Los Angeles herald., 1892-06-15
. THE ONLY ONE,
[continned; from Third Page.l

unfolded like gigantic scroll. 1t was
q spectacle that enchained the fancy OF
everyone in the party. One of the most
profoundly impressivefeatures associated
with the grand scenic presentment was
the utter and absolute absence OF all
animal and vegetable life at that lofty
eyrie, while the silence, tongueless and
awesome, was overwhelming. 1t seemed
as though the visible world had fallen
under the mystic spell OF unutter-
able silence and death. But the ex-
ploring party could not tarry for fanciful
indulgence in rhapsodies that 30 appo-
sitely were suggested by the majestic
character OF the scenic environment.
A HAZARDOUS DESCENT.
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.
Clambering down amid the masses OF
granite, masses of granular snow and
ice, slipping and sliding, falling and
jumping in snow drifts and out of them,
after an hour and a half of Hercu-
lean effort they managed to
reach point near the base
of the glacier. Here the mighty forces
OF nature which had been working may
hap for thousands of years, had piled up
a cross moraine OF immense rocks, whose
sharp and angular edges projected from
the mass of snow and ice, some of them
fully twenty feet in breadth and equally
as high. The base line, which is at an
elevation of 10, 900 feet was mainly COM
posed of snow, but at points this had
drifted or melted away, and the ice was
exposed. A stick of giant powder was
placed in crevice and exploded, and
immense fragments of ice and stone
torn away, revealing ancient ice, of a
dark blue color, almost verging into
black. Tasting fragments of this old ice
they were found to be bitter, and per-
meated with fine silt-like sand.
THE STONE FOUND.
A word about the character of the
stone found in the cross moraine of the
glacier is apropos. It was found that it
was varied in nature. Porphyry, granite,
white quartz, petrifed, wood and lime
stone, furrowed and scratched as if with
mighty graver tools, and blocks of mar
BILE az clear as any ever quarried in Italy.
There was small flow of water from
the base of the mass. Judging from the
contour of the gorge there must be
mass of ice fully now over mile in
length and 200 feet in depth, if not
more.
The apparent fact that such an i'm
mense bodysshould give forth large
quantity of water was also q matter that
came in for consideration, but that
point will be touched on later in this
article.
AN EXAMINATION OF 'TEE'ICE.
A nloeo nvo ak:rv x.,oc ~ - L. <>f k1r
ice in the rough fissure occasioned
by the explosion, with view of ascer-
tanning if the thin laminm of blue ice
alternating with white porous ice ex-
listed ,ssas in the case of the Alpine
glaciers.
According to Tyndall, these laminm
standing together in vertical position,
the edges of the former project little
above the latter, which more readily
melt, and thus ribbed appearance is
produced. The direction of the laminm
is across the assures, and they are pro-
duced at right angles to the direction OF
the greatest tension. The scientist re-.
found an analogy between this etructur-
al formation and fthe slaty cleavage of
clays and states. In the examination of
the newly found glacier it was found
that there was distinct variation, and
the lines did not coincide with the Pc
culisrity remarked by Tyndall, but
crossed more on the lines of an obtuse
angle.
.nHE GLACIERS MOVEMENT.
An interesting point is the question of
the movement of the glacier, and from
'corollary circumstances it was COM
puted that the mass was moving down.
ward into the valley at the rate of forty
seven feet per annum, if not more
rapidly, and it is assumed without doubt
that the melting of the ice at the base
of This great wedge-shaped mass of ice
and granular snow is synehronous with
it's progression.
THE SNOW LINE.
As to the line of perpetual snow in
the San Bernardino range, the testimony
of scores of old residents of San Bernar-
dino indicates the remarkable fact that
in this gorge. largely protected from the
sun. that snow lies here in midsummer,
freshened by intermittent falls, as low
as 49, 600 feet. In the equatorial Andes
the line of perpetual snow is placed at
JIG, 900 feet; in the Alps at 5000 feet, and
in the Himalayas at 13, 900 to 20 900 feet.
OF course, by reason of it's physical
formation, the protected character of
this gorge must be figured as an inn
portant factor in this connection.
THE OUTFLOW OF wATER.
To revert again to the question of the
outfiow OF water from this glacier brings
out what may be taken as a most CO.
herent basis for theory, the truth of
which will prove of infinite importance
to the denizens of Southern California
where water is prime economic prere-
quieite. 1t was found that the forma-
tion of the mountain side below the
base of the glacier was composed of
granite rock in various stages of Vdisinte-
grafton, and it was assumed that the
major portion of the outflow, aside from
that which finds it's way into the main
valleys below by means of the perma-
nent streams, sank below the surface \
through the eieve-like soil and fed on \
immense eubterranean stream that finds !
itH way to the Pacific ocean.
1t was apparent to the exploring party |
that the permanent, and even including |
the intermittent streams, which drain |
the watersheds of the range did not give |
an accounting for the full output of |
water heading there. Passing down the |
mountain side from 1000 to 1000 feet
below the baee of the glacier, at frequent
intervals large fountains spouted water |
several inches above the ground. which |
forn,o1 onro;Iaro HI c&,nn..- e~.'A-. y. /