MTR.2025.12 John Ligon Collection
In December 2018, The Mountaineers were contacted by Richard Ligon regarding a collection assembled by his brother John. The collection (or a portion thereof) was acquired a few months later by members of the Mountaineers History Committee and stored in the Mountaineers Archives at Magnuson Park. The collection was reviewed, pruned, and cataloged by Lowell Skoog in Autumn 2025. Following pruning, the collection has been stored in two Bankers Boxes.
NOTE: Selected images have been scanned from prints, glass slides or negatives and saved in the Mountaineers Digital Archives. The collection contains many hard-copy images that have not been scanned.
Photograph Albums
Photo Album #1 (13” x 10”, 80 pages, B&W photos): Mt Rainier, Mt Baker, Monte Cristo area, 1920s
Photo Album #2 (13” x 10”, 38 8x10” B&W photos), generally of guided hikes on Mt Rainier.
Photo Album #3 (5” x 7”, 56 3.5x5.5” B&W photos), “Reminiscences of our Trip to Mt Rainier, August 1918” (accession number has been noted on the back).
Photo Album #4 (5” x 7”, 100 pages, 100 B&W photos including Mt Rainier, Stevens Pass highway, circa 1910s).
Photo Album #5 (7” x 11”, 80+ B&W photos, mostly Washington locations, 1910s).
Photo Album #6 (7” x 11”, cover says “Mackechnie Bread Co”), includes rescue attempt and body recovery on Mt Rainier led by Doug Ward, 17 B&W photos).
Photo Album #7 (7” x 11”, cover says “Photographs: Mount Baker Lodge.”) Fine 6” x 9” B&W photos (qty 17) of Mt Baker Lodge and vicinity by Burt Huntoon. In the back of the album is a brochure for the lodge.
Boxed Photographs
Box (green, labelled “Fujichrome Paper,” 9” x 11” x 2”):
Contains negatives and glass slides
Mostly B&W but some color
Box (brown, 5.5” x 7” x 2”) labelled “Bought from Mr Jerry Burton of Tacoma”
Contains glass slides: Mowich Lake, Spray Park, “Skiing” (actually snowshoeing)
Also contains two Kensington Film Books containing around 60 4”x5” B&W film negatives. These negatives depict winter scenes below timberline on NW side of Mt Rainier.
There is also one B&W negative depicting a very steep rail track (probably leading to a mine).
Photographs in Archival Sheets
These are in three 8.5x11” blue, three-hole soft binders each with a clear front sheet.
Binder #1: Climbers on Mt Baker (3x5” postcards)
Binders #2-3: 119 B&W photographs with hand written captions mounted on grey paper, 1910-1912. Images feature mountaineers, tents and camps, peaks and summits, notable people including P.B. Van Trump, Harry and Mrs. Weer, UW professor Henry Landes, and more.
Photographs in 3-Ring Binders
Three-ring binder (8.5x11” red)
Contents page: “Mt Rainier photo essay by A.H. Waite”
21 B&W images (camping, scenic, mountain, forest, and glacier scenes)
Note: Many images are worn or damaged
Three-ring binder (8.5x11 white, labelled “On the North side of Rainier by J. L. Hessong”)
97 B&W photo prints (5”x7”) stored in clear pages
Mostly scenery, a few with people and/or structures depicted
Some photos are captioned on the back
Three-ring binder (8.5x11 white, labelled “Mt Hood, OR”)
Mix of 8x10” and 5x8” photos in clear pages (14 total)
Mix of color and B&W, several photos dated 1941
Medium Format Negatives and Glass Slides
Nine 4”x5” B&W glass negatives, snowshoe hike to NW side of Mt Rainier. (Three have been scanned.)
Two pages of microfilm images of map of McCoy Peak Quadrangle, Southern Cascades, WA.
Loose Photographs
8x10” B&W Prints: 100+ prints depicting various themes:
Guided hiking groups posing together
Snow cruising (groups sitting in a long chain to slide on snow)
Long lines of hikers on snow
Exploring glaciers
Groups on horseback
Hikers carrying alpenstocks
5x8” B&W prints: 10 prints mostly scenes in glacial terrain high on Mt Rainier
Documents
Blue box labeled “Oxford” (9.5” x 13.5” x 3.5”):
Copies of articles on Mt Rainier climbing from 1875-1987
Article list:
Photo-copies of articles are in plastic sleeves. (Some originals are included.)
Box has a lid but is rather over-stuffed.
Collectible Booklets (sorted by date)
“Is it Mount Tacoma, or Rainier?” Proceedings of the Tacoma Academy of Science, 1893.
“Is it Mount Tacoma, or Rainier?” Proceedings of the Tacoma Academy of Science, 1893 (1912 reprint).
Above the Clouds on Rainier, King of Mountains, Mazamas Excursion, Jul 19 - Aug 7, 1897.
The Pacific Forest Reserve and Mt Rainier, A Souvenir by E.S. Ingraham, 1895 (booklet).
Williams, John H., The Guardians of the Columbia, 1912.
“The Mountain,” (brief submitted to U.S. Geographical Board to return the name “Tacoma” in 1917)
Brown, Belmore, The Mentor: Mt Rainier National Park, Vol 6, No 11, July 15, 1918 (2 copies).
Songs of the Mountaineers, compiled by Inez H. Craven, July 1919.
Hazard, Joseph T., The Glacier Playfields of the Mt Rainier National Park, 1920.
The Mountaineer Song Book, compiled by Tacoma Mountaineers, May 1922.
“Changing Name of Mount Rainier,” Hearings of the Public Lands House of Representatives, 68th Congress, 2nd Session on Senate Joint Resolution 64, Jan 9, 1925.
“Cracks” on the Mountain: A Book of Fun-Fable-Facts, by Chas. Thorndike, Longmire, WA, 1925.
The Big Features of Rainier National Park, 1928 (front cover just says “Rainier National Park”).
Coombs, Howard A., The Geology of Mt Rainier National Park, July 1936.
Surficial Geology of Mt Rainier National Park, Washington, US Dept of Interior, 1969.
The Mountaineers, a small booklet introducing the club to potential members (undated).
I Love Thy Rocks and Rills, a four-page photo pamphlet.
Rainier National Park, booklet of 25 miniature photos
Americanize The Mountain by Francis E. Smith.
“Is it Mt Tacoma or Rainier: What Do History and Tradition Say?” by Hon. James Wickersham.
The Land that Lures: Summer in the Pacific Northwest (undated).
Mt Rainier National Park (three different brochures, probably 1930s, 1940s and 1950s).
Single sheet trail maps for Paradise, Sunrise, Longmire, Ohanapecosh with MRNP overview map.
Informational or promotional brochures from:
Rainier Mountaineering, Inc.
Rainier Guide Service & Mountaineering School
Alpine Ascents Unlimited
The Mountain School
Mt Rainier National Park
Films
These films have only been viewed on a hand-crank viewer with a fuzzy screen.
Film 1: “Mt Hood, East Side Climb,” 16mm B&W film on 3-1/2” reel:
Film opens with a hiker carrying a torch. The sun rises. Climbers apply clown white. A long line of climbers is seen below the peak, using alpenstocks. Views of the Elliot Glacier headwall. Chopping steps. Closeups of climbers. The film ends.
Film 2: “Climbing Hood,” (or “Around Hood”), 16mm B&W film on 7” reel:
Film opens with hikers below timberline. We see them using alpenstocks with Mt Hood above. Panning view of the mountain. Reach the glacier, some glissading on foot. Standing and looking. Pan the mountain skyline. Roping up. Climbers near some big crevasses. They descend without going to the summit. Based on perforations near the end of the reel, the film seems to be complete.
Other Interesting Stuff
Route map of climbs on Mt Rainier in 1800s, from North American Cartographics, Portland, OR, 1977.
Geological map of Mt Rainier NP rock zones with an overview of the park by F. E. Matthes. (Base map is dated 1934.)
Document “in the hand-writing of Mrs. Henry K. Owens (Alice M.) of Seattle” discussing the life of Major Edward S. Ingraham.
There is also an article by Ingraham about the early years of the Seattle school system.
1926 obituary for Ingraham.
Two loose photo pages of women in skirts camping and playing in the mountains.
Fototone miniatures (2” x 3”) of Mt Rainier National Park.
Vupack Mailing Card with Souvenir Views of Rainier National Park, 1926.
“Where the West Begins,” 3x3” leather bound booklet with small photos of Mt Rainier NP.
4x6” notepad dated July 1908 with a hand-written account by Webster Newell to his grandfather describing a climb of Mt Adams.
Kelso, T. McMillan, A Trip to Mt Rainier in 1899, The Minikin Press, 1985 (tiny 2”x3” book with a colorful hardbound cover).