Port Tobacco times, and Charles County advertiser. (Port Tobacco, Md.) 1845-1898, 1875-10-29
Black Mountains Glacier, California.

Tracing the stream back to the last
of it's chain of lakelets, l noticed a
fine gray mud covering the stones on
the bottom, excepting where the force
Of the entering and outfowing cur
rents prevented its settling. On ex-
animation it proved to be wholly min
eral in composition, and resembled
the mud worn from a fine-grit grind
stone. at once suspected its glacial
origin, for the stream which carried
it came gurgling out of the base of a
raw, fresh-looking moraine, which
seemed to be in process of formation
at that very moment. Not plant,
lichen, or weather-stain was anywhere
visible upon its rough, unsettled sur
face. 1t is from sixty to over hun
dred feet in height, and comes plung-
ing down in front at an angle of thir-
ty-eight degrees, which is the very
stepest at which this moraine material
will lie. Climbing the moraine in
front was, therefore, no easy under
taking. The slightest touch loosened
ponderous blocks, that went rumbling
to the bottom, followed by train Of
smaller stones and sand. Picking
my way with the utmost caution, [ at
length gained the top, and beheld a
small but well-characterized gla-
cier swooping down from the sombre
precipices Of Black Mountain to the
terminal moraine in finely graduated
curve. The solid ice appeared on all
the lower portions of the glacier,
though it was gray with dirt and
stones imbedded in its surface. Far
ther up, the ice disappeared beneath
coarscly y granulated snow.
The surface Of the glacier was still
further characterized by dirt bands
and the out-croping edges of blue
veins that swept across from side to
side in beautiful concentric curves,
showing the laminated structure of
the mass of the glacier ice. At the
head Of the glacier, where the mere
Joined the mountain, it was traversed
by a huge yawning Beryschrund, in
some places twelve or fourteen feet
wide. and bridged at intervals by the
remains of snow avalanches. Creeping
along the edge of the .Schrund, hold
ing on with benumbed fingers, | dis
covered clear sections where the bed
ded and ribbon structure was beauti-
fully illustrated. The surface snow,
though every where sprinkled with
stones shot down from the cliffs above,
was in some places almost pure white,
gradually becoming crystalline, and
changing to porous whitish ice of diff
ferent shades, and this again changing
at depth of twenty or thirty feet to
bluer ice, some of the ribbon-like
bands of which were nearly pure and
solid, and blended with the paler bands
in the most gradual and exquisite man
ner imaginable, reminding one of the
way that color bands come together in
Il rain bow.
y series of rugged zigzags enabled
me to make my way down into the
weird ice world of the Schrund. Its
chambered hollows We're hung with a
multitude of clustered icicles, amidst
which thin subdued light pulsed and
Shimmered with indescribable lowell
ness. Water dripped and tinkled
overhead, and from far below there
came strange solemn murmurs from
currents that were feeling their way
among veins and fissures on the bot
tom. Ice creations of this kind are
perfectly enchanting, notwithstanding
one feels so entirely out of place in
their pure fountain beauty. | was
soon uncomfortably cold in my shirt
sleeves, and the leaning wall of the
Schrund seemed ready to ingulf me-
Yet it was hard to leave the delicious
music Of the water, and still more the
intense loveliness of the light.
Coming again to the surface of the
glacier. | noticed blocks of every size
setting ont on their downward journey
to be built into the terminal moraine.
The noon sun gave birth to null
titude of sweet-yoiced rills that run
gracefully down the glacier, curling
and swirling in the shining channels,
and cutting clear sections in which
the structure of the ice was beautiful
ly revealed.-J0hn Muir, IN Harper's
Magazine for N0rember.