The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1890-11-13
IN BRITISH COLUMBIA.
Rivers That Run the Wrong Way-Lofty
Glaciers, and Enormous Mountain
Peaks.

hey are voung For instance, the
Peace and Lizard persist in going TO the
Arctic Ocean. in defiance of the Rocky
Mountains and the laws of nature.
! while the Columbia, Fraser and koot-
cuay only consent to travel seward
after going in the opposite direction
some hundreds of miles. But they
also have very peculiar ways of max
iny ice quite opposite to that laid
down IN the text books. In the Skeena
have observed the ice in autumn to
FORM on the river bed among the
+ howlGcrS in globules, like ii mass OF
ti-h spawn. this often growing until
the reef actually reaches the surface:
hUt more often it breaks away in large
/ pieces aud floats off down stream, bear
mr. pebbles and even powders for
many mIlcs. | have seen the river in
( December entirely covered with this
/ ground ice adrift, the globules being
/ the size of peas and cohering like loose
/ snow.
There are many natural bridges on
our rivers also. In the Kicking Horse,
/ three miles below Field Station, there
Is rock bridge, in slate formation,
/ which is inclined SO as to present sharp
| edges very unpleasant to walk upon.
| Every obServant passenger on the
Canadian Pacific Railroad has noticed
! the snow bridge on the Illecillewaet,
! but there are records of ice bridges
/ also. | think ! have heard of one on
| the Homatheo River, but of the Stick
! cen Il marvellous story is told. There
| is a great glacier descending out of the
| high snOwtield to the north, and this
in ancient times flowed right across
the valley, meeting lesser ice stream
from the heights opposite. The Stick
cen flowed under the ice in tunnel,
and at very low water the passage wa.
too small for it, although the water
must have been banked up into a lake
AT the spring freshet.
Now. the Sloane Indians of the up.
| per valley used to regard this tunnel
in the ice as leading to the sweet by
and by" They were. therefore, very
| anxious to avoid the place. But once
the tribe was encamped not far above
the glacier, and there was very old
man and his wife with them who were
too mean to die because of the expense
of giving a funeral feast. They were
very rich and of no use and had large
| appetitcS, and their relatives at last
consented to part with them. They
were. therefore, set adrift in leaky
canoe and consigned to the current.
and all the people, conscious of self
sacrifice. stood on the bank and
watched the canoe vanish into the tun.
nel and felt good. Now, the old peo-
pie were very much frightened and
| squealed a good deal, but when the
blue shadows of the ice closed over
them they thought they were dead In
tians, aud behaved accordingly. Pres
emily the old lady thought it was get
ting light, and became curious and
looked about her. Then she kicked
the old man and asked if he didn't
wish they were at the funeral feast
He looked up and found the canoe out
in the open again, the glacier behind
them, and the world pretty much as
usual. They got ashore, cut paddles
and poles. and prepared to 90 home
again. The old man began to be
hungry for the grease boxes; the old
lady set her heart on grease and Der.
ries, and they both determined to get
home for the banquet, since they had
assisted at the funeral Well by dint
of making the old lady work while he
steered and gave good advice, they
succeeded in making their way up
| through the tunnel and home, and were
in ample time for the feast In fact
they lived happily ever afterward. But
how shall we condole with the relatives.
whose sweetest and most pious tradi.
lions had been shattered about the
sweet by and by?
| Not least among the natural wonders
of the coast is Mckenzie Passage, a
little to the westward of Kingcome
Inlet. 1t is chaSm about six miles in
length. leading to the base of an isolat-
ed and broken peak $3.50. feet high.
The walls are very close together,
| vertical and Snow-crowned. The sun
never shines in this awful gorge; the
vapor from its waters hangs dark and
| bitter cold, unmoyed by any wind and
| no living being enters its solitude. !
find but two records of this place hay
ing been visited by white men.
Scarcely less wonderful is an inlet
| tributary to Deans Canal, and the
scene of one of the most important
events in Canadian history. 1t is thus
described by Vancouver: The width
| of the channel did not anywhere ex-
ceed thrce-qual ters of mile; its shores
| were bounded by precipices much more
perpendicular than any we had yet
seen during this excursion; and from
| the SUBMITS of the mountains that
overlooked it, particularly on its north
| eastern shore, there fell several large
| cascades. These were extremely grand
| and by much the largest and most
| e
held" In conclusion of long de-
scription lie named the place Cascade
| Channel.
Two months afterward arrived here
the greatest of Canadian explorers,
| having been the first man to cross
! North America. Much threatened by
large body of Indians, he fortified
| himself on rock for the night and the
next day mixed some vermilon and
! grease and painted on the enormous
mountain wall the following words:
Alexander Mckenzie from Canada
! by land, the twenty-second Of july. one
thousand seven hundred and ninety.
three" Ard in his record the explorer
says that rs he stood on the rocks
native spoke to him of Vancouver.
AT some distance from the land Il
channel opened to us, at southwest by
west and. pointing that way. he made
me understand that Macubah came
there with his large canoe"
La Perouse, the great French ex.
plorer. entered Lituya Bay under the
shadow of the St. Elias Alps, and said.
Il suppose that this is the most won
derful place in all the world" This
bay, entered by very narrow aper-
ture, was shaped like the letter +, the
head of which was fathomless abyss,
surrounded by mountains of from two
to three miles of vertical height.
Glaciers broke off the SUBMITS of its
walls, forming an icy cornice from
which ponderous masses fell at times
into the sea with crash that resound.
ell more heavily than the loudest
thunder. The tides surging out of
this cause an overfall, and n party of
officers being out mainly on pleasure