Roseburg review. [volume] (Roseburg, Or.) 1885-1920, 1885-01-31
GLACIERS.
Ehey Wax and Wane, in . Mysterious
Manner, Independent OF the Seasons.

press the opinion that glaciers have q
lbedeutende Natur of their own; that
they wax and wane in some mysterious
manner, independent of the seasons, and
past finding out. N. j. Nenetz, an en-
gineer Of Canton Vaud, was the first to
point out, in work published in Zurich
IN 1888, that glaciers are always either
waxing or waning; and his conclusions
have been confirmed by several subse-
quent observers, notably by Prof Forel,
OF Morges, whose Investigations extend
over considerable period. The exact
observation of glacial phenomena, like
science itself, is quite modern; but we
have abundant evidence that for ages
past glaciers have increased and
diminished with periodic regularity. It
is on record that toward the end of the
seventeenth century the lower Grindel-
] wald glacier invaded pastures and swept
away trees in the beautiful valley be-
/ tween the Jungfrau and the Faulhorn.
| The glaciers of Mount Blanc and Monte
Rosa were also, during the same period,
pushing forward; for several peaks
i
had become impracticable in the eight
eenth. There exists, moreover, map
/ of the neighborhood of the Grimsel,
drawn in 1740 by doctor of Lucerne.
and when Agassiz, in 1845, compared
this map with the glaciers of the
Aar, he found that they had adj
vanced full kilometer- is to
say, their lower extremities were that
much farther down the valley. Less than
forty years ago the great Aletsch glacier,
which of late has so wofuIly waned,
was waxing in portentous fashion. It
uprooted trees and threw down houses
which had stood for generations. The
times when glaciers gain ground live
long in the memories of the mountain
eers of the Alps; for tradition and
history tell of waxing glaciers which
push before them masses of snow SO
vast as to overwhelm villages, destroy
human lives, and sweep away fiocks and
herds. People are still living in Swift
Eerland who retain vivid recollection of
the terrible time, some sixty-five years
ago, when the swelling glaciers thrust
before them such heaps of snow and
rubbish that meadows were devastated,
woods cut down, dwellings buried, and
their inmates smothered, and goat
herds starved to- death in their huts.
Another like period was that between
1908 and 1911 In Canton Grarus alone
hundreds of acres of forest and meadow
land were wasted by glaciers and ava
lanche. In August, 1885, the sudden
forward movement of a glacier de-
stroyed herd of cattle in the Val di
Tuorz (Graubunden), burying them SO
deeply that their bodies were never seen
again. On December ~, 1919, the vii
lage of Randa, in the Valais, was de-
stroyed by Gletcher-lawine (glacier
ayalanchel. Almost every building the
village contained was either over
whelmed and crushed or lifted bodily
upward and thrown on one side. Mill
stones went spinning through the air like
cannon balls; balks of timber were shot
into wood mile above the village;
J the dead bodies of nine were found hun
dreds OF yards from their pastures; and
the church spire was sent flying into 9
distant meadow, like an arrow from a
bow. In 1856 began that long retro.
grade movement which seems only now
to be approaching its term. Twenty
five years ago the two great Chamouniz
glaciers appeared to be in fair way
for reaching the chalets that stand near
, the terminal moraine; and then they
stopped and have gone back ever since.
The shrinkage, though neither stimuli.
tancous nor equal, has been general and
remarkable. and produces decided and
not altogether desirable change to the
aspect of many Alpine valleys. The
beautiful little Rosenlaue glacier, which
e twenty years ago cleaned among the
Z dark pine woods and green pastures ol
the Reichenbach valley, has utterly dis
e appeared, leaving behind it an insight
ly moraine ofrocky fragments. In 1857
the Rhone glacier reached as far as the
: bridge near the Gletch Hotel; now it il
q close upon mile away, and wanes yeal
by year. The Swiss Alpine Club, among
its other good works, causes to be bull
. every summer in front of the glacier 8
little mound of stones painted black
! These mark the glaciers backward
progress, and show that from 1884 te
1883 it shrank at the rate of from
twenty to seventy meters year. Bu
a retrograde movement of the previou;
ten years was much greater, and WE
may even now be on the eve of move
ment in advance. Venetz attributed the
! alterations which he was the first te
make known, if not to discover, to va
d riations in temperature; and albeit the
: climate of Europe has not changed il
4 historic times, and the worlds rainfall
{ is always the same, here are dry year.
and wet years, and it was thought thai
after rainy winter glaciers waved, and
J, that after a droughty one they waned
J, But, as Prof. Forel has lately shown
this theory does not accord with facts
{ The GrindelWald Pfarrbucb contains /
record of the movements of the glacier
for three centuries, and this RECORD
clearly proves that glaciers advance and
= retreat over periods which are measured
by decades. A glacier Wanes or wakes
s continuously for ten, fifteen or otter
! !, forty years; for equally long periods il
may remain stationary, but it never
goes forward one year and back the
. next. Thus between 1910 and 1876 the
Grindelwali glacier receded; from 157s
to 1902 it advanced; from 1902 to 1926
it remained stationary; 1903 marked 8
maximum of advance, 1920 a maximum
: : of retreat; the next twentY-three year,
) was period of growth, the following
: forty years of retrogression. From 177t
to 1888 the movement was reversed. In
!. : 1919 another period of progression sci
: in, the same in 1910, and the present
!, cycle of waning began IN 1855. London
! Spectator.
Even Boston children arc compelled
: 10 endure the criticism handed down
from their ancestors of the first and sec:
! ond generations. g Boston children
.oa,,, nr>Id cd ,rro+,,ra1 eavs Mro