, 1890-08-28
ON SELKIRK'S SUMMIT
A Spokane Man Visits the
Majestic Mountain.
PEN PICTURE OF THE GLACIER
A Scene That Enohants All Who
Have the Fortune to Be-
hold It.


Canadian Pacific Railroad. What
said was certainly unsatisfactory tC
myself, and probably so to the
reader. 1t would take q far more
graphic pen than mine to give ar
adequate description of the ire
mendous spectacle that here greet,
the eye. We were there just one
week ago to-day. All the way from
Revelstoke to Glacier station, a dis
tance of about forty-five miles, we
were going up severe grade and
climbing toward the summit of the
Selkirk range. The railroad
company puts on an observa
ton car at Revelstoke for the
accommodation of tourists. This IL
Of excellent design, having large
open spaces on either side, crossed
by II heavy brass rod to hold
on to, and permitting of al
most perfect freedom of sight. One
can either sit or stand and yet see
almost the entire panorama.
The scenic display begins almost
Immediately after the train sets
out from Revelstoke. The road
skirts along the ragged shores
and through tho narrow gorges OF
the rushing, raging Illicilliwaet, a
stream almost as large as the Spo.
kane river, that has its princi pal
source in the great Illicillwaet gla-
cier. Tho water Is of u milky,
Opaque color, which comes from
an inpalpable dust ground from the
! light colored quartzite stones by the
movement of the vast ice body, At
one place, called Albert canyon, the
bed of the stream In hauked on
either side by perpendicular solid
rock walls over 200 feet high. All
the way up the glaciers the noun
tains rise up in lofty grandeur, the
peaks asccnding higher until the
climax is found In Mount Sir
Donald, bare, gray monolith OF
pyramidal form that rises to the
height of $40 feet. The subordi-
nate mountains are covered with
pine, fir and cedar forests. The
taller peaks are bare and rocky eX-
cept where covered with snow. AS
one moves along on the train new
and startling views are constantly
unfolded to his view. Deep canyons
eye follows up their rugged sides 1t
encounters FAR In the distan ce
through the opening at the summit
the picturesque peak of some majes-
tic monarch that rises up OH the
other side and that seems to stand
as sentinel at the doorway of
heaven itself. Then again you will
catch u glimpse OF some great snow
field that lies along the side of some
high ridge ust. beneath over hanging
cliffs, protected thus from the direct
rays of the sun. The surface has a
yellowish muddy color. The dust of
ages has accumulated there, for the
cmbankment never dissolvcs, re-
ceiving each year its supply of new
snow, being therefore as immortal ms
the everlasting beds upon which
they rest.
When we reach Glacier we have
come TO tho summit of the
range. But the individual
peaks rise up in multitudous
array OH every hand, and on three
sides there are snow fields and
glaciers. The water comes down in
torrents from all these. Inmedi-
ately In front of the hotel there Is a
cascade 1900 feet high. The water
comes plunging down through its
narrow, rocky channel in foaming
splendor. Ii is as graceful as hang.
ing folds of tllniy lace. It's music Is
rs sweet as the song of birds. There
Is no sad plaint OF the sea in its
voice but Joy and eXhilaration. As
one walks out on the green sward of
the pretty hotel grounds and hears
the sounds ofa hundred laughing
waterfalls and drinks i'm the
buoyant, bracing air which Is
cooled and purified on the bosom,of
the everlasting SHOWS, he feels trans
strengthened and he feels that he
could embrace the hoary peaks that
gather about him and claim kin
ship with them all. Summer peace
fulness and joy now reign supreme.
The domes of heavens citadels
are gilded by the golden rays
of the August sun, and the swal-
low finds here peaceful rest
ing place. The flowers bloom mt
our feet and the grass grows unheed-
ful of the day of its doom. Nature
is in her most serene and tranquil
mood. The storm sleeps. The ava
lanche has spent its terrible force,
and the sweet-faced fern now grows
undisturbed in its pathway.
We stroll up to the great Illicilli-
waet glacier. The pathway leads
through thick, matted cedar forests,
through heaps of boulders that seem
to have been rolled down from above
by some supernatural power, along
foaming torre is, over rustic bridges
and finally out In to theopen field that
stretches out at the foot of the vast
ice-iield. Here the moraine shows
evidences of the terrific forces that
have been exerted. The glacier has
been ploughing up the sides of the
mountain as q ship tosses up the
water in front of It's Prov. Its ire
sistible force clears a titanic path
way. My companion calls to mind
these lines from Manfred:
THE glaciers cold and restless mass
Moves onward day by day;
But am he who bids 1t pass
Or with its ice delay.
am the spirit of the place,
Could make the mountain bow,
And culver to its base"
Inch by inch the great mass
comes grinding and crushing down
into the valley below. It's outer
edges reach aim ost 20 the grass and
shrubbery, and we stop to pick
a bunch of wild flowers in sight of
dripping ice grottos of ultra marine.
IL was like a dream of another
world-new and strange, fascinating
enough to make one remember II
for ever. We fingered there for an
hour or more, and, as we turned our
fOOtSteps toward the hotel the sup