New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1884-08-19
A SIMMER TRIP TO ALASKA.

A. Harrison IN IfDpiuCOUs
We were greatly favored when we left Sitka
Starting off in rain, in which everything lay IL
muddy eclipse, woke up next morning ahu
found ourselves tracing the outside T9u'e =" tnp
Muir Glacier in sparkling sunshine. The TRANSITION
WAS delightful and, though most OF the passeneels
were SICK from the tossing of the ship on inc one
outside ocesHsTs R %H ,hd ''y cabin Windows
played on the walls, and prlcked anu soa.'oLeu t
enormous vapor-ma that hung over mo HUH,
aims on onr right There were no longer lhe Nau'cu
vapOrs of the preceding days. the dense counter
pane of nebulous gray that covered the whole SKY
with its monotony. The heavy cloud chung
TO the mountains leaving an exquisite arc ol SAY
almost Italian in its sunny azure.
Nothing could he more superb than the deep;
dark velvety tints of the Crlnkled ana crunp'eu
mountains as they shelved to the sea aud came III
contact there with an cdging of foam from the 1lne
Pacific Huge elly-fish Tapped about IN the clear
water, nebulsr patches OF prot3pa,m,c
capable apparently of other functions thal sen
sation motion and self -propagatlOn; some OIL them
were richly streaked, lOng-tailed, dcicst"Iy mar,
gincd with cOmet-like streamefS lelik -IlllS' anu
nuclei like a wide open sunllowcT lhrlf u0VVn
was so indoently graceful that | could not heip
Mo,1nt ST. Eliasl Yes. there it was, they af-
frrned on the northeastern horizon. vapory, I'M
substantial cone dancing MP aud down In the re-
fracting light | looked and looked peGsuadlnV
myself that saw the glorious vision lo,ooo lcel
high Others persuaded themself of the same lact'
beng naturally ambitious of carrying away re-,
membranes of the tacs' mountain ~ ~,
America But after all fancy that nobody ha.i u
very stronglaith in hisdsCevery, particularly as ny
r,nitod mountain seemed to change its place M
hiiher and thther the curve OF the SKY ANA Uh"'-
"B"i yondefl what is thati Clouds AppaT-
entity. But look again. what that small spern n
M. What sight Certainly the erandcst view
we have had yet. huge, WHITE. snow tipped back
like cainels hump now lOOmod apparently fght
out of the waters edge,-the mighty Thnge VI
Mount Faitwtaiher. Mount Crillon, and elght or
ten other doqes and peaks, ire hlgnes' n'' to
thousand five hundred feet high, according 10 me
measurement of Tho United States Cnas survey
his is tle finest mountain landscape We haVr eNf'
spen not even excepting the A lp7 from Neuichatel
The peaks looked ENORMOUSLY hiFh ~ ihey snol Wy
behind the sea edge far above the hist stratum ~
cloud which ran along midway Of tlH inonn-
tain In deep, sleis-cooicd belts Now
sud lhen tho yapof thinpcd 70 the linc-
meas ~ inllr and HtphAi tahfh, behnu Whlch tho
mountain cnlpfH looned ~ Vhgu" hhd vet ihdihnt
putty, Gradually Tho af'lrnt sun melted away ~"
misty siiated belts 81 cloud hud tho goat pfhhS
stood out calmly ana glofionhly rnnlg'4t ~ no
crystal August air, u scene IT eIanihile loyelhhhh
aud sHbllmiiy Al one end "A mighty glacier IAN
down Ia the ser, and AT the other the pYtmY
mountains two or three thousand feet higll VIZ hhd
been cOastng lay like eb0n carvings against the
white a ripple of dark velvet against ermne.
For hours we steamed toward tins splendid PIE
ture, which, while growing more and more dlStlncl,
did not appear to be any nearer than Whch we hIsl
saw it, the afternoon we Turned 10 the rlsht OF ls
range into icy straits. and soon we were III thc
midst of a scene more wonderful perhaps, than that
through which we had just passed. On the hight
green water lay literally hundreds of icebeTgs OF an
shapes and sizes deep, translucent blue, the
blue of cobalt, others green, others pure
white serratcd castcllated, creneated, glitterIng,
from the size of a tureen to that of a SINAI
church. We seemed on the point of entering that
ancient paROcTystIc sea OF which the geOloglSts
sneak ice everywhere, our ship cutting its way
through impnging ice. At length we cast anchor
in eighty three fathOms of water close to the
gigantic Muir Glacier, which feeds these ICY
straits with their wonderful masses of crystal
This was the acme the eliminating point of our
tour. Before us lay the stnpeudous mass of ser
rated ice from three hundred TO five hundred feet
high, and several miles wide, from shore to shore
blue, wondrous, inaccessible, more ancient per-
haps than the mountains against which II rested,
mining straight into the sea where we were at
anchor every moment enormous fragment breaking
off aud rolling down into the water with rever-
Iteration like a clap of thunder For hours we lay
there as if spell-bonnd by this magnificent
nant of glacial action, more striking, to our think
ing than all the other glaciers we had passed and
examined through our enSses, even than the DAVID
son Glacier or the wonderful inCrustation aloug
the Stickeen