Narada Falls, 185 feet, on Paradise River (altitude, 4,572 feet). Both trail and road pass it. "Narada" is an East Indian word meaning "peace." The name was given many years ago by a party of Theosophists who visited the falls. Happily, the effort to change the name to "Cushman Falls" has failed.
Congressional action affecting this immediate area began in 1899. A tract eighteen miles square, 207,360 acres, to be known as "Ranier National Park,"[4] was withdrawn from the 2,146,600 acres of the Pacific Forest Reserve, previously created. The area thus set apart as "a public park for the benefit and enjoyment of the people" (Act of March 2, 1899) was already known to a few enthusiasts and explorers as one of the world's great wonderlands. In 1861 James Longmire, a prospector, had built a trail from Yelm over Mashell mountain and up the Nisqually river to Bear Prairie. This he extended in 1884 to the spot now known as Longmire Springs, and thence up the Nisqually and Paradise rivers to the region now called Paradise Park. Part of this trail was widened later into a wagon road, used for many years by persons seeking health at the remarkable mineral springs on the tract which the Longmires acquired from the government before the establishment of the Forest Reserve.
Washington Torrents, on Paradise River; a series of falls a mile in length, seen from the new road to Paradise and still better from the pony trail.
Portion of Paradise Park and the Tatoosh Range.
The Longmire road, rough as it was, long remained the best route; but in 1903 the Mountain found a tireless friend in the late Francis W. Cushman, representative from this State, who persuaded Congress to authorize the survey and construction of a better highway. Work was not begun, however, until 1906. The yearly appropriations have been small, and total only $240,000 for surveys, construction and maintenance, to the end of the last session.