A revered landscape traversed and lived upon by the Cowlitz, Muckleshoot, Nisqually, Puyallup, Squaxin Island, Yakama, and Coast Salish peoples, this iconic, glaciated mountain set upon that landscape goes by, and has gone by, many different names: Tahoma, Takhoma, Tacoma, Ta-co-bet, Taqo ma, Tkobed, Taqo bid, Tkomen, Nutselip, Pshwawanoapami-tahoma.
"The Mountain" has beckoned many people, each calling it by a different name, Mount Rainier National Park / Rebecca Latson
It wasn’t until 1792 that one Captain George Vancouver, while surveying the Pacific Coast, chose to name this volcano after his friend Rear Admiral Peter Rainier (who never saw the mountain named after him). Long before that particular mountain sighting and name bestowal, tribal peoples lived around and beneath “The Mountain,” fishing, hunting, harvesting berries and plants for food and medicines, and collecting cedar bark for implements both wearable (hats) and utilitarian (baskets).
Archaeological evidence points to tribal life within sight of this peak 15,000–10,000 years ago, when ice and snow blanketed the mountain. Some 4,000 years ago, people began hunting and gathering within what are now park boundaries.
The park’s first archaeological site was discovered in 1963: a rock shelter with artifacts dating back 1,200 years. A 2015 archaeology project found evidence of people living and traveling around what is now the Ohanapecosh area long before even the rock shelter inhabitants. Since then, archaeologists have discovered some 35 sites representing not only early tribal habitation, but also late 19th to early 20th century activities such as mining, recreation, and early park development.
“The Mountain” has long beckoned humans to attempt a summit reach. People have made climbing “The Mountain” their goal since the first recorded non-native ascent by P.B. Van Trump and General Hazard Stevens in 1870, after being led to a basecamp near Paradise by a native guide known as Sluiskin. In a way, climbing led to the area’s development and tourism. James Longmire, in 1883, discovered a mineral spring on his way down from summiting Mount Rainier, leading to Longmire’s opening of a hotel and spa. “Taking the waters” sounded like a profitable venture.
A once-developed mineral spring along Trail of Shadows near the Longmire Historic District, Mount Rainier National Park / Rebecca Latson
Between 1893 and 1897, mining and logging interests sought to lay claim to portions of the land, which were otherwise unsuitable for agriculture and grazing. The growth of Seattle and Tacoma spurred those disparate entities of scientists, mountaineers, conservation groups, local businesses, and large railroad companies to view tourism as a way of protecting the mountainous environment while turning a profit. As such, Mount Rainier National Park was established in 1899, as the United States’ fifth national park.
After creation of the National Park Service in 1916, the popular “National Park Service Rustic” (“Parkitecture”) architectural style took off and can be seen today in the buildings of the Longmire Historic District, constructed of local stone and wood to blend in with the natural surroundings.
The original National Park Inn, circa 1906, Mount Rainier National Park / NPS archives
Speaking of buildings, increased tourism meant even more infrastructure, and Mount Rainier National Park accommodated the upsurge with the National Park Inn, opening in 1906, and its Annex in 1917.
Paradise Inn opened in 1917, with a main lodge and tent cabins, later replaced by cabins with wood roofs.
Paradise Inn and tent cabins, circa 1917, Mount Rainier National Park / NPS archives
Visitor cabins at Paraise circa 1932-1940, Mount Rainier National Park / NPS archives
Development of the Sunrise area led to a day lodge and cabins constructed in the 1930s. Today, all that exists of these lodgings are the National Park Inn’s Annex - now the Inn’s main building, the Paradise Inn main building (with an Annex built in 1920), and the Sunrise day lodge.
Sunrise day lodge and cabins circa 1930s, Mount Rainier National Park / NPS archives
The Great Depression and World War II (1931 – 1945) saw a decrease in tourism and a shift toward using the park as training grounds for the army’s 10th Mountain Division from 1941-1943, the only unit of its kind.
The 10th Mountain Division up at Paradise, Mount Rainier National Park / NPS archives
Around the same time (1933-1940), President Roosevelt’s Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) built camps at Tahoma Creek, Narada Falls, Ipsut Creek, St. Andrews Creek, White River, Ohanapecosh, and Sunshine Point, with as many as two hundred men in each camp company. Altogether, these relief camps held as many as a thousand men during the early to mid-1930s. They built new and maintained existing infrastructure including parts of the Wonderland Trail and Ohanapecosh Campground.
African American CCC workers at Ohanapecosh, Mount Rainier National Park / NPS archives
According to park staff:
In 1934, a group of African American men from New York came to Mount Rainier where they became an important part of the unfolding history of the CCC at Ohanapecosh. While the law establishing the CCC contained a provision that “no discrimination shall be made on account of race, color or creed", blacks were underrepresented in the program, as were Native Americans, and were often enrolled in separate units. The 1934 CCC camp at Ohanapecosh was unusual as an integrated camp. They joined a diversity of young men at CCC Camp 6 at Ohanapecosh where they lived, worked, and enjoyed their leisure time. They assisted with development of the Ohanapecosh Campground by clearing five acres, constructing twenty stove areas, and laying water line. Four comfort stations constructed by the CCC still operate in the Ohanapecosh Campground today. Some of the men worked in the CCC camp and kitchen. Even though they were used to life in New York, many of these young men expressed regret of leaving the park when their enlistment period was over.
After World War II, during the 1950s, income levels for the general population increased and discretionary income meant people who wanted to travel more to sights around the country could do so.
According to park staff:
During the mid-1950s, the federal government’s Mission 66 project sought to upgrade and expand visitor facilities at national parks while relieving the congestion that accompanied increased day use. Mount Rainier was the first national park to develop a Mission 66 plan as the park exemplified several nationwide trends – greater use of cars, shorter stays, and growing use overall. The program provided money for new park buildings, roads, and trails to ease congestion and spread use around the park.
At Mount Rainier National Park, a good example of Mission 66 is the development of the Ohanapecosh Area as an alternative to the crowded Paradise and Sunrise areas. The Ohanapecosh Visitor Center was completed in 1964 and the campground was greatly expanded with additional loops. Improved employee housing and maintenance facilities were constructed. The east and west sides of the park were finally linked in 1957 when Stevens Canyon Road was completed, 25 years after it was started, connecting Ohanapecosh to Paradise with a new picnic area at Box Canyon. At Paradise, a new road route was constructed, and the old road turned into a one-way scenic loop, the Paradise Valley Road, to better guide the flow of increased traffic in the popular area. A new visitor center was also built at Paradise. Based on Mount Rainier as a prototype, Mission 66 aimed to absorb the impact of larger numbers of visitors without “impairment” to the parks by rearranging the patterns of visitor use.
Mount Rainier National Park history is kept for future generations not only in writing, but in video, as well. The park’s website maintains a Mountain Memories page of short videos featuring Mount Rainier footage from the park's digitized historic film collection.
Mount Rainier has come a long way from the landscape inhabited 4,000 years ago by tribal peoples. Designated as wilderness and a National Historic Landmark District, with 2023 visitation numbers of over 2.5 million, the park seeks ways to mitigate congestion and improve upon visitor experience. In 2024 park staff implemented a timed-entry reservation pilot program. Currently, the park is soliciting feedback from the public on how they feel the program worked.
Nisqually Entrance arch circa 1923, Mount Rainier National Park / NPS archives
