Image Description from historic lecture booklet: "Mt. Jefferson has glaciers of considerable magnitude. The glaciers here, as elsewhere in the Cascade region, are of the Alpine type, but are some what peculiar for the reason that they radiate from isolated peaks."
"Mt. Jefferson rises 10,495 feet beyond the Metolius River in Oregon's rugged central Cascade Mountains. The swift-moving Metolius, probably the coldest stream in the state, begins in the icy springs at the base of 6,415 foot Black Butte, east of the Santiam Pass. It runs 46 miles before entering Lake Billy Chinook, the creation of the Round Butte Dam, where it merges with the Deschutes and Crooked Rivers. The Metolius, open to fly-fishing only, is regarded as one of the best rainbow trout streams in the Pacific Northwest. A road leading to Camp Sherman that branches off U.S. Highway 20 west of Sisters parallels the river for most of its course. The lodges and resorts along the road make up the Metolius River Recreation Area, Jefferson County." Oregon Department of Transportation Photo 7963
"Snow-capped Mt. Jefferson competes with multi-colored canyon walls cut by the Crooked River for the attention of photographers at Smith Rock in central Oregon. Smith Rock State Park, eight miles northeast of Redmond, offers picnicking facilities for inspired photographers and daring rock climbers. According to legend, Smith Rock was named for an American soldier who fell to his death after trying to get a better view of the surrounding plateaus and Cascade Mountains, Deschutes County." Oregon Department of Transportation Photo 8456
Mt. Jefferson is the second highest mountain in the Oregon Cascades. Its altitude is officially given as 10,350 feet, being only 875 feet less than Mt. Hood. Owing to the numerous intervening chains of foothills, there are few points in the Willamette valley that afford a good view of Jefferson, but from the east it stands out a magnificent spectacle.
Mount Jefferson is the second highest peak in Oregon. There is no uncertainty as to its christening. On March 30, 1806 Captain Clark of the Lewis and CLark expedition from the Columbia River saw the tip of a white pinnacle outlined against the horizon far to the south, and he named it Mount Jefferson in honor of the President who had sponsored the expedition.