When President Cleveland created the Mount Rainier Forest Reserve in 1897, Mount St. Helens was left out of the reserve, partly because of the commercial value of the forests right around the mountain. But an immense 1902 forest fire just south of the volcano dimmed private companies’ enthusiasm for the area. Five years later, Roosevelt and Pinchot succeeded in adding the area around the volcano to the renamed Columbia National Forest. That pushed the boundary of the national forest right up against Weyerhaeuser’s vast forestlands to the west.
