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The Cascade Range is a mountainous region famous for its chain of tall volcanos called the High Cascades that run north-south along the west coast of North America from British Columbia to the Shasta Cascade area of northern California. The small part of the range in British Columbia is called the Cascade Mountains.
The Cascades (as they are called for short) are part of the Pacific Ring of Fire, the ring of volcanoes around the Pacific Ocean. All of the known historic eruptions in the contiguous United States have been from Cascade volcanoes. The two most recent were Lassen Peak in 1911 and Mount St. Helens in 1980.
right Mount JeffersonMount Jefferson can refer to: Mount Jefferson (Oregon) Mount Jefferson (Idaho) Mount Jefferson (Maine) Mount Jefferson (Massachusetts) Mount Jefferson (Montana) Mount Jefferson (New Hampshire) Mount Jefferson (New York) Mount Jefferson (North Carolina) Mo in OregonOregon is a state located in the western United States bordering the Pacific Ocean, California, Washington, Idaho, and Nevada. Its northern border lies along the Columbia River and the east along the Snake River. Two north-south mountain ranges the Coasta
Native AmericanNative Americans (also Indians Aboriginal Peoples American Indians First Nations Alaskan Natives or Indigenous Peoples of America are the indigenous inhabitants of Americas prior to the European colonization, and their modern descendants. This term compris have inhabited the area for thousands of years and developed their own mythMythology For the computer game, see Myth (computer game). A myth is often thought to be a lesson in story form which has deep explanatory or symbolic resonance for preliterate cultures, who preserve and cherish the wisdom of their elders through oral tras and legendA legend (Latin, legenda "things to be read") is a narrative of human actions that are perceived both by teller and listeners to take place within human history and to possess certain qualities that give the tale verisimilitude. Legend, for its active ands concerning the Cascades. According to some of these tales, Mounts BakerFor the Ruwenzori summit, see Mount Baker (Ruwenzoris)., JeffersonFor other mountains named Mount Jefferson, see Mount Jefferson Mount Jefferson is a possibly extinct stratovolcano in the Cascade Range and is the second-highest mountain in Oregon. Jefferson is in a rugged wilderness and is thus one of the hardest volcan, and ShastaMount Shasta a 14,179 ft (4,322 m) stratovolcano, is the second highest peak in the Cascade Range and the second highest point in California (after Mount Whitney). The mountain stands 10,000 ft (3,000 m) above the surrounding area and has an estimated vol were used as refuge from a great flood. Other stories, such as the Bridge of the Gods tale, had various High Cascades such as Hood and Adams, act as god-like chiefs who made war by throwing fire and stone at each other. St. Helens with its pre-1980 graceful appearance, was regaled as a beautiful maiden for whom Hood and Adams feuded. Native tribes also developed their own names for the High Cascades and many of the smaller peaks.In the spring of 1792 British navigator George Vancouver entered Puget Sound and started to give English names to the high mountains he saw. Mount Baker was named for Vancouver's third lieutenant, the graceful Mount St. Helens for a famous diplomat, Mount Hood was named in honor of Samuel Hood (a high-ranking naval officer) and the tallest Cascade, Mount Rainier, is the namesake of Admiral Peter Rainier . Vancouver's expedition did not, however, name the range these peaks belonged to. In 1805 the Lewis and Clark expedition passed through the Cascades by using the Columbia River, which for many years was the only practical way to pass that part of the range. The expedition, and the many settlers and traders that followed, met their last obstacle to their journey at the Cascades Rapids in the Columbia River Gorge, a feature on the river now submerged beneath Lake Bonneville. Before long, the great white-capped mountains that loomed above the rapids were called the "mountains by the cascades" and later simply as the "Cascades" (the earliest attested use of this name is in the writings of botanist David Douglas). On their return trip Lewis and Clarke's group spotted a high but distant snowy pinnacle that they named for the sponsor of the expedition, U.S. President Thomas Jefferson.
left Lassen Peak in California
The Barlow Trail was the first established land path for U.S. settlers through the Cascade Range in 1845, and formed the final overland link for the Oregon Trail (previously, settlers had to raft down the treacherous rapids of the Columbia River). It passes north of Mt. Hood.
With the exception of the 1915 eruption of remote Lassen Peak in Northern California, the range was quiet for more than a century. Then, on May 18, 1980, the dramatic eruption of little-known Mount St. Helens shattered the quiet and brought the world's attention to the range. Geologists were also concerned that the St. Helens eruption would awaken other Cascade volcanoes like it did the previous century, when a total of eight erupted between 1800 and 1857. None have erupted since St. Helens, but precautions are being taken nevertheless, such as the Mount Rainier Volcano Lahar Warning System in Pierce County, Washington.[1]