This week marks three anniversaries, two atop and one above Mount Rainier.

On July 28, 1896, Olof Bull carried his violin to the summit and played several solo songs, including “Nearer, My God, To Thee.” Professor Olof Bull arrived in Tacoma in 1890. He’d been born in Undersvik, Hälsingland. His climb was credited as a solo climb, nearly the first, although he was overtaken by another climber midway on the route. In 1896 Professor Bull was hired as a violin instructor at Puget Sound University.

Thirteen years later, on July 30, 1909, the summit had other visitors of note when a group of suffragists joined The Mountaineers to plant a “Votes for Women” banner atop the mountain. From the HistoryLink article: On July 30, 1909, Dr. Cora Smith Eaton (1867-1939), photographer Asahel Curtis (1874-1941), Major E. S. Ingraham, and other summiting members of The Mountaineers 1909 expedition to Mount Rainier plant a large Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition flag with a smaller pennant bearing the motto “Votes For Women” attached to its staff at the summit of Columbia Crest on Mount Rainier. High winds snap the staff after only 15 minutes. The climbers then place the flag inside the crater, where they leave it.

And on July 25, 1920, Seattle aviator Herbert Munter became the first person to overfly the peak when he soared above the summit in his Boeing Model 8 biplane. Ever the showman, Munter circled the peak three times before crossing over it. Spectacular for the time, his feat of aviation was bested 30 years later when another intrepid pilot actually landed his plane atop the mountain.

To read the full articles visit the following links:

• Olof Bull (The violin player – where you can also learn about the misfortune his violin suffered)
• https://www.historylink.org/File/8578 (The suffragists)
• Herbert Munter (Mount Rainier fly over)

This article is courtesy of HistoryLink.org, the free online encyclopedia of Washington state history.