[marionthegoat]

( I posted this info on SummitPost some time ago, I'm posting here in hopes someone has an update ) While on summit of Chikamin in 1990, I found a triangular tablet-like slab of stone about 11 inches on a side. It is inscribed with the letters U.S.G.S and 4 names. It was pretty old and weathered, but still readable. It was just lying among the other shattered rocks on the summit. I snapped a photo of it, but darned if I can find it now. Beckey refers to 'evidence of a USGS ascent prior to 1902'. (A NormanClyde responded to my post with this : ) Climbers with interest in Northwest history may want to take a side trip southerly from the Chikamin summit. At the saddle between Chikamin Peak and the Four Brothers, a large boulder is faintly inscribed with the words "R. Denny/L. Lindsley/USA/1899". The two persons named are Rolland Herschel Denny and Lawrence Denny Lindsley. Both were members of the Denny family who in 1899 were working on the Esther Mine, owned by David Denny, in 1899. The Esther Mine was (is) located in Ptarmigan Park, an alpine meadow at the head of Gold Creek, a short distance beneath where the PCT crosses Chikamin Peak today. Lindsley, who would have been 21 years old in 1899, went on to be a successful wilderness and landscape photographer. His photographic negatives reside at the University of Washington Special Collections, where as of late 2005 they are being catalogued. Negative #3249, dated 1902, shows the summit cairn on Chikamin. The USGS rock, which is just as marionthegoat describes, is clearly visible. A similar sized rock can be seen with Lindsley's name inscribed on it. This photograph documents that Lindsley climbed Chikamin in 1902, and also that members of the USGS also climbed the mountain before him. Persons reaching the summit of Chikamin are encouraged to look for both inscribed rocks. My hope is that nobody has kicked these historic relics off the summit or buried them in the summit cairn. The USGS one was lying a couple feet north of the place the register is normally stashed. Anyone seen them ?

[Magellan]

Here is some talk from now going back a few years

[marionthegoat]

Wow, thanks Magellan. Somehow I missed that thread in my initial poking around. Perhaps this one should be moved over there? I suspect I am the 'she' SummitPost member mentioned in the other thread ( though I think I am a 'he'. Was Marion Berry female ?) I could find no other mention of this stuff on SummitPost than the discussion I posted.

[Dayhike Mike]

The rock is huge and is nowhere near the summit. No chance of it getting buried or misplaced.

[Tom]

I assume he's referring to the summit cairn which is a different rock? I don't remember seeing it atop Chikamin. The only picture I can find at the UW Digital Collections is the one lopper posted in the other thread. I assume the summit cairn photo (negative #3249 referred to above) is still being cataloged.

[Dayhike Mike]

OH. Reading the original post a little more slowly made that more obvious. Heh.