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Editor’s Desk
FROM THE EDITOR’S DESK
Each year I reserve this space to republish shorter articles written for smaller regional
newspapers in Vermont that are not on the internet. I republish them here with the hope
that they will interest readers.
SEATTLE’S MOUNT FUJI: THE WONDERLAND THAT IS Mount Rainier
NATIONAL PARK
Daniel A. Métraux
Mount Rainier stands like a grand sentinel guarding Seattle. It is an active volcano that
together with other spectacular volcanic peaks like Mt. St. Helens form the towering Cascade
Range that extends from northern Washington to central Oregon. Mount Rainier National Park
incorporates a vast expansive wilderness area 60 miles southeast of Seattle that has glaciercapped 14,410 Mount Rainier as its spectacular centerpiece. It is every bit as beautiful and iconic
as Mount Fuji near Tokyo Japan.
When I visited Mount Rainier National Park with my daughter Katie in early April 2016,
I found an alpine wonderland full of dense forests, fields of snow-covered ground with bright
daffodils and other flowers poking through, and higher up massive snowfields and rugged
glaciers. Here and there one finds beautiful old rain forests that are said to be teaming with bears
and other critters that wisely decided to stay out of view. I took a long hike on snowshoes with
incredible views of surrounding peaks and the deafening sounds of silence broken only by the
cries of hundreds of blue jays searching for their next meal.
The Cascade Range due west of Seattle captures the vast amounts of moisture coming in
from the Pacific. The warm moist air travels over Seattle before hitting the high peaks of the
Cascades. The air cools rapidly as it rises by places like Mount Rainier and before long it drops
huge amounts of precipitation. Precipitation amounts at Paradise Valley half way up the slope
of Mt. Rainier average 126 inches each year. Major snow storms each winter drop many feet of
snow that feed the twenty-five glaciers that cap the mountain. When we reached Paradise Valley
we found the ground covered with ten to fifteen feet of snow although it seemed to be melting
fast in the warm April sunshine.
As an active volcano Mount Rainier reminds us all of both the power and beauty of
nature. The Cascade Range, part of the “Ring of Fire” that extends across the Pacific to Alaska
and Japan, has been volcanically active for millions of years thanks to its location on the western
edge of the North American tectonic plate. The mountain itself is relatively young in geologic
terms having been formed about 500,000 years ago. Like Mount St. Helens which erupted in
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spectacular fashion in May 1980, and other Cascade volcanoes, Mount Rainer has the potential
to erupt yet again. The last eruption came in 1894 and another one could come at any time in the
years ahead.
Mount Rainier National Park was established by Congress in 1899, making it one of the
oldest parks in the system. Visitors can find ample camp grounds and hiking trails that take one
through dense woods with great views of rushing rivers, ever-shrinking but still impressive
glaciers, and impressive waterfalls. The main visitor center at Paradise serves as the base for
many hiking trails and is certainly worth a visit. Sunrise at 6400 feet above sea level is the
highest point that one can reach by car and already in April allows one to see meadows teaming
with mountain flowers.
I have visited many of America’s National Parks including Shenandoah National Park
right here in Staunton Virginia. Each one of these parks possesses some aspect of natural beauty,
but if one is looking for a real wilderness adventure, there are few that can give one as great a
natural experience as Mount Rainier.
Paradise Valley, Mount Rainier National Park
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REDISCOVERING BRAVES FIELD
By Daniel A. Métraux
The year 2012 was a time of pageantry for Boston sports fans. The city celebrated the
hundredth year of the founding of Fenway Park, the hallowed home of the Boston Red Sox.
The year 2015 commemorated the hundredth anniversary of another major league park in
Boston, Braves Field, but unlike Fenway, there were few if any commemorations for this
now largely forgotten stadium.
When it was completed in August, 1915, it was the most majestic stadium in the land.
It could hold crowds of forty thousand or more, its facilities were the most modern, it had
the most spacious outfield, and it was accessible from downtown Boston by a trolley car that
ran west along Commonwealth Avenue. “The Wigwam” as it was called was the epicenter of
Boston baseball, for many years outshining its nearby neighbor, Fenway Park.
Boston is the “cradle” of modern baseball. The Braves, now happily housed in
Atlanta, are the oldest continually playing professional team of any kind in the United
States. Created in 1870 as the Boston Red Stockings, they joined the National League in its
inaugural year of 1876 and have remained there ever since. They played in Boston from
1870 through 1952 after which they moved first to Milwaukie and later to Atlanta. They
were a very mediocre team while in Boston, rarely finishing above .500 and appearing in
only two World Series in 1915 and 1948. They were just forming the nucleus of a great team
when they moved to Milwaukie with the signing of such future stars as Hank Aaron and
Warren Spahn.
Braves Field saw its share of baseball history. When the stadium opened for its first
full season in April 1916, it was the home of the defending World Series champions, the
Boston Braves. When the American League champion Boston Red Sox played the Brooklyn
Robins (later Dodgers) in the 1916 World Series, the Red Sox were led to victory by their
new young star pitcher, Babe Ruth. Ironically, Ruth ended his career at Braves Stadium with
three consecutive home runs in 1935. Field Years later Braves Field was the site of the 1948
World Series between the Braves and the Cleveland Indians.
Braves Field soon after its opening in 1915
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Soon after the Braves left Boston the team sold the stadium to neighboring Boston
University. Much of the stadium and its surroundings were torn down and the land was
reconfigured as a playing field for the university. BU renamed the stadium Nickerson Field
to honor a longtime member of its Board of Trustees. BU’s football team played there until
it was disbanded in the 1990s and it was the home stadium for the fledgling Boston (now
New England) Patriots in the early 1960s. Today it is used as a playing field for the school’s
soccer and lacrosse teams.
I have gone to close to two hundred games at Fenway Park, but for years I had
wanted to venture to BU to see what was left of Braves Field. I decided that I would pretend
that I was an erstwhile fan going to watch the Braves. On a warm December day in 2015 I
clambered on to the old Commonwealth Avenue trolley at Kenmore Square. Fifteen
minutes later I got off at the Babcock Street stop and quickly spotted the old Braves
Administration Building and Ticket office which today houses a child care center and the
headquarters of the BU campus police. I could well imagine myself purchasing a ticket and
entering through the still intact entry gate.
The old Boston Braves Administrative Building and Ticket Office. The Stadium is in the
background
Entry on to the playing field gives one a very different perspective of what was Braves
Field. All of the seating areas, the bull pens and the like have long since disappeared, but much
of the right field pavilion remains. Underneath the pavilion one finds a large concession area
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The old right field pavilion of Braves Field
Fans could buy pretzels, peanuts and hotdogs along with a wide assortment of drinks and
souvenirs. My father-in-law, Russell Menelly, now aged 91, remembers as a young lad working
in one of these concessions booths. “We had a wild time down under there. We sold all sorts of
stuff, much of it junk, to young kids and their fathers. It was a good chance to make some good
money, but it was very hard work.”
I walked around the area and was able to configure the dimensions of the field. Standing in what
was long ago center field I could see the crowd cheering as Babe Ruth stepped up for his last
major league at bat—a towering home run into the right field pavilion. I later found ahistorical
marker summarizing the field’s history. The stadium itself is largely gone, but there is enough
still there to imagine the rest.
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