[p.354]
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Mount St. Helen's is still active, though it has ceased to emit lava; its flow of this material was, however, apparently much later than that of its fellow, for one very extensive field, evidently proceeding from it, was seen, as clear and sharp in its fractures as if but just cooled. Smoke and steam are seen frequently to arise from near its summit, and considerable eruptions of ashes have occurred as late as 1842 and 1843. Fremont mentions that in November of the latter year "two of the great snowy cones, Mount Rainier and St. Helen's, were in action. On the 23d of the preceding November, St. Helen's had scattered its ashes like a light fall of snow over the dalles of the Columbia, fifty miles distant." Other travellers put the dates at 1841 and 1843. Fremont is, however, in error concerning Mount Rainier. It was Mount Baker that was then in action.
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[p.357-358]
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Mount Baker, the next most prominent peak, and the northernmost in Washington Territory, is fully twenty-five miles to the west of the water-shed of the Cascade range, upon a spur or offset, and about in line with some other peaks to the southward, as Pitt Mountain and Mount Shaste. Its height is given by the United States Coast Survey approximately at 10,800 feet. It appears from the westward as a conical peak, less simple in form than any of the others.
From Frazer River, above Fort Langley, and also from the Skagit, it is seen to be truncated, or rather roof-shaped. It would seem to have only recently resumed its activity; as I am informed, both on the authority of officers of the Hudson's Bay Company, and also of Indians, that the eruption of 1843 was the first known. It broke out simultaneously with St. Helen's, and covered the whole country with ashes.
The natives told Mr. Yale, chief trader at Fort Langley, that the Skagit River was obstructed in its course, and all the fish died. This was, in substance, what they assured me on my visit to the river, adding that the country was on fire for miles round.
The fish, undoubtedly, were destroyed by the quantity of cinders and ashes brought down by the Hukullum. Since the above date, smoke is frequently seen issuing from the mountain.
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