An N3C founder, John Warth was a prolific writer and photographer whose photos and writing appeared in N3C’s journal The Wild Cascades for over 20 years from our founding in 1957 until 1978. He was one of “the twenty-seven” who answered the call to meet in 1957 and form a new organization specifically to save the North Cascades. N3C’s mission statement was written at that meeting, and much of the Cascade range from the Columbia to the Canadian border was saved from exploitation in the coming years with his help. John’s photography continued to be published in TWC after he ceased writing for us in 1967 — his last photo graced the cover in 1978. What became of him then we only know through his family, but we have undated photo journals of his explorations in the Cascades that were handmade on a photocopier and given to Patrick Goldsworthy, so we believe he dedicated the final years of his life to assembling those as testaments to his explorations. Harvey Manning recalled him in Wilderness Alps in 2006, and his work was cited by Lauren Danner in Crown Jewel Wilderness in 2017, but other than a few such references his legacy was fading fast into obscurity. Thanks to some luck with online searches, we found his uncle, daughter, and granddaughter who were able to rescue a significant number of his slides and negatives for us, a sample of which we present to you here (see links below to the online collections). And we scanned much of his early writing in NCCC News, also linked below. They remind us of a time when the entire range was unprotected, a few individuals answered the call and saved much of it for us, the coming generation. Let us dedicate ourselves to carrying on that struggle.
Our Fall 2025 issue of The Wild Cascades includes a center spread of his images.
Online Image Galleries
Click the previews below to visit the galleries. (Note that captioning the images is a work in progress.)
“Signs of the Times” display, ca. 1960:
A collection of signs Warth encountered as he approached trailheads in the North Cascades, showing what private interests and the Forest Service were doing before any protection was in place.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/r6chqHMt8XEC9xrF7
Collection of his writings
Prospectus for a North Cascades National Park:
Cover & Photos: https://northcascades.org/wpcontent/uploads/2023/04/prospectus_ncnp_photo_sa.pdf
Chapter 3: https://northcascades.org/wpcontent/uploads/2023/04/prospectus_ncnp_3.pdf
Photo book The North Cascades: The Rediscovered Range: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1wj4o7vm1aTifH3JsEQH3G_I_T6Y_DhON?usp=drive_link
Collection of his articles for NCCC News and The Wild Cascades from 1957-67: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/18XImUz3yzSNtyljebiapCc4NvOvGgsc6?usp=drive_link