Common in the small lakes near the foot of Pinnacle Peak.
=LYCOPODIACEAE.= (Club-moss Family.)
=Lycopodium annotinum= Linnaeus.
A large patch of this handsome species occurs at the point where the trail first crosses Paradise River above Longmire Springs.
=Lycopodium sitchense= Ruprecht.
Common on the meadows at 4,000 feet elevation.
=EQUISETACEAE.= (Horsetail Family.)
=Equisetum limosum= Linnaeus.
This species occurs in the bog on top of the ridge above the foot of Nisqually Glacier. The old trail to the park led through this bog.
=Equisetum arvense= Linnaeus.
Sterile fronds of this plant were observed at Longmire Springs.
=Equisetum robustum= A. Braun.
Common in damp places up to 3,000 feet elevation. Readily eaten by cayuses.
=POLYPODIACEAE.= (Fern Family.)
=Polypodium hesperium= Maxon.
Not rare in rock crevices on the cliffs overlooking the lakes at the foot of Pinnacle Peak.
=Phegopteris dryopteris= (Linnaeus) Fee.
The pretty "oak-fern" is abundant along the trail above Longmire"s, in deep woods.
=Phegopteris alpestris= (Hoppe) Mettenius.
Forming crown-like tufts in the talus at the foot of cliffs in Paradise Park.
=Dryopteris spinulosa dilatata= (Hoffman) Underwood.
The common wood-fern is frequent in the forests at 3,000 feet alt.i.tude.
=Polystichum lonchitis= (Linnaeus) Roth.
Specimens of this species are in my possession from Mount Rainier, but the exact place of collection has pa.s.sed my recollection. Presumably it was found in or near Paradise Park.
=Filix fragilis= (Linnaeus) Underwood.
Diminutive specimens of this fern were collected on the cliffs at 8,000 feet alt.i.tude. Rev. E. C. Smith found much finer examples at a lower elevation.
=Cryptogramma acrostichoides= R. Brown.
Common in the coa.r.s.e gravel on the bars of the Nisqually, occurring even at the foot of the glacier.
=OPHIOGLOSSACEAE.= (Adder"s Tongue Family.)
=Botrychium lunaria= (Linnaeus) Swartz.
Specimens were collected by Rev. E. C. Smith on the north side of the mountain in 1888.
=Botrychium lanceolatum= (S. G. Gmelin) Angstroem.
Longmire Springs, Allen, not otherwise known on the Pacific Coast.
FOOTNOTES:
[27] Am. Jour. Sci., 3d series, Vol. XXVI, 1883, pp. 222-235.
[28] Neues Jahrbuch fur Min., etc., Vol. I, 1885, pp. 222-226.
[29] Observed by Iddings: Twelfth Ann. Rept. U. S. Geol. Survey, p.
612.
[30] Hague and Iddings: Twelfth Ann. Rept. U. S. Geol. Survey, p. 225.
[31] Oebbeke, _op. cit._, p. 226.
[32] Jour. Geol., Vol. IV, 1896, p. 276.
[33] Emmons, Bull. Am. Geog. Soc., 1877, No. 4, p. 45.
XVII. CREATION OF MOUNT RAINIER NATIONAL PARK
MEMORIAL BY SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES
A surprisingly wide interest was awakened by the proposal to create a national park to include the great ma.s.s of Mount Rainier and its immediate surroundings. Five societies appointed committees to cooperate in securing the needed legislation from Congress. Those committees prepared a memorial. The Senate Miscellaneous Doc.u.ment, number 247, Fifty-third Congress, second session, shows that the memorial was introduced on July 16, 1894, by Senator Watson C. Squire from the State of Washington. The memorial was deemed of sufficient importance to be republished in the Eighteenth Annual Report of the United States Geological Survey for 1896-1897. It is here reproduced from that publication.
With all the interest thus manifested, it required nearly five years from the introduction of the memorial to witness the achievement of its purpose. The act of Congress creating the Mount Rainier National Park bears the date of March 2, 1899.