An Army expedition led by Lieutenant Joseph O'Neil explored the Olympic range around the same period as the Press Expedition and made the first recorded ascent of a peak of Mount Olympus. Convinced the region was too magnificent to develop, O'Neil's reports helped seed the early idea of protecting the area, which decades later became Olympic National Park.
The same year that scruffy Press Expedition was clawing through the snow, an Army party was poking at this range from another direction. A lieutenant named Joseph O'Neil led his men in, and they pulled off the first recorded climb of a peak of Mount Olympus. O'Neil came back convinced this country was too magnificent to carve up, and his reports helped plant the very first seeds of the idea that grew, decades later, into the park you're driving through today. Exploration and protection, side by side, right from the start.
Photo: Dllu · CC BY-SA 4.0
