Emigrants called this place on Mt Hood "Summit Prairie" because of its size. What you see today, called "Summit Meadow," is one third the size of the original area.
In the 1840s and 50s, emigrants welcomed Summit Prairie as a place that offered the best forage and the largest area for grazing livestock since Tygh Valley.
A pioneer graveyard, remains of the emigrant toll house and the Summit House (a tourist concession built in the 1880s), and rocks covered with emigrant and turn-of-the-century graffiti stand on the edge of Summit Meadow.