The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1890-06-15
ICE COVERED ALASKA
John Muir, Scientist, to Inyesti-
gate Def0restatiOn.

D TJOHN MUIR, the well-known Scien-
list and explorer. literally stood
rs among his own vines and fg-trees as
the writer drove up to the door of his home
a few days since. A great olive tree in
full bloom, shaded one side OF the garden,
al fine sequoa reared its head beside the
front entrance, and his vineyards stretched
away in every direction beneath the warm
sunshine of Il June day among the hills of
the Alhambra Valley. lie came forward
with genial smile and au Invitation to en-
Joy the dim GOODNESS Of his cosy house.
BY way of opening the conversation he
was handed a copy of Alexander Badla ms
new book on Alaska.
Il notice that you are quoted as saying
Alaska, MIR. Muir"
''Mas.Odons - said the scientist, stopping
at the picture so labeled in the book; that
is not mastodon-itis a mammoth. People
have a way of confusing maStodOns aud
mammoths that is absurd. Ii they had ever
examined the teeth OF the two animals they
would not soon forget the difference.
Does the mammoth still exlst?'
. Not so far as | know. The mosquito
exists though, ana of species twice as
vicious, if only, half as large, as the San
Joaquin breed. Mr.. Badlam speaks of
mamm0ths as if they swarmed Ike mos
quitoes."
g He quotes you as saying the fresh flesh
is a common sight"
:. 1t is not common, but occasionally when
there is a break in an ice mass that ilas been
frozen for thousands OF years, portions of
flesh are exposed, but soon decay in the ae
ton of the air"
Mr.. Muir announced that he would soon
start for Alaska, and in answer to a ques-
ton, said: am going principally to look
sftfaa
lie Islands may be seen tufts Of grass on
them above the water-line. The glaciers
come right down through the forests III
some places. They look like great rivers
with heavily wooded banks. The trees are
sometimes three, four and five feet in
diameter, and $50 to 175 feet high.
l have seen logs brought from Fort Wrangel
that were $50 feet long and two aud three
feet in diameter. On the Muir Glacier and
three or four others there are no trees
at all. 1t seemed very queer when
one of my Indians told me that when
we passed certain island we would have TO
take some wood, for where we were to camp
that night there would not be any. In the
morning | found, sure enough, there was no
timber there, and l began to lock around.
Careful obser Walton indicated that the lana
had been forested and deI0reSted. | have
not been to the dividing line between the
forested and deforested part of the country,
but am going again this month to see how
rapidly this deiOreStineDt is extending, or
whether it is extending at all or moving
toward a new forest region"
eyes, IL is hard country in which to
prosecute scientific research. 1t rains most
Of the time and the clouds sometimes cover
the mountains for two or three weeks be-
lore one Can get view. Al! the higher
mountains are covered with Ice and il one
persists in pushing his way up he is likely
TO be smothered in fog; 1t makes one feel
nc If bic hacd in foa MILAN {
the climate was like that Of California one
could push right ahead but if ones head
Is in one OF those clouds, progress Is not
only dangerous but one cannot see any
thing"
Are you goiug in the interest of any one
in Particular"
"0nly in the interest of John Muir him.
SELF | have been studying this forest bust
ness long time and | want to get at facts.
| shall be there month or so.
Did you see any human remains when
you We're there before?'
"Oh, yes. l could have picked them up
in armsfnl They are found in the extreme
north. and. for the most part, are remains
of the present race They are very light
in weight and us we were gathering them
for the Smithsonian Institution, our hands
had great fun loading the vessel. Say,
jim, one in a small boat would say, as he
held up a lank specimen, ratified its bones
and handed il up to a man reaching over
the decks side; say, Jimmie, is this a
friend O. yours? Amt he daisy boy, now?
Make a bow to The gentleman, there's
dude and Jim would clutch the skeleton
aud make it wave its hands in farewell to
the one in the small boat"
''Mirages, did you say ? Yes, mirages
are very common, and | presume a man
with vivid Imagination can see anything
he likes. / have often seen mirages, but
should say that these silent city photo
graphs. of which so much has been said, are
sells. The one of the mirage on the Muir
glacier that appears in this book as a copy
from a photograph by Miss Badlam is more
like the mirage one generally sees. can
might picture anything in the fantastic at
mospheric conditions existing there, but
how they could transfer that mental picture
to photographers plate is more than can
comprehend"
'.Are the evidences of great glacial action
apparent in many places of Alaskan
Every. The best evidence is perhaps to
be seen where the trunk of the vast glacier,
of which the Muir glacier is but one arm,
ground and wore its way through the solid
granite, making the channel through which
all vessels now penetrate Alaskan wilds.
Wait till return from my trip, then may
be able to tell you something of interest.
Cherries are ripe now; suppose we look
through the orchard and see what we can
find"
And we walked out into the CHEEKY sun
shine and tried to forget icy mountains,
rivers and glaciers-not hard matter in
an orchard filled with healthy trees, over
laden with glowing fruit.
EMELIE TRACY Y. SWEET