MT. BAKER SCRAPBOOK

"Mt. Baker — Its Trails and Legends: A Chronology of the Discovery, Exploration, Improvement, Study and Development of the Great Koma Kulshan of the Lummis" is a scrapbook album, composed of materials dated between 1868-1941. It is a large format scrapbook with 261 (19 x 24") pages of hand drawn maps, black & white and hand tinted photographs, watercolor paintings, pen and ink line drawings, illustrations, text and index. The information chronicles early ascents and expeditions, the Mt. Baker Marathon, eruptions, and forest rangers of the district. Illustrations document pristine views, specific outings, wild life, glaciers, ice caves, lakes, trees, and mountains of the area. The scrapbook contains historic, scientific, botanical, geologic and other information about the mountain.

It was compiled by Charles F. Easton, historian of the Mt. Baker Club and his wife Ada Hamilton Easton. In 1916, Charles Easton took this scrapbook to Washington D.C. to lobby for the bill to establish the Mount Baker National Park in the State of Washington. The proposed legislation died of neglect with the advent of United States entry into the First World War. The area continued to be operated as a National Forest under the Department of Agriculture. In 1926, the Mt. Baker Recreation Area was formed. The North Cascades National Park was ultimately established in 1967, with Mt. Baker falling just outside the park's west border. The Mt. Baker Wilderness, containing 117,500 acres, was created in 1984.

The scrapbook consists of photographs by J. A. McCormick, Hann Studio, Hegg, Easton, L. R. Corbett, Asahel Curtis, Sprague Studio, Henry Engberg, J. Wilbur Sandison, Bert W. Huntoon, Beverly Dobbs, William O. Amsden, Boen, F. H. Kiser, Will D. Pratt, Ivanakeff, Babb, Park, Palmer, Burne, Anderson, Sammons, and Clyde Banks. Additionally, there is original cartography by Charles Easton, B. Austin, and H. M. Wellman. Hand lettering by O. A. Hagen, and sketches by Edmund T. Coleman and Charles Easton. Also included are literary works from a variety of early newspapers and magazines written by Edmund T. Coleman, Charles F. Easton, Dr. Charles M. Buchanan, Arthur J. Craven, W. H. Dorr, Bert W. Huntoon, Mrs. John Gwyther, J. Francis Drake, Will D. Pratt and Ella Higginson with quotations from John Muir.

The scrapbook was a very early donation to the Whatcom Museum, donated in 1946, by the Mt. Baker Mountaineer Club.

Mt. Baker Scrapbook Index