The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1892-09-16


teenth of May everybody was.on deck
gazing at what men who have seen
all that the world has to offer in the
way of mountains, agree is without
comparison the grandest mountain
picture on the face Of the earth. The
day was perfectly clear, and vs. were
running along the coast about ten
miles off shore. Stretching along the
coast, separated from the beach by on
ly narrow strip of low forest, and
unobstructed by foothills, rose the
long line of tremendous peaks that
make up the so-called st. Elias Alps,
among them Fairweather, Criilon. La
Perouse and others more than 10000
feet high. AS far as the eye could
reach, north and south, was that pam
Drama of peaks and glaciers. The
mountains were spotless white from
base to summit, and the reflection of
the white range in the blue water of
the ocean is simply beyond descrip-
ton.
And along such picture as this we
steamed all of that never-tO- be-forgot-
ten day. At seven o'clock in the
morning the officer on watch announc-
ed a large peak far ahead. Away in
the dim distance, apparently isolated
from the other mountains, was what
looked like a white cone peering above
the horizon. 1t was Mt. st. Elias,
one hundred and eighty miles d1cdy,
the highest mountain on the conti-
nent north of Orizaba. The ships
course was headed straight for the
peak, and at five o'clock there appear
ed wide opening in the range, into
which the Hassler steamed, and an
hour later dropped anchor few hun
bred yards off the Thlinket village in
Yakutat Bay, after an eventful voyage
of thirty-three days from San Fran
cisco.
Why Dame Nature saw fit to stick
away up here in this corner of the
world, far beyond the route of tourist
travel, with no one to gaze upon them
but a few savages and an occasional
explorer, the Malaspina Glacier and
Mt. st. Elias, is mystery. At the
risk of OVERRIDING the scenery business
1 shall attempt brief description of
these two sights. 1t is best, probably,
to begin with few comparisons. The
great peaks of tho Rockies and Sierra
Nevada, having an average elevation
above the sea of ii 900 feet, either rise
from plateaus nearly half as high or
are surrounded by foot hills and other
mountains to suca an extent that near
ly half their height is lost. Although
1 have never seen the Alps, naval
officers who have visited them tell me
that such is the case with them as
we'll as with the Andes. AS. seen
from Yakutat Bay, Mt. st. Elias rises
from the sea level to the tremendous
height of Is, 100 feet, or three and one
half miles. No large peak is in. the
immediate vicinity, and no foot hill
obstructs the view. 1t is a perfect
mountain, rising by steep and regular
ascents to a square-tOpped peak. AL
though heroic attempts to reach the
summit have been made by Schwat-
ka and Russell, the mountain has
never been climbed, and probably
never will be. Its elevation, 1900
feet, was definitely ascertained last
year by Prof. Russell, after complete
and accurate observations.
People who visit the Alps and the
Sierra Nevada are shown what are
called "glaciers''-large patches of
dirty, hard-packed snow with a ridge
of stones along the edges and cracks
or crevasses in the snow indicating
that there is a downward motion.
These glaciers are'sOmetimes mile
or two long and several hundred yards
wide and, am told are regarded as
worth hard climb to see. We have
here at Yakutat Bay what we regard
as "a very respectable glacier, it being
the largest in the world. A few fig
ures may give some idea of its dimen-
sions. The frontage, from Yakutat
Bay to ley Cape is ninety miles, the
extent from the beach to its head is
from fifteen to twenty-five miles, and
the thickness of the pure blue ice of
which it is composed may be judged
by the fact that crevasses wide enough
to drop the State House at Topeka in
to have been sounded to depth of
thirteen hundred feet,-a great field
of ice as large as the Second congress
sional district moving slowly but with
irresisti BILE force to the sea. From its
surface come from time to time rum
blings and boomings like distant
thunder as new crevasses are formed
or the old ones widened. Such is the
worlds greatest glacier,-the Malas-
pima. 1t was amid such sights that
we were to spend the summer.
No sooner had the Hassler anchored
than some thirty Indians, mostly
women and children, pushed off in
canoes and came on board with bask-
cts, furs, trinkets and other native
products for sale. The Thlinket viii
lage is composed of some twenty odd
looking houses in which live about
two hundred people. The Alaskan
builds his house on plan peculiar to
the country. Doors are dispensed