Five gold prospectors reach the summit of the volcanic Mount St. Helens in the Cascade Mountains of Washington Territory. The party were apparently only the second group of Europeans to ascend the mountain; it had been climbed August 27, 1853 by Thomas J. Dryer and four others. The next recorded climb was in 1874. The summit was ten 9,677 feet above sea level; the massive 1980 eruption reduced that to 8,365 feet. (By John Osborne)
Source Citation
Fred W. Beckey, Cascade Alpine Guide: Climbing and High Routes, Volume I Columbia River to Stevens Pass (Seattle, WA: Mountaineers Books, 2000), 40.