The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1896-11-17
HOW A GLACIER WAS CONQUERED.
Enormous Mass OF Ice buried Be
meath Luxurious Yeeitatfon.

Eight Or ten miles to the north, ON the
same side Of Robertson bay, North Green
Iana is plateau about q mile long
quarter wide and with precipitous face to
tie sea of fifteen or twenty feet. and which
stands back from the waters e,lge not more
than thirty or forty feet. says ths New York
soYefeS cliffs to height of from 5000 to
a,o0o feet, capped with towers and pinnaeles
or brown basalt. To the north is the terrible
and frozen expanse Of the Verhoeff glacier,
producing every few hours, with groans and
eannon-like explosions, great icebergs This
plateau, both top and sides is a mass of
n9urishlng vegetation, chiefly grass, which
when one walks through it reaches to the
knees. From among the verdure butter
cups, peoples, einquefofl and dandelions thrust
their golden heads in wild confusion. Yet
beneath this rich vegetation life as glorious
IN its luxuriance as in the meadows of the
temperate regions, without other sustenance
than that derived from deeayed moss and
grass Is a portion Of a dead glacier n body
OF ice which is the sole formation of that
plateau, conquered and buried in the first
instance by the indonitabIe travelling power
ct weak-looking elump moss
This sounds like a travellers tale hut the
explanation OF the phenomenon is very SIM
PIE, and similar examples are found in MANY
places among the iords of this north land
Judging by the thickness Of the growth of
vegetation. the glacier at the head of the
pay. now known as the Verhoeff glacier ex-
tended out to the sea, covering all the spaea
from cliff to cliff, except a narrow gorge IN
each SIDE OF the moving, gigantic frozen
river In these gorges clump moss struggles
Draveiy for existence, but while the glacier
moved forward, crushing and burying eyerv-
thing in its path, this form Of vegetable life
could do little more than hold its own
IN the course of time, from some unknown
cause, the glacier began suddenly to recede
to the point where it now discharges. that
part OF 1T which was in the water floating
away In the shape of icebergs and those
winch were on the shore remaining sta
tlonary: to be slowly melted by the summer
SUM- This was the opportunity for the MOSES
caring nothing for the cold, they crept slow
~, 1nch by inch, over the quiet mass of ice
perhaps then fifty feet thick and
made their way, first in thin, netIike LAYERS
and then, as time passed on, and strength
reached the edge which fronted the bay. Here
as the sun each summer g go melted the
face Of the ice wall away. tAe.y matted them
selves firmly and dropped over, lower and
lower until they reached the rocky shore,
hidden.
Year after year the MOSES grew and -four
1shed. the young plants tramping the older
under foot until the latter, rotting, turned into
rich mold, burying the conquered fragment
Of the ice king deeper and deeper. Then grass
seed found their way into the moss blown
hither by the winds or carried there on the
feet Of birds. They terminated and increased,
ana by their greater vigor in turn almost
blotted out the moss To give finish to the
charming picture thus created blooming
plants took up their abode and hourished.
until every summer the plateau is a garden
Of green, gold and white How long this
condition of things will last, Of course it is
impossible to say. At any time nature, who
now holds the Verhoeff glacier in check NAV
loose her hands, and then the frozen river
will likely pour down and out of the bay once
more, crushing beneath it in its flow the
vegetation which now holds its head in tri-
umph.