instances of early naval exploration of the region's coast. Spain relinquished all remaining claims to the Pacific Northwest that had not already been handed over with the Louisiana Purchase in 1819 with the purchase and cession of Florida by

7426-569: The parent peak and subject peak are two separate islands. Then lower it until a tiny land bridge forms between the two islands. This land bridge is the key col of the subject peak, and the peak's prominence is its elevation from that key col. Prominence is interesting to many mountaineers because it is an objective measurement that is strongly correlated with the subjective significance of a summit. Peaks with low prominence are either subsidiary tops of some higher summit or relatively insignificant independent summits. Peaks with high prominence tend to be

7520-561: The region of 13,000 feet (4 km) below the summit. These earthquakes are thought to be caused by the circulation of hot fluids beneath Mount Rainier. Presumably, hot springs and steam vents within Mount Rainier National Park are generated by such fluids. Seismic swarms (not initiated with a mainshock) are common features at volcanoes, and are rarely associated with eruptive activity. Rainier has had several such swarms; there were days-long swarms in 2002, 2004, and 2007, two of which (2002 and 2004) included M 3.2 earthquakes. A 2009 swarm produced

7614-690: The risks of lahars, and few have applicable flood insurance. The volcanic risk is somewhat mitigated by lahar warning sirens and escape route signs in Pierce County , part of the Mount Rainier Volcano Lahar Warning System , which was implemented by the USGS in 1998, and has been maintained by Pierce County since. The more populous King County is also in the lahar area, but has no zoning restrictions due to volcanic hazard. More recently (since 2001) funding from

7708-419: The road. An analysis of the waters show that they all contain about the smae [sic] mineral salts but in slightly differing proportions. All the water is highly carbonated and would be classed as extremely "hard". Certain springs contain larger amounts of soda, iron and sulphur, giving them a distinct taste and color." John Muir climbed Mount Rainier in 1888, and although he enjoyed the view, he conceded that it

7802-633: The southeastern horizon in most of the Seattle-Tacoma metropolitan area to such an extent that locals sometimes refer to it simply as "the Mountain". On days of exceptional clarity, it can also be seen from as far away as Corvallis, Oregon (at Marys Peak ), and the North Shore Mountains in British Columbia . With 26 major glaciers and 36 sq mi (93 km ) of permanent snowfields and glaciers, Mount Rainier

7896-501: The southern edge of the summit plateau, atop the ridge known as Success Cleaver. It has a topographic prominence of about 138 ft (42 m), so it is not considered a separate peak. The lowest of the three summits is Liberty Cap, 14,112 ft (4,301 m), at the northwestern edge, which overlooks Liberty Ridge, the Sunset Amphitheater, and the dramatic Willis Wall . High on the eastern flank of Mount Rainier

7990-492: The surface and along the centerline of the glacier. During May 1970, Nisqually Glacier was measured moving as fast as 29 inches (74 cm) per day. Flow rates are generally greater in summer than in winter, probably due to the presence of large quantities of meltwater at the glacier base. The size of glaciers on Mount Rainier has fluctuated significantly in the past. For example, during the last ice age , from about 25,000 to about 15,000 years ago, glaciers covered most of

8084-919: The term " flying saucers ". In 1998, the United States Geological Survey began putting together the Mount Rainier Volcano Lahar Warning System to assist in the emergency evacuation of the Puyallup River valley in the event of a catastrophic debris flow. It is now run by the Pierce County Department of Emergency Management. Tacoma, at the mouth of the Puyallup, is only 37 mi (60 km) west of Rainier, and moderately sized towns such as Puyallup and Orting are only 27 and 20 mi (43 and 32 km) away, respectively. Mount Rainier appears on four distinct United States postage stamp issues. In 1934, it

8178-501: The two conventions is typically relatively small. The key col and parent peak are often close to the sub-peak but this is not always the case, especially when the key col is relatively low. It is only with the advent of computer programs and geographical databases that thorough analysis has become possible . For example, the key col of Denali in Alaska (6,194 m) is a 56 m col near Lake Nicaragua . Denali's encirclement parent

8272-472: The volcano slid away and that debris avalanche helped to produce the massive Osceola Mudflow, which went all the way to the site of present-day Tacoma and south Seattle. This massive avalanche of rock and ice removed the top 1,600 ft (500 m) of Rainier, bringing its height down to around 14,100 ft (4,300 m). About 530 to 550 years ago, the Electron Mudflow occurred, although this

8366-654: Was best appreciated from below. Muir was one of many who advocated protecting the mountain. In 1893, the area was set aside as part of the Pacific Forest Reserve in order to protect its physical and economic resources, primarily timber and watersheds . Citing the need to also protect scenery and provide for public enjoyment, railroads and local businesses urged the creation of a national park in hopes of increased tourism. On March 2, 1899, President William McKinley established Mount Rainier National Park as America's fifth national park . Congress dedicated

8460-644: Was large enough to cause its cone to collapse, and Mount Rainier's closest neighbor, Mount St. Helens, produced the largest recorded eruption in the continental United States when it erupted in 1980. Statistics place the likelihood of a major eruption in the Cascade Range at 2–3 per century. Mount Rainier is listed as a Decade Volcano , or one of the 16 volcanoes on Earth with the greatest likelihood of causing loss of life and property if eruptive activity resumes. If Mount Rainier were to erupt as powerfully as Mount St. Helens did in its May 18, 1980 eruption,

8554-533: Was not as large-scale as the Osceola Mudflow. After the major collapse approximately 5,000 years ago, subsequent eruptions of lava and tephra built up the modern summit cone until about as recently as 1,000 years ago. As many as 11 Holocene tephra layers have been found. Soils on Mount Rainier are mostly gravelly ashy sandy loams developed from colluvium or glacial till mixed with volcanic tephra. Under forest cover their profiles usually have

8648-414: Was noted as extinct during the 1930s. Between the height of the Little Ice Age and 1950, Mount Rainier's glaciers lost about one-quarter of their length. Beginning in 1950 and continuing through the early 1980s, however, many of the major glaciers advanced in response to relatively cooler temperatures of the mid-century. The glaciers and snowfields of Mount Rainier also lost volume during this time, except for

8742-438: Was still a movement to change the mountain's name to Tacoma and Congress was still considering a resolution to change the name as late as 1924. Mount Rainier is the tallest mountain in Washington and the Cascade Range. This peak is located southeast of Tacoma, approximately 60 miles (97 km) south-southeast of Seattle. Mount Rainier has a topographic prominence of 13,210 ft (4,026 m). On clear days it dominates

8836-418: Was the 3-cent issue in a series of National Park stamps, and was also shown on a souvenir sheet issued for a philatelic convention. The following year, in 1935, both of these were reprinted by Postmaster General James A. Farley as special issues given to officials and friends. Because of complaints by the public, "Farley's Follies" were reproduced in large numbers. The second stamp issue is easy to tell from

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