The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1892-07-04
rains Our farmers are more than cheerful
at the prospect Of having plenty Of food for
man and beast the coming year
ANOTHER CALIFORNIA MARVEL
Reported Discovery of Glacier in the
San Bernerdin no Range.

Reported Discovery of Glacier in the
San Bernerdln no Range.
| Los Angeles Letter TO San Francisco Examiner,
The existence of an active glacier In
Southern California of such heroic proper
tionG as to justify comparison with the
minor continental glaciers Of the Alps,
| Andes and Himslaya, can be added to the
local category of stupendous works In the
economy Of nature 10 be found in SUBJ
tropical California.
The story Of the existence Of q moving
river of ice buried in the deep canons of the
San Bernardino range of mountains ia an
old one, and among earlier settlers III this
section it has been handed down as a tradi.
ton. Among many Of the older residents
of San Bernardino county the existence OF
q great ice gorge upon the upper levels OF
| Grayback mountatn-the monarch of the
San Bern1rdino range-has been known and
Vouohed for during tho past thirty years,
and yet not generally credited
| The frequent iteration OF these stories
prompted the Los Angeles Herald TO mako
an exhaustive investigation as to their
truth. and with this aim an expedition was
| organized under command OF N. NJ Ogden,
and, securing a suitable outat, the party
left Los Angeles June g. At Highland
station they boarded the Bear Valley stage
| and made the first mountain portion of the
| journey through a wild and ruggedly beau
| ttful section OF the country Co Pine lake,
where a halt was made at the Bear Valley
hotel to procure mustangs and burros. A
start was made at O'Clock the next morn
| ing, and q climb of 5000 feet was made to
the summit OF the range south of Pine lake,
| the aner0id barometer here sho wing an ele-
walton Of 5000 fse5.
At an altitude OF 10, 900 feet grass-cov-
cred plateau half mile wide was crossed,
and then the party turned into canon
that apparently seemed impossible, but
threadlike trail wound IN and out the rugged
and forbidden mountain Sides
AS the party proceeded up the canon,
| masses of snow along the sides and in the
old torrent bed became more frequent and
at many points It had drifted into great
banks twenty, thirty and fifty feet in
| depth. As the ascent continued, the trees
| were mostly stunted aud dwarfed in
| growth, willis the snow covered nearly the
| entire surface and shone with dazzling
brightness. At II, 900 feet the timber line
was reached. The ascent was now up Il
steep incline. and on either side were great
| ravines or gulches that extended upward
| for hundreds of feet 20 points near the sum
| NIT. The climb was over small boulders
| that rolled downward from under the feet.
| The rnvines, oblong in shape, half q mile in
| length and about an eighth of mile in
| width filled with snow. The rAvines ran
| into a canon that wound spirally down.
| ward, trending in a southerly direction.
Although these great assures in many re-
spects resemble headstones Of glaciers, still
they were not OF sufficient Dimensions to
| indicate a permanent existence and the
| party followed the trend Of these ravines
10 a southerly direction and crossing a
ridge projecting from the main body of the
| mountain fully 2. 900 feet they came to the
| main which aKtandad tho
mit downward for fully ~ miles. This
| gorge was wedge-ehaped, much like an i'm
monse Y reversed. 1t was fully an eighth
| Of mile Ia width at the summit and grad
| ually widened to three-quarters Of . mile al
the base. The snow at thu crest of the
gorge at the top of the mountain lay in
strata, there being one deposit in an I'M
mense oup-like assure hundreds Of feet ia
| depth One one side of this hssure tho
| strata are sharply defined, each represent
ing the accumulation Of a single year, the
lowest and most dense approaching the blue
| color Of ice.
About half a mile downward from the
summit the three gorges heretofore de-
scribed as containing immense deposits OF
snow, center In one common channel and
dsbouch into the main gorge AT the point
OF juncture there were indications that at
some long-past period the smaller channel
had been an active glacier. Both sides Of
|
investigation revealed the existence Of
lateral moraines formed Of earthly matter
which had been detached from the mountain
sides and fallen upon the surface Of moving
snow and ice.
The party turned their faces again to-
ward the great gorge which fell away at
their feet, and then began what proved to
be an exceedingly perilous descent. They
managed TO reach point near the base OF
the glacier. Here the mighty forces OF
nature which had been working untold
years had piled up a cross morains of i'm
menss rocks, whose sharp and angular
edges projected from the mass Of snow and
ice, some Of them fully twenty feet in
breadth and equally high. The base line,
which is at an elevation OF 10 900 feet, was
mainly composed of snow, but at points
this had drifted or melted away, and the
ice was exposed. A stick of giant powder
was placed in a crevioe and exploded and
immense fragments OK ice and stone were
torn away revealing ancient ice Of a dark
blue color almost verRing into black.
Tasting fragments OF this old ice, they
were found to be bitter and permeated with
fine, siltiike sand. The stone found in che
cross morains of the glacier included
porphyry, granite, pure white quartz, petri-
fled wood and limestone, furrowsd and
scratched as If with mighty grsver's tools,
and blocks Of marble as clear as any ever
quarried in any country. There WAS a
small flow OF water from the base of the
pass. Judging from the contour Of the
gorge, there must be mass Of Toe fully a
mile in length and 200 feet in depth, II not
moro.
An interesting point Is the question of the
movement Of the glacier, and from oorol-
larry circumstances 1t is computed that the
mass WAS moving downward Into the valley
at the rate Of torty-ssyen feet per anuum,
IL not more, and il Is assumed without
doubt that the melting Of the ice ct the bass
line of this great wedge-shaped mass of ice
and granular snow is synchronous with its
| equation Of progression.