Philemon BeecherVan Trump, also known as P. B. Van Trump, was an American pioneering mountaineer and writer who lived in the state of Washington. He is best known for the first ascent of Mount Rainier in 1870. Van Trump was born in Lancaster, Ohio on December 18, 1838. His father, Philadelph Van Trump, and his maternal grandfather, Philemon Beecher, represented Ohio districts in the US House of Representatives. He was educated at Kenyon College and the New York University. In 1867 he moved to Washington Territory as the private secretary to Marshall F. Moore, the seventh governor of the territory. Moore was Van Trump's brother-in-law. Van Trump first saw Mount Rainier in August, 1867, and later remembered: Van Trump and General Hazard Stevens made the first documented successful climb of Mount Rainier on August 17, 1870. They climbed the mountain via the Gibraltar route. He climbed the mountain at least five other times. Van Trump guided John Muir to the summit of Mount Rainier in 1888. Muir describes this climb in a chapter of his book Steep Trails. Muir and Van Trump kept in touch after the climb. Van Trump joined the Sierra Club in 1893 making him one of their first members outside California. He later served on the Sierra Club committee that campaigned for the creation of Mount Rainier National Park. After his wife, Cynthia, died in 1907, Van Trump took a position greeting tourists at a summer tent camp at Indian Henry's Hunting Ground at Mt Rainier. He served briefly as a seasonal ranger and spent winters with the Longmire family. Failing health caused him to relocate to New York in 1915 to spend his final days with relatives. He died on December 27, 1916 and was interred at the Kattellville Cemetery, Broome County, New York. Van Trump had a son, H. S. Van Trump, and a daughter, Christine Louise Van Trump. The Stevens Van Trump Historic Monument along the Skyline Trail in Mount Rainier National Park was erected to commemorate the historic first ascent of the mountain. Van Trump Park, Van Trump Creek and Van Trump Glacier, all in the national park, are named after him. Christine Falls were named for his daughter, Christine.
