1!)0
THE WEST SHORE.
;-':-;,f : - . t -r. " b: ' '
.f ....
FRONT OK THK GKKAT MUIR CI.ACIKR, ALASKA.
I northwest. 'I , most regular and typical is (lie Eliut, and litis is also the
moit accessible, U ng hut half a mile from the stage road. This glacier is
I hui ilrKribril l)' I'rofessur Lyman : " It rises in a depression between two
monstrous butties rs of rock, which form the great precipice 3,000 feet in
depth. I'own tin the accumulated snows of winter are hurled in the ava
lanches of Mliumet, bearing with them fragments of rock, which, falling upon
the lower projittiims, wear the cliffs steeer and the gulfs deeper. By its fall
he snow is crushed and hardened. It slides over irregularities by which it is
roken into culej, wedges, prisms nearly every geometrical figure. Jammed
Into a slightly im lined basin it is transformed into pure ice. The movement
of the ire in the basin Is northeast, until meeting a low ridge it is deflected
northward, t n kcd into numlerless fissures, through a narrow pass. Here
the ice is again compacted, and moves with little fracture to its terminus.
The upper levels are worn in many places into circular holes as regular as
wells. Slrr.iT" of w.uer falling into them carve their sides into all manner of
fantastic designs. The lower portion ol this glacier is entirely covered with
debris, hem e the first view is disappointing. Instead of the crystal pinnacles
imagination has formed, we see a dark wall, looking like rock, except that it
ft.-'--'-
1 '
V
r'l.OATINli H'KHKKliS IN ULUUK HAY. ALASKA.
shines here and there where the thawing is so rapid as to wash away the sand
coating. It wastes away at the rate of twenty feet a year, and has become
less steep with the wearing process. From beneath rushes a noisy torrent,
thick with pulveriicd rock. This is the main fork of Hood river." Of the
Coe glacier Professor Lyman says : " This is the smallest, but most beauti
ful, of all. From the precipitous walls of Barrett's spur, rocks constantly de
scend with thunderous sound. Recently a cliff at the head of this glacier
split asunder and fell into the abyss with a crash that' shook the country for
twenty miles around, The cracks and seems of the Coe glacier, the rainbow
tints about the edges darkening into the indigo of the lower depths, are of
marvelous beauty." This is the one which contains the huge crevasse shown
in the engraving. Similar in their characteristics are the glaciers of Mount
Rainier, Mount Adams and others of the great snow-capped peaks that sur
mount the Cascade range and form such commanding features in the land
scapes of Oregon and Washington.
Far more tragic and beautiful is the fate of the Alaskan glaciers from the
slow disintegration that is the end of the ice rivers of the Cascades. These
frozen streams that flow through the mighty canyons of that region find a watery
grave in the mighty Paci
fic. The two best known
are the Muir and Davidson.
Both of these present to
the ocean a solid wall of
glistening green, the color
ing being most brilliant and
beautiful, This wall is
many feet in height, as will
be realized by a compari
son of objects as shown
on the picture of the front
of Muir glacier. Against
this shining wall of ice (he
waves dash, gradually wear
ing away the base until,
with a noise like the dis
charge of heavy ordnance,
the overhanging cliff of ice
falls into the sea, throwing
the water high Into the air
and creating a huge wave,
that causes the floating
bergs to pitch and toss
about like vessels in a
V''
Vr
1'w- m, tt
'