Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1884-08-29
GLACIERS AND GOLD-MINES.
a PEERLESS DAY IN ALASKA.
The Pleasant Town or Juneau-sts Many
Christeninas-rne siIver-I,ow Gold -diHes-
An Isolated Democrat.

1
!. OF The st. Louis Globe De,nocrnf writes. L
tnere were not so many more wonderful
, PAGES III Alaska, Wrangel Narrows would
give u scenic lame and make tts iortun,
III tnose coming centuries when tourists
ana yachts VIII crowd these waters, and
boets ana seaiarlng noyelists desert tht
Scotch coast for these Northwestern isles
Instead OF William Blacks everlasting
Oban, and Statla. and SKYE. and heroincs
with a burr IN their speech, we Will read OF
kasa-an, and kalgan. Takou. and Chilkst,
and maidens who lisp in soft accents the
deep eurglng Chinook, or the older dia.
lectS OF their race. In which languages
ethnoIogIsts are now finding so many Aztec
words and terminations. Wrangell Mar
rows is q sinuous cifanne between noun
taineus islands. and for thirty miles Il Is
hard to determine which one Of the per-
pendicular walls at the end OF the strait
VIII finally stop usrwith. ils impossible
front. There are dangerous lodges and
rocks, ard strong tides rushing through
this pass, and the average depth from four
TO twelve fathoms ~ very shallow water for
Alaska. Although long known and used
by the Indians in their canoes, nayigltors
kept out OF it, and believed that there
was not continuous aud safe inside
passage any further up the coast.
The perils OF Cape Ommauey. off the
south end OF Barar OF Island, nearly matched
the dangers Of this unknown channel, and
in 1870 the troop.ship Newbern was the
first steamer TO run the narrows, piloted by
one Whiiford, who now lives at Sitka.
Early this year Captain Coghlan. COM
mander OF the mrn-oi-war Adams, carefully
sounded and marked OF the channel with
stakes and buoys, and the navigators now
only look 10 n favorable turn OF the tide in
going through this picturesque reach. A
long chain Of snow-capped mountains
slowly unrol rs the ship emerges from the
narrows, and the Patterson glacier Is seen
tossing its frozen current down the slope
OF a great ravine, and beyond il the Dey.
lis Thumb" thrusts mp its granite signal
from the top OF mountain.
AsET OF GLACIERS.
Winding north through broader chan.
ncls we reached the mouth Of Takon inlet,
where floating ice gave evidence OF the
great glaciers that lie within. and following
up this ford for about fifteen miles we came
suddenly in sight OF three glaciers. One
slOped down steep and rather narrow
ravine, and its front was hidden bvanother
turn in the overlapping hill. The second
one pushed down between two high noun
tainS, ana, resting itself on the water,
dropped Off the lcebergs and cakes that
covered the surface Of the dun, grav-
| green water. The front Of this lev
cliff stretches entirely across the
half.mile gap between the mountains, and
its face rose 100 and 200 feet from the water.
every foot OF it scanned, Jagged. and ren.
with great assures, in which the paest
| rrismatic hues were flashing. As the tide
fell large pieces fell of from THIS front, and
| ayalanches OF ice fragments crashed down
into the sea and raised waves that rocked
| our ship and set The Ice-lloes grinding TO-
gether. On the other point OF the crescent
| OF this bay there Law the largest glacier, an
| ice-feld that swept down from two noun.
tain gorges, and spreading ojt i'm fan
shape. descended in long slope
10 moraine Of sand. pebbles, and
powders. Across it, rolling front
this glacier must have measured at
least two miles, and the low, level
moraine was good half.mi in width. The
moraine's slope was so gradual that when
the small boats were lowered and we started
for the shore they grounded one hundred
feet from the water-mark, and there stuck
until the passengers were taken of one BY
one in the lightest boat. and then carried
over the last twenty feet Of water IN the
sailors arms. II was time for old clothes
10 begin with, and every one wore their
woIst when they started of, but at the
finish, when the same set waded through
quarter Of q mile Of sand and mine
raj mud left exposed by the falling
tide, and were dumped into the boats bv
the sailors, a near relative would not
have owned one OF us. The landing OF the
glacier pilgrims was scene worthy OF the
nimblest caricaturist, and sympathy welled
up for the poor officers and sailors. who
shouldered stout men and women and
struggled ashore through sinking sand and
water. The burly captain picked out the
slightest young gIrl and carried her ashore
like doll, but the second officer, deceived
by the gaunt eyes OF one tall woman, lifted
her up CALAMITY, floundered fer awhile in
the mud and the awful surprise OF her
weight, and then bearer and burden took
headlong plunge.
We trailed along in files, like so many
ants across the sandy moraine. sinking IN
the soft sand, stumbling over acres OF
smooth rocks and pebbles. and jumping
shallow streams that wandered down from
the melting ice. Patches OF epIl0bium
crimsoneO the ground with its rank BIOS
SONS near the base oi the glacier. and at
gray ice-hills.
Al ICE-FIELD EXPLORATION.
There was wonderful stiffness in the
air, and the clear, sunny blue sky brOodcd
peacefully over the wonderful scene. The
erunching Of the footsteps on the rough
ice could be heard q long ways, and from
every crevice came the rumble and roar OF
the streams down under the ice. Rising
five hundred feet or more by a gradual
incline Of a half-mile. we were ~ far from
seeing the source oi the glacier as ever, and
the vast snow-belds from which the
streams Of ice emerge were still hidden by
the spurs Of the mountain round which
they poured. At that point there were
some deep crevaSses in the Ice. and leaning
over we looked down INTO the bOttomle.s
rift. The young Catholic priest, forgetting
everything in the ardor Of the moment and
the ice-fever, labOred like giant, hurlin%
vast powders into the depths that we
might hear the repeated crashes as they
struck from side to side before the spllsh
told that they had reached the subterra-
mean river that rOared so fierccly. In the
outer sunshine the ice sparkled like broken
bits Of silver, but in the creyasse the cOlors
were intensified from the palest ice.green
to deeper and d., per blue that was lost
in the shadowy purple at the last point.
The travellers who had learned their
glaciers IN Switzerland sat amazed at 'he
view before them. and owned that the
glacier on which they were standing was
much larger and more broken than the
Mer de Glace, while nothing in the Alps
could equal the smaller glacier beyond that
lay gltteiing like great iewel-houSe and
dropping bergs OF beryl and sapphire into
the sea.
We ran down the glacier slopes hand In
hand in long lines that "snapped the
whip" and went all-hands-round OH the
more level places. or crept in cautious file
along the narrow ridges between creyasses.
We drank from icy rills that ran in chan
nels Of clear green ice, and crossing the
moraIne we waded through mud ankle deep
and were carried to the boats. The reced-
ing tide had obliged the sailors to push the
boats further and further of, and when
one frail bark was about full there was a
crash. an avalanche OF ice went
splashing into the sea from the
smaller glacier up the bay. and
great wave curling from it washed |
the boat back and left 1t grounded. Men
without rubber boots were then so well
soaked and so plastered with glacier mud |
that they Just stepped over The boats side |
and helped the rubber.elad sailors float II |
Of. The lower deck and the engine-room |
were hanging full and strewn with muddy |
boots and drying clothes all day, and the |
stewards were heard 10 wonder, "whal |
great fun there was In gettin; all their