The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1895-01-31
CIRcUMvENTING A GLACIER.
An Annual Inundation In Norway to BE
Cured by . Canal

An Annual Inundation In Norway to BE
Cured by . Canal
Some time ago the farmers in q little
valley, not far from the west coast of
Norway and south Of the city Of Bergen,
appealed to the government to save
them from the ruin that overwhelms
them every few years through the abb
normal rise Of their river. About one
hundred people live in this fertile vale,
and above their small farms, skirting
the river edge, tower some Of the
widest and grandest of Norway's noun
tains. The people are dependent upon
the produce of their farms, and they
would be prosperous and content if it
were not for one danger that threatens
them every year, and that twice within
six years has completely swept away
their crops. roads and bridges. The
cause of their misfortune is worth de-
scribing, for the phenomenon that sud-
denly swells their little river to rag
ing torrent, fifty feet above its normal
height, is seldom seen in any part Of
the world.
One Of the largest inlets In this deep
" indented coast is the Hardanger ford.
Its narrow valley pushes far inland
among the mountains, and out OF one
of the branches at it's head opens the
picturesque and well-tilled Simodal
valley, the scene Of these catastrophes.
The head of this narrow valley consists
OF precipitous cliff over whose edges
tunnbles one of the finest of Norway's
waterfalls, the great Rembesdalfos,
which is worth going far to see. After
making this plunge the water speeds
away, swift-fowing river, spanned by
two bridges and bordered by patches
of cultivation. This is glacial river,
for high above the waterfall is a glacier
descending from vast snow field on
the upper mountain slopes. and the
torrents that pour from under the melt
ing ice stream become the waterfall
and river. This glacier is the cause Of
the mischief in the valley below.
The glacier is one of the most con-
spicuous illustrations of a great ice
stream in a main valley descending
across the mouth of a side valley and
damming up the drainage collected
there SO that it forms a lake. In or
binary years the snow whose melted
waters form this lake melt slowly and
the lake fills gradually until it is on a
level with the surface of the glacier,
when the water begins TO cut channel
between the ice and the lofty hill ct its
side. AS the channel deepens the lake
is gradually drained and 90 damage is
done in the valley below.
When. however, the summer thaw Is
unusually rapid the lake fills in re-
markably short time and the weight Of
the pent-up waters forces a channel IN
der the glacier. It digs large tunnel
in the ice, through which the great
volume of water is precipitated in
few hours upon the farm lands Of the
valley, destroying all the property with
in reach, and blasting every hope Of the
seasons harvest.
The government has come TO the res
cue and the poor farmers are not TO be
driven from their homes BY forces %
nature which, uaaided. they cannot
control. A canal is to be blasted
through the solid rock alongside the
glacier, which viii carry of the waters
OF the lake before they have risen 20
any great height This is one of the
few instances in which il has been
found necessary TO circumvent glacier
In order 20 render Il poweriess TO do