Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1885-01-15

SJra1CS 1eaQl0g 10 Gno Day. w ere LII
not for it's neighbor, Lynn canal would
be marked feature Of Alaska. Long
and narrow, it extends southwark be-
tween parallel ranges of snow-capped
paaks, and affords at every turn a
view of wonderful variety and beauty.
There, at one moment, the steep sides
of the hills are overrun with water
falls, showing white amid the dark
green trees, and again glacier presses
It's way through an opening IN the
cliffs and runs It's long arm down into
the blue -tinged waters. In the dis
tance the mountains visible from
Lynn canal ase marshalled against
the sky like
Ships of Some vast feet
Sailing through wind and sleet.
Northward especially the peaks are
imbued with a grandeur which be-
longs particularly to Alaska. White
as driven snow, clear-cut and many
shaped, they I'll the horizon with
their majestic heights and add yet
another colOring to that lavish display
of varied hues so characteristic of the
country when the sky is clear of
clouds and the sunlight falls upon the
deep-land snow and forests and huge
glaciers that. fill the mountain ra
vines.
But Glacier bay is indescribabI9.
''Its grandeur discourages one attempt
ing to paint it, said the artist. On
right and left ran two high ridges of
forest-covered hills, with here and
there a whitened peak lifting it's head
above the greenness. Around us lay
the unruffied waters of the bay,
stretching away towards the south
past group of tree grown islands to
where line of pale blue submits rose
/ into view. No canoes were visible,
no sails appeared ia sight, no towns Or
| villages or camps relieved the wilder
ness Of the neighboring shores. A
wilderness lay all about us, with wat
ers bathing the feet of mountains and
! snowbanks resting on rocky nights,
| while in the distance, SO far removed
that only their general outlines could
be seen and every ugly scar was hid,
JOomed the TRIBE submits of the Fair
weather range, shooting pure and
white sixteen thousand feet the hills
gathered about their base, and fOrn-
! ing the northern boundary of the bay
| Other ranges have a greater altitude
than this Of F'airWeather, but few rise
from so near the sea, and have s@ lit
tie to rob them of their height Look
ing at this group the mountains seem
to have shot up from the ground, and
| they stand like cakes of ice, frosted
with fresh fallen snow. They were a
hundred miles away when we first
caught sight of them, yet seemed not
half that distance, for the air was
crisp and clear.
There are altogether six hundred
| glaciers in Alaska, varying in size,
but IN nearly every case having di-
fnensi0ns far greater than any liz
Switzerland. Those extending down
from the FairwSather group and from
the lesser heights gua1 ding tie bay
on the north and south, and which
drop portions of their immense bulk
into the deep waters of the inlet,
number six in all. The largest of
these is the Muir glacier, explored and
measured first by John Muir, who
was guided to it by Indians. It is fifty
miles or more in length, and where it
touches the bays is three miles in
width, and has solid height above
the water of 300 feet, with pinnacie's
of spire-like design rising 50 feet and
100 feet above the more solid mass.
Underneath the immense cakes and
blocks of snow aRd ice constituting
the glacier, which are piled together
in the widest and most aisorderly
manner, runs a living stream of wa
ter, coursing through its hidden pas
sage with a rumble as of a thousand
carts. Escaping from the ice at last,
the river boils upward from the gla-
cier front, then mingles with the wa
ters OF the bay, and flows off toward
the outer sea. The constant wear of
this sunless stream, acting with other
causes, forces particles OF the glacier,
to break away from the main body,
and as they fall roar like the sound
of a cannon wakes the echoes of the
place, and columns of water leap up
ward against the frozen cliff until it
is drenched with spray. During the
summer months, when there is more
J general warmth, the glacier is eaten
away for distance of half mile, but
later Is the season the ever-moving
mass regains the distance lost and
appears IN springtime again as long
and high as ever. During the SUM
mer the bay is filed with the frag-
ments that have fallen, for they rise
after sinking and go floating away
like icebergs from the Polar seas.
| Many Of them measure a hundred feet
IN height, and appear to be islands of
richly colored ice and snow. Many
are fat and square, but others are csv-
cred with towers and castles, and have
deep caves within them, filed with
light green or deep hue SO peculiar to
bodies of thick ice. Sailing among
these bergs and with Fairweather on
the one side and the glacier on the
other, and feeling the chill air which
ali this ice creates. one may easily
imagine himself among the ever frozen
barriers of the distant north.
1t was nearly sunset when we began
to near the Muir glacier, and the dav
was nearly ended when the towering