Before Euro-Americans arrived, Native people crossed these mountains on rugged trails to visit relatives, trade with other tribes, and gather food for winter. Later, prospectors, sheepherders, settlers, and early Forest Service rangers used the same trails on foot or horseback. In the late 1800's, engineers explored the area to find a route for the Northern Pacific Railroad, but the mountains were too steep. Highway 12 was not completed across the mountains until 1951. Today, Highway 12 passes through one of Washington's most interesting geologic landscapes, where travelers can see cinder cones such as Spiral Butte, large strato-volcanoes including Mt. Ranier, Mount St. Helens, and Mt. Adams, shield volcanoes formed by thin basalt lava flows, and intrusions such as Goose Egg Mountain, formed when lava solidified underground and surrounding material eroded away. Beautiful coiled baskets made from cedar roots and dyed ryegrass were used to carry roots, berries, and as trade items. White Pass was named for Charles A. White, one of the engineers who explored the area in 1877 to find a railroad route.