Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1879-10-16
AN ALASKA SCENE.
The Yosemite of the Far North
west-A Living, Moving Gla-
cier i'm all Its Sublimity and

cler III All IlS ouDilhhity "iu
Grandeur.
Alaska Letter in San Francisco Bulletin.
Arriving opposite the mouth OF the
ford we steered straight inland between
the wooded shores surprisingly beauti-
full, and the grand glacier came IN sight
living at home in its massive granite val
lev, glowing in the early sunshine, and
extending a most noble Invitation to
come and see. After we were fairly be-
tween the two majestic mountain rocks
that guard the gate of the ford, the view
that was unfolded fixed every eye IN
wondering admiration. No written
words, however builded together, can
convey anything like an adequate con-
ception of itssublime grandeur-the no.
bic simplicity and the tineneSs OF the
sculpture of the walls; their magnificent
proportions, their cascade, gardens, and
forest adornments; the placid water be-
tween them; the great white lcewali
stretching across in the middle, and the
snow-laden mountain peaks beyond.
Still more impOtent are words In telling
the peculiar awe one experiences IN en-
tering those virgin mansions OF the icy
north, notwithstanding it is only the
perfectly natural effect OF simple and APP
preciable manifestations Of the presence
OF God. Standing in the gateway OF this
glorious temple, and regarding it onl y as
a picture, its outlines may be easily
traced. There is the water foreground
of q pale, milky blue color, from the sus-
pended, rOck-mud issuing from beneath
the grinding glacier-One smooth sheet
sweeping back five or six miles like one
OF the lower reaches OF a great river.
At the head the water is bounded by a
barrier wall of bluish-white ice, from
five 10 six hundred feet high, lew
mountain tops crowned with snow APP
pearing beyond il. On either hand
stretches a series of majestic granite
rocks from three to four thousand feet
high, in some places bare, in some for
ested, and well patched with yellow
green chapparral and tlOwery gardens,
especially about hall way up from top
to bottom, and the whole built together
in a general, varied way into walls, like
those of Yosemite Valley, extending far
beyond the ice-barrier, one immense
brow appearing beyond the other, while
their bases are buried in the glacier.
This is, in fact, q Yosemite valley in pro-
cess OF formation, the modelling and
sculpture Of the walls nearly completed
and well planted, but no groves as yet,
or gardens, or meadows, on the raw and
unfinished bottom,
A TRIP To THE GLACIER.
The Captain ordered the Indians to
oct out the canoe and take as many of
us ashore as wished TO go, and accom-
pany us to the glacier also. The only
difficulty We met was network OF icy
streams, at the largest of which we halt
ed, not willing to get wet in fordlng.
The Indian We had selected to go along
with us promptly carried us over the
difficulty on his back. When my turn
came told him | would ford, but he
bowed his shoulders i'm SO ludicrOuSly
persuasive a manner | thought ! would
try the queer mount, the only one OF
the kind had enjoyed since gamc-day
bOyhood. Away staggered my perpen-
dicular mule over the powders and cob
ble-stones into the brawling torrent.
The sensations experienced were most
novel and most unstable, hut, in spite
OF a dozen tOp-heavy predictions to the
contrary, we crossed without fall. by
dint OF patient zigzagging and doubling
among the crevices, and a vigorous use
of our AK in cutting steps on the slopes
and cliffs, we made our way up over the
snow aud back a mile or so over the
cascading brow to a height OF about
seven hundred feet above the base OF
the wall. Here we obtained a glorious
view.
SUBLIME SIGHT.
The whole front and brow of this ma
jcsuc glacier is gashed and sculptured in
To maze of yawning chasms and crew
asses, and a bewildering variety OF
strange architectural forms, appalling 10
the strongest nerves, but novel and beau
tiful beyond mCaSure-CluSterS OF glitter
ing lance-tipped spires, gables and ODE
hsks, bold outstanding bastiOns and
plain mural cuffs, adorned along the top
with fetten cornice and battlement, while
every gorge and crevasse, chasm and
hollow was filed with light, shimmering
and pulsing in pale blue tones of ineh-
able tenderness and loneliness. The
day was warm, and back on the broad
waving bosom of the glacier water
streams NtTt OuNSHi III u NtAA lAANsttNN
network, each in its own frictionless
channel cut down through the porous
discaying ice OF the surface into the
quick and living blue, and flowing with
a grace of motion and ring and gurgle
and basing of light to be found only on
the crystal hills and dales OF a glacier.
Along the sides We could see the
mighty flood grinding against the gram
tie with tremendous pressure, rounding
the outswelling Bosses, deepening and
smoothing the retreating hollows, and
shaping every portion OF the mountain
walls into the forms they were meant TO
have, when, in the fullness Ofappointed
time. the ice-tOol should be lifted and
set aside by the sun. Every feature
glOwed with intention, rejecting the
earth plans of God. Back two or three
miles from the front the current is now
probably about 100 feet deep; but
when we examine the walls, the grooved
and rounded features, so surely glacial,
show that in the earlier days of the ice
age they were all oyerswept, this glacial
having flowed from 5000 to 1000 feet
above its present level. f.e
STILL THE MORNING OF CREATION. :
Standing here, with facts 50 fresh and
telling and held mp so wildly before us,