Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1884-08-20
A Summer Trip 10 Alaska.
rJames A. Harrison in Upplncotl's.

! We were greatly favored when we left
| Sitka. Starting OF in rain, in which
everything lay in muddy eclipse, we woke
up next morning and found ourselves
| tracing the outside route 10 the Muir Gla-
cier in sparkling sunshine. The transition
was delightful, and, though most OF the
| passengers were sick from the tossing OF
the ship on the long, outside Ocean-swell,
believe they all enjoyed the sunshine as
il flashed into their cabin-windows, played
on the walls, and pricked and scattered the
enormous yapOr-masses that hung over the
mountains on our right. There were no
longer the vaulted vapors Of the preceding
days--the dense cOunierpanc OF nebul0us
gray that coTered tie whole sky with its
monotony. The heavy cloud-banks chung
| TO the mountains, leaving an exquisite are
| Of SKY. almost Italian in its sunny aztrc.
| Nothing could be more superb than The
! deep, dark, yelvety tints OF the crinked
and crumpied mountains as they shelyed 10
the sea and came in contact there with an
edging Of foam from the blue Pacific
Huge jelly.fisb tapped about IN the clear
water. nebular patches OF protoplasmie eX-
istence. capable apparently OF no other
functions than sensation, motion, and self
propagation. Some Of them were richly
with comet-like streamers. Jelly frillS. and
nuclei like wide.open sunnower. Their
! motion was so indolcntly graceful that /
could not help gazing at them.
Mount st. Elias Yes, there it was. they
affirmed, on the northeastern horizon, "A
vapOry, unSlibstantial cone. dancing up and
down IN the refracting light. | looked and
looked, persuading myself that ! saw the
glorious vision 10500 feet high. Others
persuaded themselves OF the sumo fact, be-
ing naturally ambitious Of carrying away
remembrance of the talIest mountain in
all America. But, after all, fancy that
nobody had very strong faith in his dis
ccvery. particularly rs the reputed noun
tain seemed to change its place. fit hither
and thther on the curve OF the sky, aud
finally disappear.
But yonder! What Is that? Clouds
Apparently. But look again. WHAT. that
small speck Just on the edge OF the waterf
No, higher up-up-up. What sight
Certainly the grandest view we have had
vet. 4 huge, white, snOw-tipped back,
hike camcrs hump, now lOomed APP
parently right out Of the waters edge-the
mighty range Of Mount Fairwcather, Mount
CriloD. and eight or ten other dOmes aud
peaks, the highest 1880 feet high. ac-
States Coast Survey. This is the finest
mountain landscape we have ever
seen, not ever excepting the Alps from
NeuIcbatel. The peaks looked enormous
" high as they shot up behind the sea- |
edge, far above the first stratum OF |
cloud which ran along midway OF The noun |
tain in deep. slate-colored belts. SNOW aud /!
then the vapor thinned to the fnencsS Of |
tulle and BIousa gauze, behind which the !
mountain colors doomed in vague and yet |
radiant purity. Gradually the ardent sun |
melted away the misty stria,ed belts OF |
cloud. and the great peaks stood out calmly |
and gloriously eiIulgent in the crystal Au- |
gust air, scene Of exquisite loneliness |
and sublimity. At one end mighty gla- |
cier ran down 10 the sea, and at the other |
the pygmy mountains two or three thou
sand feet high we bad been coasting lay |
hike ebon carvings against the white, a rip. |
pie OF dark velvet against crimson.
For hours we steamed toward this splen- |
did picture, which, while growing more /
and more distinct, did not appear any |
nearer than when we first saw il. In the |
afternoon we turned TO the right OF this |
range into ICY straits, and soon we were in |
the midst OF a scene more wonderful, per-
haps, than that through which we had Just |
passed. On the light-green water lay lite
rally hundreds OF icebergs OF all shapes and |
siZes-some a deep. translucent blue, the |
blue Of cobalt. others green. others pure
white, serratcd, castelated. crenellated, |
glittering-from the size Of a tureen to |
that OF small church. We seemed on the |
point OF entering that ancient paleocrystic |
sea of which the biologists speak. ice every |
where, our ship cutting its way through |
impinging Ice. At length we east anchor |
in eighty-tbree fathoms OF wather close TO |
the gigantic Muir Glacier, which feeds these
icy straits with their wonderful masses OF
crystal. This was the acme. the cuimina.
ting point OF our tour. Before us lay the
stupendous mass Of serrated ice, from three
hundred TO five hundred feet high, and |
several miles wide, from shore to shore,
blue, wondrous, inaccessible, more ancient |
perhaps than the mountains against which
II rested, running straight into the sea
where we were at anchor, every moment !
enormous fragments breaking off and roll
ing down into the water with a reyerbera-
ton like clap Of thunder. For hours we
lay there AS IL spell-bound by this magnii-
cent remnant OF glacial action, more strik.
Ing. 10 our thinking, than all the other gla-
clers we had passed and examined through
our lenses, even than the Davidson glacier
or the wonderful incrustation along the
Stickeen.