The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1890-01-26
rHE MUIR GLACIER.
Unspeskably Grand. Bot IL IL Passing
Away.

Unspeakab1y Grand. Bat IL IL Passing
Away.
H. X. A. Pocock furnishes the following
graphic description OF Glacier bay and the
great Mnir glacier to the Victoria Tisaes:
There Is nothing on the continent 30 tre-
mendons ~ the scenery that surrounds the
great glacier. Between Glacier bay and the
ocean the peninsula Is crowned with the
first Of the Alps OF 81. Elias. In full view
are Mounts La Perouse Gil 300. Crilion
tl5.e0l. Lituza Go, 00) and Fairweather
fi5 800 and over ON the Eestern.side OF the
bay there Is another long tongue OF land di-
viding & from Lynn canal and covered with
the White mountains. q beautiful snowy
range. upward of 1900 feet high, crested
SUBMITS. At the head the bay breaks into
two arms. and upon them Eve mighty gla-
ciers break off into the water, the eastern
and highest OF which Is the subject Of this
essay. Far back between the ranges Tor
many hundreds Of miles ia an ice field. Its
extent is not known. but ii certainly ex-
ceeds In area the British isles, reaching
from the coast TO the Yukon valley. A
branch extends, with few breaks, 800
miles southeastward To the Stickeen river.
whenever the snow falls and does not
melt the pressure becomes. in time. so great
as 10 change IL 10 solid ice. But under this
great pressure Ice viii spread and How at
the edges like very thick treacie. So when
the ice is piled too high 1t overlows as
though il were half fluid. and very slowly
breaks its way down By any valleys II can
find, until 1t Is nielted by the sun or gains
the sea. This flow IL a glacier. The flow
OF tie ice from the fields behind the st.
A 4~o a-o, ~ al
that extend for over 301 miles along the
coast, but the greatest Of all one OF the live
entering Glacier bay, coming from the val
leys Of the White mountains and from the
ice field From the adjacent mountains
twenty-six valleys may he seen to meet,
each contributing It's quota 10 five main
branches OF the ice river. These main
branches open upon an amphitheater OF
about thirty miles, and out Of this the ice
forces its way 10 the sea by a gap 10000
feet wide. OF the two branches into which
the head of Glacier bay divides the Muir
inlet is about three miles long. three wide
at the base and one mile Mt the head. Here
then, the ice Of twenty-six glaciers, all lar
ger than any In the Alps or Rocky noun
tains, Is concentrated in astrcam two miles
wide and thousand feet thick. and the
main current, i've thousand feet wide,
moving at the rate Of seventy feet day, is
poured down into the deep inlet and ut last
floats In no or 60 feet OF water and be-
comes the prey OF the waves and the ocean
tide. The end OF the glacier. then. is a wall
of ice upon the deep waters OF the inlet I,
the central portions OF which reach out as
cape beyond the limits OF the ice on either
side. The ice precipice ut the end of the
cape is $50 feet high. aud at the sides. half
way between cape and shore. 800 feet high.
And OF this wall Dr. Wright. who In 1856
well studied the glacier, says: Repeatedly
have | seen vas: columns OF ice, extending
up to the full heighth Of the front, toppie
over aud fall H. % the water. and he de-
seribes bere- thu formed 500 feet In length,
or sixty high anu ifo square At an aver.
age speed Of fort feet per day, the daily pro-
duet OF the glacier il 90 .ooo.ooo cubic feet.
an amount vastly greater than the bulk OF
this city. The fall OF bergs splashes water
high above the cliff, and waves spread for
many miles. The crash. with thousand
reverherations, fills the mountains with a
iongdrawn thunder, roar more terrible
than that OF the storm. The scene Is
one Of almost unapproaehables pendor, per
hsps the grsndest in the whole world. AS
the vessel shuts of steam and giides in ST.
lenee within ristoi-shot OF that awful wall
OF ice, the very beasts must be moved 10 an
uneasy wonder. and every soul on board is
for moment qaieted, Far above the mast
heads the skyline il broken in towers and
battlements. and cleaning pinacles and
white spires, where the sunlight flashes
with myriad lights. Under the opalesceni
sheen of the great wall are shadows where
the eve can pierce through wonderful CLASSY
depths. the color being a gorgeous cobalt
such "a | have not seen in other forms ol
Ice. kas viii not irrisase you with de-
serlptson to and see L."