Drive up to Mount Rainier (ca. 1920)

Folks have been driving up to Mount Rainier since there were wheels to get the up there.

If you’ve been up to Paradise, you’ll see breathtaking views of the mountain and fields of wildflowers. It wasn’t always so beautiful up there, in fact it sounds like it was a three-ring circus up there in the 1920s and 30s.

Here’s a quote from The Big Fact Book About Mount Rainier.

“In 1923, the laundry and ice cream plant moved from Longmire to Paradise. In 1927, the Rainier Park Boat Company had a boat rental concession and general store at Reflection Lakes. By 1931, 275 cabins and golf course cover the present flower fields at Paradise. There was also a tent city, and snowshoe rental facility, the guide house, photo shop, a horse rental corral and barn, and the “Tatoosh Club” In the summer thers were also boys camps.”

Photo courtesy of Pat Van Eaton.

Click on image to enlarge.