Bismarck weekly tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1884-1943, 1895-07-05
GRAND GLACIER BAY.
THE DlscovERER DESCRIBES HIS
FIRST VISIT TO THE PLACE.

FIRST VISIT TO THE PLACE.
A Canoe Journey of Eight Hundred Miles
With Many Hardships-The Daring Ex-
plorer's Search Alone and the Reward
His Courage Brought.
John Muir, after whom the largest
! glacier in the world is named, writes a
paper for The Century on "The Discovery
Of Glacier. Bay" Mr.. Muir says:
My first visit to the now famous Glacier
! bay of Alaska was made toward the end
Of October, 1879, when young ice was be-
ginning to form in the branch inlets occu-
pied by the glaciers, n the mountains
were mantled with fresh snow all the. way
down from the highest peaks and ridges of
the Fairweather range, nearly to the level
of the sea.
I had spent most Of the season exploring
the canyon Of the Stickeen river and it's
glaciers and u small portion Of the interior
region beyond the coast mountains, on the
divide Of some Of the s~outherly tributaries
of the Yukon and Mackenzie rivers. When
l got back to my headquarters at Fort
Wrangel, shout the beginning Of October,
HH - I'LL WV ttUol " 1SNf.u III q l1So Ii
tics icy northland. The days were grow
ing short, and winter, with it's heavy
storms, was drawing nigh, when ava
lanches would be booming down the long
! white slopes of the peaks, and all the land
would be buried.
But, on the other hand, though this
white wilderness was new to me, I was
familiar with storms, had enjoyed them,
T. knowing we'll that in right relations with
them they arc ever kindly. The main in
land channels, extending in every dircc-
ton along the coast, remain open all Win
ter, and their shores being we'll f~orested it
would be- easy to keep warm in camp,
while in a large canoe abundance Of pro-
visions could be carried. I determined,
therefore, to go ahead as far north as pos
sible, with or without companions, to see
and learn what I could, especially with
reference to future work. When 1 made
known MY plans to Mr.. Young, the Wran-
gel missionary, he offered to go with me,
and with his assistance I procured a good
canoe and a crew Of Indians, gathered a
large stock of provisions, blankets, etc.,
and on Oct. IA set forth, eager to welcome
whatever wildness might offer, so long as
food and frewood should last. We made a
journey more thar 800 miles long, and
though hardships were encountered and a
few dangers the wild wonderland made
compensation beyond our most extrava-
CANT hopes.
The first; stages of our journey were
mostly enjoyment. The weather was about
half bright, and we glided along the gree.,
and yellow shores in comfort, the lovely
islands passing in harmonious succession,
like ideas in a fine poem. The rain did not
hinder us, but when the wind was too
wild we staid in camp, the Indians usually
improving such storm times in deer hunt
ing, while l examined the rocks and
woods. Most of our camps were made in
hooks that were charmingly embowered
and fringed with bushes and late flowers.
About noon we discovered the first Of the
great glaciers-the one I afterward named
for Geikie, the noted Scotch geologist. Its
lofty blue cliffs, looming up through the
draggled skirts of the clouds, gave a ire
mendous impression Of savage power,
while the roar of the newborn icebergs
thickened and emphasized the general roar
Of the storm. An hour and a half beyond
the Geikie glacier we ran into a slight har-
Dor where the shore is low, dragged the
canoe beyond the reach of drifting icebergs,
and, much against my desire to push
ahead, enca1nped, the guide insisting that
the big ice mountain at the head of the bay
could not be reached before dark, that the
landing there was dangerous even in day
light, and that this was the only safe har-
Dor on the way to it. While camp was be-
ing made I strolled along the shore to K
anime the rocks and the fossil timber that
abound here. All the rocks are freshly
glaciated even below the sea level, nor
have the waves as yet worn off the surface
polish, much less the heavy scratches and
grooves and lines Of glacial contour.
The next day being Sunday, the minis
} ter wished to stay in camp, n so, on &c
count of the weather, did the Indians. I
therefore set out on an excursion, and
spent the day alone on the mountain
slopes above the camp and to tho north of
it, to see what I might learn. Pushing Oh
through rain and mud and sludgy snow,
crossing many brown, bowlder choked tor
! rents, wading, jumping, wallowing in
snow to my shoulders, l had a desperately
hard and dangerous time. After crouch
ing, cralnped and benumbcd, in the canoe,
, poulticed in wet clothes and blankets night
and day, my limbs had been long asleep.
This day they were awake, and in the hour
of trial proved that they had not lost the
cunning learned on many a mountain
peak Of the high Sierra.
: l reached a height of 500 feet or the
i ridge that bounds the second of the great
glaciers on the south. All the landscape
was smothered in clouds, and I began tc
fear that I had climbed in vain as far as
wide views were concerned. But at length
: the clouds lifted a little, and beneath theil
gray fringes I saw the berg filled expanse
Of the bay, and the feet Of the mountains
that stand about it, and the imposing
fronts of five Of the huge glaciers, the
nearest being Immediately beneath me.
, This was my first general view of Glacier
bay, a solitude Of ice and snow and new
, born rocks, dim, dreary, mysterious. ]
held the ground l had SO dearly won for an
hour or two, sheltering myself as best
could from the blast, while with benumbed
fingers l sketched what I could see Of the
, landscape and wrote a few lines in my
notebook. Then I breasted the snow
again, crossed tho mufled, shifting ava
lanche tall, forded the torrents in safety
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