Telegram-herald. ([Grand Rapids, Mich.) 18??-1892, 1889-06-21
MOTHER OF ICEBERGS.
A Huge GlGcssr Forty Niles -
Length
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Prof Horace " Briggs. II TIE s.tss
Aszskan. describes TIE EaasG Reg.1ls ~ t9s
g4elers q Southeastern ALzskA u >
czlsd rhe 4 slr. and Is D-med fro2 Prof
schD MIR. : zeolegist u sq1e rep1sst-o1,
slaoe &c gave tns nrst uuco-ore1 aescfits
TIA q T. II : forty niles Ing, al o4rk
Ga tns had. ~ . e@sln - tie Gaol- = as
Beng reinforced - nfteen Tributaries
coming down tbs glens troa clnereas
poiuts q lie COMPASS, Al s"eAs % a. -
ses -sseaty I've LllleS Ia a2alzstsr inenee
A. moves WITH rsslsllSss power, bearing
roc4s md long Ines q ostT1tas ca Us ei--
lossy s4rf-ce. JAS before u re4c1es tla
o4y Il = compressed ~ i've seaiinei
mountains into and - forced tnfousH
gO.gs Ou5 nile Ia wlath-
Emergiug from THIS narrow gateway
uovss on, az the rate Of forty II sky teeE
day, 70 the waters whence u rls-nal4y
came, blttressiug the bsy with = perPeu-
diculsr wa ~ feet high, so feet OF ultrA-
marine CRY stats tipped Win pUrost white
being above the surface, aud, being
pushed beyond lis support IN tae under
lying ROCK, battle begins botw zen CO.
hes4On and gravity The latter force a.
ways prevails, ana vast masses break from
the glacial torrent with the combined crash
Of falling walls and heavy thunder, .
tumble into tho bay with "a dash and
shock that agitates the waters miles away,
making navigation perllOus 10 craft OF al
sizes The almost deafeplng roar made
when these masses are rent away, tho
splashing baptism they receive IL Nelr
fail and the leaping waters are iiyely VII
nesses 10 the birth Of an iceberg, which
hencefOrtb, independent existence,
goes on its mission Of girding the shores.
butting against its fellows and OF soaring
IayigatOrs
While the ship was resting unmoored near
the front of this icy barrier, we were
startled by the sudden appearance of
mass of dark crystal. vastly larger than our
own ship, shooting up from the depths and
tossing our steamer as If it were an egg
shell. AS the vessel careened the fright
ened passengers were sent whirling against
her, over chairs or PROSTATE on the deck.
This strange visitor had doubtless been
| bro6en of from the roots of the icy mount
| am, hundreds of feet below the surface,
| and hence had unexpectedly appeared upon
| the scene. Had il struck the ship fairly
| nothing but a miracle could have saved US.
Having recovered somewhat from our
| dumb amazement, about twenty OF us were
sent on shore IN the captains gig Landing
| some distance below the ice wall We climbed
| seventy feet up a lateral mOralne. crawled,
| shoc-deep in wet gravel. down into the val
| ley of glacial river, forded IT, padded
| through glacial mud covered with single
| Just deep enough TO hide the creamy pools,
| slipped PROSTATE on the ice made PREACHER
Gus by thin disguise OF detritus, and
| barked our shins and cut our shoes on the
| sharp, angular blocks Of granite and basalt
strewn profusely along our perilous route.
Blocks of the finest marble hedged our
| pathway; trod on chips Of jasper and chal-
cedony, the product of different mountains
far up on the peninsula, and we passed two
e1quisitely beautiful powders of veined
porphyry, weighing 200 or 800 pounds each,
rounded and polished by centuries of attri-
ton. They were of a dark purple, streaked
with quartz spotlessly white, very desirable
specimens for cabinet, or for out-of-door
| ornamentation.
Stretched along the base Of the mount
aims till they are only a line IN the distance
were the records of those gray old years
| in the form of nioraines hundred feet
high and appearing like "A range of hills.
The larger portion Of this crystal river,
perhaps an eighth Of mile in width, is
heaved into rounded hills and beetling
l-precipices, quite resembling the sea in a
| storm; while the middle and much the
wider part is spintered into countless
spires and needles and pinnaces, ten,
twenty thirty feet in height, and of a beau
tiful ultramarine at the base shaded TO a
dead white at the summit.
In the onward march Of the glacier these
pinnacles are occasionally wrenched from
their seats in the solid ice beneath-they
nod. then tOtter, and then make a plunge,
and are shattered into q cloud of acicular
CRYSTALS that sparkle like the frosted snow
under a full moon of a winters night, only
with more OF coior-thsy are diamonds on
the wing.
Again the whole surface is riven by a
thousand creyices, along the bottom OF
which streams of clear water find their
wav. often broken by waterfalls that plum SO
further down into the dark blue sbysses
out Of sight These chasms are frlghtful
gaps TO one peerlug down a hundred feet
between their turquoise walls. slip, a
fran apeustock, a feeble grasp Of the
guides rope, and gravity would close the
scene without further ceremony.
The molecular structure OF the glacier is
continually changing, adjusting itself 10 tho
elevations and depressiOns of its rocky
bed, and hence there is an incessaR. click
ing aad cracking, interrupted here and
there by an explosion heard over eve-y inch
Of the surface.
The whole scene is weird and strange n
sight and sound ia the voices that rise TO
the air from the azure depths-fasclnating
because every step Is perilous. majestic
from as ua-siveuess and awful because Its
march is irresistible
Consider what a force in wearing away
/ mountains and glens an icy torrent must
be. one mile wide, eight hundred feet deep,
and iu the middle flowing sixty feet day
10 goes grinding ard grooming and cracking
Ia startling explosions. al mingled IN a loud
wal ike that from the Titans imprisoned
under Mount Ktna.
Now. let any one in fancy frame for him
self This picture: Snow-cappsd mountains
In the background, two q them. FAIR
weather and CrilloR. more than hfteen thos
saud feet hish, thick set with gAtfering
/ peaks and clear-Cut as slh0uettes on q cara
sky. the great glacier, child of Arctic
SHOWS, tIrreted aud pinnscied and spin
+ tered INTO q thousand strange forms upon
which Iris las flung the varied hles al
amethyst a~i turquoise and sapphire hugs
+ masses rtveu from the crystal river wltl q
laundering roar. ree.ing and topping into
an amber sea. taicSy dotted wta neE
born ard va-rsut ice5ergs and 81 this
scene giovife5 and transit CURED by the set
ting sun LoosinE upon tbis picture
through The creative p1fer 81 mag nation
enc can readily conceive t1at fHe en
rsptured tourist. Standing il The creseucs
~ the realities. would cali That Day spent
vith the Nl.r glacier me day - a. ths
DAYS he ever passed So ga1lrg upon ard
listening 70 the wild wonders of cur planet