b and m as convertible. "Takob" is equivalent to
"Takom" or "T'koma." Far, then, from coining the word, Winthrop did
not even change its Indian form, as some have supposed, by modifying
the mouth-filling "Tahoma" of the Yakimas into the simpler, stronger
and more musical "Tacoma." This is as pure Indian as the other, and
Winthrop's popularization of the word was a public service, as
perpetuating one of the most significant of our Indian place-names.

I have said thus much, not to revive a musty and, to me, very amusing
quarrel, but because correspondents in different parts of the country
have asked regarding facts that are naturally part of the history of
the Mountain. Some would even have me stir the embers of that ancient
controversy. For instance, here is the _Bulletin of the Geographical
Society of Philadelphia_ taking me to task:

This book would also do a great service if it would help
popularize the name "Tacoma" in spite of the Mountain's official
designation "Rainier"--a name to which it has no right when its
old Indian name is at once so beautiful and appropriate. It is to
be regretted that a more vigorous protest has not been made
against the modern name, and also against such propositions as
that of changing "Narada Falls" to "Cushman Falls."

[Illustration: Ice pinnacles on the Carbon.]

The mistaken attempt to displace the name of Narada Falls was
still-born from the start, and needed no help to kill it. There are
many unnamed landmarks {p.108} in the National Park ready to
commemorate Mr. Cushman's ambition to make the Mountain a real
possession of all the people. As to the other matter--the name of the
peak itself,--that may safely be left to the American sense of humor.
But what I have said is due in justice to Winthrop, one of the finest
figures in our literary history. His work in making the peak known
demands that his name, given by local gratitude to one of its
important glaciers, shall not be removed.

[Illustration: Among the ice bridges of the Carbon.]

A word about the industrial value of the Mountain may not be without
interest in this day of electricity. Within a radius of sixty miles of
the head of Puget Sound, more water descends from high levels to the
sea than in any other similar area in the United States. A great part
of this is collected on the largest peak. Hydraulic engineers have
estimated, on investigation, an average annual precipitation, f