Helena weekly herald. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1867-1900, 1889-01-10
AMID SEAS OF ICE.
SCENES AMONG THE GLACIERS OF
THE UPPER ENGADINE.

Climbing Snow Clad Alpine Heigtts-Dust
Avalanches-Formation of a Glacier-A
Moraine-How "Glacier Corn" Is Formed.
"Glacier Tables"-Moulins
As far as my vision extended there was
nothing in sight but ice and snow, and
the snow was exceedingly white. assure
you. The driven snow you have in towns
and plains is decided brown compared
with the dazzling snow we saw up there
at the tops of Swiss mountains. Forever
and forever this virgin gown lies on all
the peaks, as it also covers the lower val
leys in winter. 1t has the soft look of q
doves breast, it rests on rocks thing of
beauty, and often it is very dangerous.
It falls in soft, pure flakes. clings to all
the projections, covers rocks with charm
ing traceries, and spreads itself like a
sheet of white satin over the upper wales.
But the touch of passing eagles wing,
the light weight of a chamois, or the
careful step of an expert climber will de-
tach it from it's crest and send it down.
Then it goes sliding, rumbling along,
breaking and reforming as it falls, ever
increasing in volume and velocity, and,
pursuing it's way, becomes devastating,
terrible avalanche that bends and breaks
trees, gathers up earth and stones, and
rolls into the Engadine with an awful
sound, spreading destruction and dismay
in it's path. They call these sort of things
staablawinen, or dust avalanches, because
they consist at the start of cold, dry,
powdery snow only, and they are often
far more powerful than a raging hurri-
cane But the avalanches usually seen
lying in high Alpine valleys, covered with
dust, earth and stones and great trunks
of trees, are known as grundlawinen or
compact avalancheS
1t was grand sight on which we gazed.
Glaciers filled every valley and ravine,
and the ice stood up in tall ramparts
wherever the space was too narrow to
hold it's rigid waves. Glacier ice is snow
that has for considerable time been sub
jected to enormous pressure. If you
squeeze SNOWFALL in your hand until it
is very hard it becomes icy. So in the
Alps, the continual fall of snow is the
pressure and the suns heat the warmth
which produces those seas Of ice that are
called glaciers. There are over 600 of
them in Switzerland, and some are coeval
with the glacial period of this continent,
while others are now in process of forma-
tion. Winter is their season Of rest, but
with the spring they resume their onward
motion, due to the combined action Of
heat and gravitation. For in spite of their
apparent immobility all Alpine glaciers do
move constantly, although with different
degrees of speed, and, like liquid streams,
they carry with them debris of all sorts,
but principally the stones that fall on
their surface from the mountains sides.
The glacier starting in Its purity from
some white unsullied peak, loses before
many years it's spotless character. The
wintry frosts gathering into iron bonds
the streams that trickle down the noun
tain sides expand the water in freezing
and shatter rocks with force that the
most solid cliffs cannot possibly resist.
Thus broken fragments drop on to the
once unspotted bosom of the ice sea and
swell it's burden with advancing years.
The debris thus brought down form what
are called moraines. Each glacier has
moraine on either side of it; it's end is
terminal moraine, and when two glaciers
unite their lateral moraines join and form
medal moraine. One of the largest
medal moraines hereabout l saw as we
came down from this excursion. It is in
the center of the Morteratsch Glacier and
is about fifty feet or more broad and per-
haps twenty feet high in it's center.
We were struck by the infinite white
ness of everything, and | have since
learned that it is owing to the presence of
glacier corn. There is on glacier clad
mountains a neve, or finely crystallized
snow, which is never fully melted, and
this is the pressure that forms the glacier
ice. Now, glacier ice is quite different
to that which results from freezing
water, and is found to consist of crystals
varying in size from that of a hens egg
to pins head; these particles are known
as granules or glacier corn, and in minute
holes air is imprisoned. Where the air
bubbles are absent the glacier has blue
ish tint, and is no longer that pure white
which puzzles so many persons. With
the oldest guide carefully leading the
way we walked over the ice sea of Dia-
volezza. Before we had gone far on its
level surface / saw bowlders supported at
some height on ice pedestals and stopped
to examine them. "Glacier tables" said
the guide at the tail end of our process
sion, but his remark conveyed no useful
information. | soon saw that they re-
suited from the presence of block of
stone. 1t had fallen on the sea, and had,
SO to speak, protected the ice directly be-
meath it from the heat of the sun. In
consequence, while the glacier all round
has been dissolving and sinking, the ice
under these bowlders has but slightly
melted, and gradually pillow is forming
under each rock.
But the bowlder is not balanced evenly
on the top" observed the Boston lady.
1t was explained to her that because the
sun is able to reach these ice pedestals
more freely on the south side than on the
north the thing naturally inclines toward
the south. AS we walked along we
noticed line of sand covered mounds
about four or five feet high and culminat-
ing in sharp ridge. We scraped off a
little of the sand and earth and found
that mound was composed of ice which
looked quite black when it was uncovered.
The reason for the existence of these
cones was obvious. The ice protected by
the sand had remained unmelted, and the
wind had thinned the drifted heap into
a pointed shape. Suddenly we heard a
cracking sound which was accompanied
by noise like that of distant explosion,
and the guide said this announced the
formation of another crevasse. Presently
the sound of falling water, which grew
louder and louder as we approached, was
heard, and soon we reached point where
q stream dropped down shaft in the ice
and was lost to sight. The guide called
this deep hole moulin, and he gently re-
marked that false step in its direction
would take fellow down beyond all
human aid. Agassiz and Tyndall both
tried to ascertain the thickness of glaciers
by taking soundings down these moulins.
The former found no bottom at 800 feet
on one sea and on another he estimated
the thickness at $500 feet.-Cor. New
York Times. 49, ---- zz<zS-.Ss--->