Naches Pass
It was Wilkes' great desire to be the first man to ascend "these mountains," in order "to get a view of their terminal craters." He says, "The absence of the 'Peacock', however, (note: the Peacock was destroyed at the mouth of the Columbia) and the great amount of work necessarily devolving on the rest of the squadron made it impossible for me to undertake this additional labor." The Wilkes expedition did make the first recorded trip over Naches Pass, following an Indian trail around the northern flank of Mount Rainier. This was done by Lieutenant Robert E. Johnson in command of a contingent of six members of the expedition. They were allowed eighty days for the trip across the mountains to Fort Colville, Fort Okanogan, and other posts east of the mountains, but they did it in less time, "leaving Nisqually on May 19, and returning on July 15, a total of fifty-seven days." (Meany, 1909, 76).
