[snowshoeman]

Not sure if this has been posted before. Kind of interesting piece of history for those into snowshoeing. The author (Karl Lillquist) and I spent a few winters snowshoeing with Gene Prater back in the mid-80's. https://www.cwu.edu/geography/sites/cts.cwu.edu.geography/files/documents/mountain%20snowshoe%20article%20lillquist.pdf

[Mike Collins]

They might not have been called "mountain snowshoes" at the time but people have been crossing the mountains in snowshoes for a long while. In 1854 Abiel Tinkham crossed the Cascades from Walla Walla to Seattle. In Life of General Isaac I. Stevens his son Hazard Stevens writes "...he [Tinkham] proceeded up the Yakima to its head on horseback, and there leaving his animals, he crossed the mountains on snowshoes, and reached Seattle on January 26, seven days after leaving the base of the divide, and twenty days after leaving Walla Walla." His reason for the foray was to measure the depth of snow at Snoqualmie Pass which was found it to be six feet deep.

[MultiUser]

I had always assumed that Abiel and Tinkham peaks were named after people. I would not have guessed they were first and last names of the same guy.

[Mike Collins]

The lithographs of the USPRR report are beautiful. The link takes you to one of Abiel Tinkham. Isaac Stevens had only high regards for Tinkham. https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/awaiting-the-return-of-mr-tinkham-1856-members-of-the-news-photo/463987297