USA > Alaska > The wonders of Alaska > Part 3
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From Loring across Behm Canal the steamer runs about twenty-five miles to Yaas Bay, a most romantic spot. After visiting a cannery on its shores, we retrace our course at Loring and are seen heading up Clarence Strait.' Wooded islands and snow- capped inland mountain ranges furnish the predom-
MAP No 4.
Skole
cher .I.
'anoe Pass
0
33
Sh.G.
77
19
Browning Entrance
P
75
50
52
2)
Mccauley T.
evvel Channel
ITT
37
. 34
Bonilla De 13
68
Halibut Rock,
Ranger R."
66
D
Gribbel
Shrub I.
2
Otter Ch
Gi
53 ·
Estevan I.
Estovan SoundAt
Campania Sd.
Reaon
Tide Bip Ids
Lared
Ch
Gander Ids.
Aristasable
12.8
Swindle
122
Laredo Sound
Prxo
Da
GRANVILISEL CHANNEL
BANKS . ISLAND
1740'.
ISLAN
Douglas Ch
Verney 'and ...
G
Lewis Pass
ind
Reach
Otter Pase. Chia
Campania I
Squally Ch.
Whale Ch.
Haycook I.t.
PRINCESS ROYAL I
om
go Sche
oderick
Chan
From Finlayson Channel to Malacca Pass.
1310
Lotte
32
R
79 34
Principe Tocht
33
Nepean Sound
Ch.
27
FORT WRANGELL.
inant features of the landscape, while the same placid waters, perfect reflections, marvels in color- ing, canoes darting along the shore, wandering birds, dark shadows and bleak distances go to make up many a pretty marine view.
Ninety miles from Loring the boom of the cannon on our forecastle gives evidence that we are approach- ing a town of some sort, and as the echo rebounds in volleys, deeper but softened by distance, the steamer swings round a point, and Fort Wrangell is revealed directly ahead.
Here are gathered the poor lodges of the Indians, the little better dwellings of the whites, and a clus- ter of buildings long past their prime, that once composed a stockade fort. The straggling, rickety appearance of the Indian huts and the gaunt totem poles before the doors, lend a weirdness to the imme- diate environment, while the dismal, but withal sub- lime scenery of this vicinity cannot but impress one.
This forlorn nook is a landmark in Alaskan his- tory. It was here that in 1831, Baron Wrangell, a Russian explorer, then Governor of Russian Amer- ica, preparing himself for war with the Hudson Bay Company, who were organizing a fillibustering. expe- dition into Russian territory, sent Lieutenant Zar- enbo to erect a fortress on this site. Zarenbo built a bastioned log fort, and soon after held his own and beat off a large force of the employees of that great English Company. In 1862, Wrangell was roused from her lethargy by the discovery of gold at Cas- siar, in British Columbia. Wrangell was the near- est port to the Stikine River, up three hundred miles of which the tide of immigration rushed, and soon it became a little transfer station for all passengers and
-
28
CITY OF JUNEAU.
goods, for it was here that the miners had to take the river boats. Troops were stationed here at that time, and business thrived while the mines pros- pered. A dull time followed the boom. The gold fever was revived in 1876, but was short-lived. Wrangell is now a comparatively large place and drives a large trade in curios.
The waters in Wrangell Narrows are streaked by the muddy, and, at times, chalky flow of the Stikine River, as it issues from its many deltas; the river waters are a dirty green, and vary in color consider- ably with the debris of the many glaciers which line its course. The current is so swift that, as the river cuts through the salt water, the line of demarkation is for miles very pronounced. From Wrangell Nar- rows we surround ourselves with the gloomy grand- eur of Prince Frederick Sound. On the east the Patterson Glacier glides into the deep waters, and the Devil's Thumb appears in the distance, four thousand feet high. At Cape Fanshaw we round north, and steaming about sixty miles through Stephens Passage to Grand Island, leave Takou Inlet on our right and sail northeasterly up Gasti- neau Channel about fifteen miles to Juneau.
In 1879 gold specimens from this region were brought in by the Indians, and a year later a pros- pector named Juneau, with some associates, arrived and staked out the future city. After many changes Juneau was settled upon as the title by which the town should be known. Beautifully situated at the base of an abrupt mountain and surrounded by the picturesque, nature has done much for this metropo- lis of Alaska. Her estimated population of about three thousand, is composed of that rough element
Burrougha.B.
Bell
Pt.Whaley
Canal
- Traitors Cove
. Cov
n. B.
Et. Francisa
.
204
REVILLAGIGEDO
Indian Ft.
Nahab Loring SUPO.
2 33
Moser B.
Grant I.
250
C.Caamano
275
189
Arm
Kaan-an Vill
251
Pt.Higgin
Patters
elbich L
Vallenar Pt Vallenar B
275
Island 255
Twelve
IS
IR
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105
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in Pt
CarrollPt.
68
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L
H
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1342
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88
49
.
2137
P
Niblacks
1 ,277 Moira R.
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Mars
135, White 326
our
Chichagoff B.
163
280 Pt.Davinky
+202
10g Hot
33
a Pass
Duke I.
3.
231
208
202
'Bee R.
224.
220
He Carpe Northumbe
[ 122
Ellipore
160 West.Riks
.Club Rka
tner B.
Yellow R.
212
12
80 Cape Fox
208
Barren I .. 93
108 .Tong 142
Wales I
no
Lord Ids.
VZ DIXON ENTRANCE
206
146
128
240
National Boundary Mc.Cullough B ..
214
0 1441
Zayas L
D
21Simpsons
49
42
..
2
72
. Middle Dundas. I.
55
C.
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.79
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58
20
·
91 ℃
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450
38 Ids. 51
tree dobo
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th Rka.
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. Stephens L
Malacca
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30
oè Pass
ott
Edye Pasgo,
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Carrol Channel
1. n
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ok. Eddystone R.
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eh mo
Pt.Trollop
atom
Smeat
Chasing,27 Ket
191
Pt.Nelson
ORT
261
Metlakatkop Chester
NewAnnette 1.
90
Anchorage
172
Nichols
Targas Hbry
GR
Ingraham B.
190 Pero
Balı
&channel
INLE
32
Naak
. . East L.
Kalp I.
Pearse I.
PORTLANDO
138
Somerville I
E. DeVil.R.
WDevill
170
113
Dundas I
70%
ORK
.
Metlakatia
Miss: 104
Digby I.
Chim-sy-an Peninsula
riok.B
218
Gravina
Tongasa Narrows
Mo Tongass
George Inlets
ShoalwaterPas
GrindiiL
125on I .-
MAP No. 5.
CLEVELA
PStewart
hm
ISLAND
Wiblack Et.
Wedge Dall
40Bronmach Idas : 129
5a
Quadra
233
SOBSE
From Malacca Pass to Cleveland Peninsula.
L
Penhouse Shoal WE Drowngo Passa DO 11
Pt.Lees
29
THE FIRST GLACIERS.
usually to be found in a mining camp and they, until the United States shall give them laws, have established a code of their own. The town is liveli- est in winter, when the severity of the climate drives in the miners from the placer diggings of the Silver Bow Basin and other mining camps. A. T. and J. C. Howard publish an excellent weekly The Alaska Free Press, and Frank H. Meyers is the editor and publisher of the Juneau City Mining Record, also weekly, and a sheet of fine typographical appear- ance. Douglas Island, on which is situated the Treadwell Mine, is opposite Juneau and forms the southwestern shore of Gastineau Channel.
Returning in our wake to Stephens Passage, we skirt the northern shore of Admiralty Island and enter Lynn Channel, by Favorite Channel, getting a view of the Auk and Eagle Glaciers in the east and later we view the great Davidson Glacier which comes down from the mountains on the western side of the Channel. Glaciers are now becoming num- erous, and by this time we have seen a dozen of greater or less importance.
Lynn Channel separates at its head into two branches or forks, one becoming the Chilkoot Inlet while the other is the outlet of the Chilkat River, which is the pass over the mountains to the Yukon River. At Chilkat on Pyramid Bay, the tourist reaches the most northerly point on the voyage, 59° II'. In this vicinity game is abundant and bear, deer and others are to be seen from the steamer. After being shut down for some years on account of the hostility of the natives, three canneries are in operation during the busy season, affording ample employment to the colony of Indians gathered there.
30
IN GLACIER BAY.
Returning en route to Glacier Bay, the steamer proceeds south along the western side of Lynn Chan- nel to Point Couverden, then once more we head northwesterly through Icy Straits to the entrance of Glacier Bay. Darting into Bartlett Cove and glid- ing by Willoughby Island, we rest before the great Muir Glacier. Far away to the northwest Mt. Fair- weather, her great height of 15,500 feet lessened in the perspective, keeps watch over the cold, grey coast. Nearer at hand Mt. Crillon towers in all the sublimity of her 15,900 feet, while Mt. La Perouse peers through the mist out upon the bay from her summit 11, 300 feet above the water.
From Glacier Bay to Sitka, there are two routes which may be taken. One is west through Cross Sound out upon the ocean and down the coast. If we take the other, which is much preferable, we retrace our course through Icy Strait as far as Spas- kaia Bay, and here we go south through Chatham Straits to Killisnoo.
At this place are situated large cod fisheries, and probably the largest fish-oil plant in the world. The codfish are dried artificially. From the ulikon or the herring the oil is extracted and the solids that are left is converted into a fertilizer, so that the odors that penetrate the atmosphere about Killisnoo are not of the most agreeable kind. Of late years this com- pany has furnished a fine quality of cod liver oil. The "character" of the place is "Saginaw Jake," an old chief, who derives his name from having been for some time a captive aboard the U. S. S. "Sagi- naw" as hostage for the good behavior of his people, who were, in 1869, very warlike. Jake is a queer individual and will afford the visitor a fund of amuse-
Pt. Windham
tHugh
3 Pt. Gambier Sunset I.
.The Twins
Sidyl
Five
magers
Port Houghton
wnsend
Sarprise Hbr.
f. Gardiner
67
30
Yasha L
Patterson
Cornwallis Prs
Glacier
53
Hamilton Hbre
69 Soukhoi 0.0 Ialet's 82
Hom Cha's
B.
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NOS 105
92 63
8
Stikine,
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Pt. Rothsay
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K do I.
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66
55
.0.
20
122 854 ~ 9
66
51
Chichaga
170
36
Wrangell I.103
65. 214 2165
38
Stikine
x68
Fools In
132
5
206 19
216
74
17
B.
20
27
·Stupley B.
o
560
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127
Mc Henry In.
Canoe
Seward Pass
Pass
Seoundd
...
Ratz Hor !!
Onslow
165
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200
82
44
37 €
ixen Inlet
350 eme surier PL
-
2295
348
B.
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20%
Union B.
Tolstoi Pt.
3.
Karta Bay
From Cleveland Peninsula to Stephens Pass.
Pt.Lees
BurroughsRS
I.
19
2277
288
Bell L
257
42.
2
Narrow Pt.
30
CLEVELAND PENINSULA
akaan Str
Whygle Pas.
Mosman Inlet
Burnett In
0
Pt.Warde
1 i
Menefee In
Str.
119 50 158
Anita B
Zimovia
Bradfield Canal
145
18
; 178 · Mt. Calder
354 18 184
0:0
5
28 23
Exchange C.
3
1
· Labouchere B.
21
64
· 2Pt.Protection &
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Pt.Colpoys
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" PŁ. Baker
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225 231
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ter I.
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--- 31
Pt. Alexander
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Level,
Wrangell
170
7Pt. Barrie
meluvion I.
Lindenberg Pen.
3
Saginay
FREDERICK9
S
69
87
15
83
70
40
-58
35
96
55 80109 575
32
67
6"
94
115
103
Devile Thumb
80
Thomas B.
Baird
C. Bendel
Pt -- AS OUND go
177
C. Fanshaw
Farragut B.
Glacier
157
Napeap Pt .- 144
Glacier
Portage B.
Pt.Kingsuinke
Security By
108
Le Conte
Le Conte Gla
--- T ------ R.
KUI
Duncan Canal
Wrangell Str.
ivan
I.
I
Beegker P.
Mitkoff I.
5
Zarembo I.
Passage
Snow Pass.
E
Steamer
shev
183
PRINCE
akhine Strait
OF
WAL
E
:
MAP No. 6.
KUPREANOFF
2588
ids B.
222
Pas
31
KILLISNOO-SITKA.
ment. His house is embelished with a large wooden eagle, nicely carved in the center of which is a win- dow, and this fact has given Jake the opportunity to perpetrate the only Indian pun that is heard in all Alaska. He always calls attention to his "Moun- tain Eagle with a pain (pane) in his breast." Jake wears a policeman's star as large as a tin plate, dresses like a brigadier-general, and always salutes the tourists that leave the steamers.
Across Chatham Strait we enter a pretty, tortuous and swift-flowing bit of water, aptly styled Peril Strait, the scene of the wreck of the "Eureka." Fitting as the name seems, Petroff tells us that it was not exactly for this reason that it was so called, but from the fact that a hundred of Baronoff's hunt- ers were poisoned here from eating mussels.
We turn south on emerging from Peril Strait, still threading our inland way, and soon Mt. Edgecumbe stands out upon our starboard bow to greet us. When Mt. Edgecumbe has been numbered with the beauties of the past, Mt. Verstova, with the town clustered about its base, comes into prominence. The first of old, moss-covered Sitka that one sees is the Baranoff Castle on an elevation, some sixty feet above the water; then the emerald green dome of the Greek Church strikes upon the vision in bold relief against the sky, and picking our way among Sitka's thousand islands we land at the wharf, off the capital of Alaska.
Sitka had been, for some thirty years previous to the change of government, the headquarters of Rus- sian supremacy and the seat of the Greek Catholic hierarchy in Russian America, and is now the capi- tal of that vague judicial government which Con-
32
HISTORY OF SITKA.
gress gave the Territory two years ago. Baronoff visited the present site in 1799 and built a fortress where, three years later, occurred a great massacre of the Russians. He returned in 1804 and built a new fort, which he put under the patronage of the Archangel Michael, the place having previously been under the precarious guardiance of Gabriel, and the town which grew about it received the name of New Archangel. . In 1832 Baron Wrangell transferred the colonial capital from St. Paul, Kadiak Island, to Sitka, and the place assumed a new importance.
Since Baronoff's time the Castle has been remod- eled and passed on to partial decay. The old yellow buildings of the Russians have, for the most part, passed into a state of decline; traces of once busy shipyards are scarcely visible, while the encroach- ment of time leaves a rookery of the lively club- house and obliterates all vestage of that extravagance of the early Governors-the race-course. An old grave-yard with its moss-covered crosses give evi- dence of antiquity, and an occasional fallen slab marks a neglected grave of greater importance. The Greek Church alone remains in some sense to attest past luxury and display. The structure is not im- posing from without, but within all is sanctified grandeur in the coloring and appointments, and its chimes, its paintings, vestments and candlesticks and chandeliers of massive silver remain as of old. But even this building has passed its prime and the shadow of encroaching years dims the luster of the emerald domes and roof, while Time makes his pres- ence felt in the decay about. The church is built in the form of a Greek cross. The paintings of the Saints and the Madonna are, most of them, fine, and
1
Chilkoot Inlet
Seduction Pt.
Chilkat Ids. o Eldred Rock
Glacier
Glacier
Inlet
Bay A
Pt. St. Marys
Pt.Bridget
+ Vanderbilt Reef
Fr.Salishnur- Thanner.
Bishop Pt
Tak
59º
Grand I.
Taku Hbr.
Fraumer
Lanc
aginaw
Barlov
Cove
ouverden
Hawk Inlet
Pr.Marsden
Tedemany Seymour
5
cier'
OTTBay
0
S T.R
T
0
CY
Pt. Adolphus
J Port Frederick
Pt.Sophia
TTOTT
L
North Passage Pt
Towater B.
Pt. Parker
hoo
Head
Koot wahoo Ø Archipelago
Killisnod P.O. Kenasnow I.
Hood Bay
Distant Pt.
2:32
PL.Cravey
Perila
"Rocky Pt.
Whit
From Stephens Pass to Muir Glacier.
ver
cannery
at Inlet
Davidson Glas
Sullivan
Berners Bay
Eagle Glacier.
ier.
.ku-
Juneau City 2.
village.
e ghian I.
Gastineau
Treadward
Minel
BaldI.
CI
pubu IA
Dougla &
in
P't .. Ardeu
E
Hacier
Pt.Whidbey
Lym Brother
opp Sisters
Pt. Retreat
Murg
0
Beardel
Wiloughby ".
Fishery Pt.
134°
11300
Dundas Bay
Inian delands
t. Lavin
Aldaho
I.
In
58
HAGOFF
South Passage ft.
- Koptowahoo
/Koot ar.
Inlet
>5
Koutxnahoo Rouris
ISLA
.
Camesurien I.
Hooniah
NIvoukeen C.
ADMIRALTY
Bartler
Core
· Hudson B.Int
plus Reef
Pt.Augusta
Pr.Hepburn
Mt. La. Perouse
Taylor Bay
1350
Pt. Samuel?
S
Humpp
elt CHIN AUK Glace Materie Aaron I!
William Henry
Port Snettisham.
MAP No. 7.
Pyramid Bay.
Pt| Sherman
33
AT SITKA.
the massive inlaid work of gold, silver, ivory and gens, representing the Last Supper, the Madonna and the Child, and similar subjects, are a marvel of richness and beauty. Large brass doors divide the altar from the auditorium, which is under the central dome, but the gates are open during part of the ser- vice, giving the worshippers a good view of the inter- ior magnificence. The priestly raiment is rich in color and material, and the service, which is orthodox, is ceremonious and impressive.
At Sitka, Maurice E. Kenealy, son of the cele- brated English barrister of that name, publishes a well-conducted weekly paper called The Alaskan. The North Star is published monthly by Dr. Sheldon Jackson in the interest of the schools and missions.
The town is built in one street which continues as a broad road for a mile to the beautiful Indian river. The prospect from the town is grand. Front Mt. Vers- tova, mirrored at our feet, out over the island-studded bay we have a view which would be hard to excel. Mountains rise on every hand that, grim-visaged, look down upon the town as from an amphitheatre and return an echo as an answer to our salute as we head homeward.
The reader having followed the steamer's course indicated upon the accompanying maps will have been able to locate the principal points of interest along the route. This route seldom varies, and when it does, the steamer goes one way and returns the other, lending variety to the trip.
The following is a correct table of the actual sail- ing distances between the various points along the Inland Passage, from Tacoma to Glacier Bay and Sitka, prepared by Captain Wallace of the "Ancon."
34
TABLE OF DISTANCES.
Tacoma to Seattle
24 miles
Seattle to Port Townsend
381/2
Port Townsend to Victoria.
341/2
Victoria to Departure Bay
78
Departure Bay to Tongas Narrows .. 572
Tongas Narrows to Loring
24
Loring to Yaas Bay
22
Yaas Bay to Wrangell
Loring to Wrangell
78
Wrangell to Juneau
143
Juneau to Chilkat
89
Juneau to Glacier Bay
IIO
Chilkat to Bartlett Bay
80
Bartlett Bay to Glacier Bay
25
Glacier Bay to Killisnoo
76
Glacier Bay to Sitka.
144
Killisnoo to Sitka
78
Sitka to Juneau
152
Sitka to Chilkat.
175
Juneau to Killisnoo
89
CHURCH
. INDIAN TOWN - SITKA.
66
66
th Prasage P
hwater.
South Passage Pt.
-C-
Hopniah Sound
Chichagott
From Cross
Leo Anchorage
· Mokacheff I.
Salisbury
ound
Pt.Thatcher
Distant Pt.
T
hartoffe
Halleck
.
I.
Shelikoff B.d
Mt.
Middle L
Edgecumbe
M
SITKA
2855
Pt.of Shoals
57º
TTT
St.Lazaria I.
F
IT Gturiner
Yasha L
Cornwallis Pt.'
.
Saginaw.
S Pt.Kingeninies
SecurityE
I
KUI
Neckers .*
Bay
Whale Bak
Ft.Sullivan
I.
Pt.Lander
7
Bay of Pillar ?.
Ellis
Totem B
Douglas B.
Tebenkoff B.
170
10
20
~ 92
ds B.
153
5 1
238 48
7
Port
-Labouchere R.
Kell
82:135
206 19
Cape Ommaney
anal
176
46
73
19
56°
SOUNDS
D Spanish Ids
Faxy Ida. 10.
BARANO
Traders I.
Hood Bay
. Cape Georgiana
PerilStraitun Pogibshi Pt. ich Ba
peril Strait
Pt. Craven>.
nahoo
Kootw
Ft.Samuel
Road
Archip Filhaz
Cenasnot
Pt.Kakul
Kruzoff I.
Katllana B."
Pt> Caution
Ft.Townsend }
Surprise Hbr.
FREDERI
SITKA SOU
Dep Filet
CBurunoff
F
136.
Sy
nonds
ep Lako
Biorka
North Capo
S
···- T ---------
A
onclusion I.
(Pt. Barrie
Strait I. E' RIO
65 -2568.
225 231
1
yPt. Baker
. 2Pt.Protection
Conclusion
212 6
.
214 765
145 :178
18] · Mt. Cal
. SEI
Larch Bay
Px. Malmesbur
177The Eve Open 123 S& 32 Arthrite 32 45
|Red Fish Bay !
Puffin Bay
Red Es
72
CHRISTIAN
C. Decision
Sitka, Peril Straits and Vicinity.
Kelpl Bay
Rocky Pt.
White Water B
Admiralty 1.
Cape Edgecumbe
MAP No. 8.
Koptxnahoo Inlet
Kootank
Nismeni Pt.
Soetrornikoff Arm
for
AND
under 1.454
ucle
CHAPTER IV.
THE GLACIERS.
THE NATURAL FORMATION OF A GLACIER. - BIRTH IN THE MOUNTAINS AND GRADUAL DESCENT TO THE SEA .- DR. KANE'S THEORIES .- EVIDENCES OF GLACIAL ACTION IN THE SIERRA NEVADAS AND ROCKY MOUNTAINS. - PROF. MUIR'S DISCOV- ERIES. - DESCRIPTION OF THE GREAT MUIR GLA- CIER. - THE PACIFIC .- DAVIDSON .- TAKOU .-- RAINBOW .- AUK AND EAGLE GLACIERS. - PROF. MUIR'S EXPLORATIONS. - THE EXTENT OF-GLACIAL ACTION .- INVESTIGATION IN GREENLAND .- MO- RAINES. - DEFINITION, DESCRIPTION AND CHARAC- TERISTICS. - MORAINES AND EVIDENCES'OF PRE- HISTORIC GLACIERS IN THE UNITED STATES.
OAH Webster defines a glacier to be "a field or immense mass of ice, or snow and ice, formed in the regions of per- petual snow, and moving slowly down the mountain slopes or valleys." By many it is claimed that a glacier is a river of ice; that is to say, a stream seeking its course from the mountains to the sea, under such climatic conditions as to congeal the water, but which, under the force of gravitation, must pass down as a solid mass between the confin- ing walls, until it reaches an altitude where the
36
GLACIAL DESCENT.
temperature, disintegrates and fractures it, and that the fragments seek the sea in the form of icebergs. That the glacier is the mother of the iceberg, goes without saying, because scientific investigation and research have clearly demonstrated such to be a fact. It is contended, however, by other observers, that the formation of a glacier is not necessarily depend- ent on a water course, and that it can and does exist without the confining banks of a stream as its habi- tat; but as all descending material from mountains, whether solid or fluid, it naturally seeks the most available depressions in the mountains. This im- pression of the glacier is in mountainous countries above the snow-line, where there is a constant accum- ulation of snow under a temperature too low to per- mit any great proportion to become melted and to flow down in the form of water, and hence these accumulations fill the ravines, canyons and other depressions, solidifying either by pressure or by alternate melting and freezing. This ice-a so- called solid-must in the course of gravitation follow the incline of the orifice in which it is confined, and the movement is naturally downward, the front pre- senting an apparent wall of ice, with the tremendous pressure to the rear constantly pushing the frozen column downward to an altitude where, in most cases, it meets the ocean and breaks off into icebergs melting as it reaches warmer latitudes. Dr. Kane, the great Arctic explorer, describes having seen in Greenland, in 1855, in latitude 79°, 80', glaciers extending over the western coast, and sloping so gently toward the water that an inclined plane was scarcely preceptible; yet the solid body of ice was constantly moving toward the bay, where masses
GLACIER BAY, FROM TOP OF MUIR GLACIER, LOOKING SOUTHWEST. From photograph 7806, by PARTRIDGE, Portland, Ore.
37
GLACIERS IN CALIFORNIA.
would break off and float out to the ocean as ice- bergs. Glaciers of this class are certainly not ice- rivers or "frozen Niagaras," as some writers describe the Alaskan glaciers.
Dr. Kane went so far as to conceive of a great unbroken mass of moving ice extending more than one thousand two hundred miles from this glacier to the southern extremity of Greenland. Arctic research has not taught us a great deal of value since Kane's time, and his glacial theory has neither been exploded nor verified, but the discovery of the great glaciers of the Alaskan region certainly gives some color to a belief that he came very near the mark in his idea of a great glacial belt. Evi- dences of glaciers are prominent in the Sierra Nevadas and in the Rocky Mountain Range, and the plain signs of erosion by a force so tremendous, that it could only have come from glacial action, are so apparent that no other conclusion can be arrived at other than that, in the past, these mountains were the breeding place of glaciers, which in the natural course of gravitating forces, swept down to the sea, marking the face of Nature with seams and furrows as they rushed on in their irresistible courses. Clar- ence King, who is pains-taking, scientific, reliable and thoroughly worthy of credence, discovered glaciers on the north side of Mt. Shasta in 1870. Small gla- ciers have also been found on Mt. Tacoma, Wash- ington, and on Mt. Hood in Oregon, and also on the mountains of the Yosemite and in the Sierra Nev- adas, Professor Muir having located and named over twenty. The explorers who have found glaciers in various parts of the world, and who adhere to the theory that the glacier produces the iceberg, are too
38
FROM YAKATAT BAY.
numerous for mention here, but their testimony and narratives add largely in creating an interest in the glaciers of Alaska, which are undoubtedly the great- est of modern times, and which open an almost un- limited field for scientific research. The greatest of these is undoubtedly the Muir Glacier, at the head of Glacier Bay, which is closely followed by the Pacific Glacier, lying west of the Muir, and whose rugged moraines, deep crevasses, together with the impossi- bility of reaching the glacier in safety by any route, has left this unexplored until an exceptionally open summer permits the entry of some daring explorer.
One of the grandest views of Alaskan glaciers is at Yakatat, or Behring Bay, looking at the St. Elias Range of mountains or, as they are euphoniously termed, the "Alaskan Alps." The scenery here is magnificent beyond conception. The mountains, from tide-water to the summit, are clothed in per- petual snow and glistening with huge glaciers. As in all mountainous countries, the air is intensely rarefied, permitting of the extension of vision to great distances and, as the mountains range in height from sixteen thousand up to twenty thousand feet, the effect on the eye of the sun's rays on that great range of snow and ice, can scarcely be imagined, and to attempt to describe it is a task most difficult, and all but hopeless. The height of Mount St. Elias itself, is placed at twenty thousand feet, and, though some sixty miles distant, it is plainly discernible, from base to summit, from Yakatat. The statement that has been made that Mount St. Elias is the highest mountain in North America is disputed by Lieuten- ant Allen, who asserts that Mt. Wrangell, a volcano at the forks of the Copper River, in eastern-central
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