The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1897-08-08
ST. ELIAS HIGH TOP.
Efforts That Have Been Made to
Reach 1t.

| From the Philadelphia PUBIC Ledger.
The recent advices received from Alaska
to the effect that the Philadelphia expe-
dition for the exploration of the Mt. st.
Elias region, under the leadership of Mr..
Henry G. Bryant, vice president of the
Geographical Society of this city, has ar
rived at Yakutat, off the southern foot of
| the giant northern colossus, and is now in
! the actual course of ascent of one of the
most, if not the most heavily snow-drift-
ed mountains of the globe, make timely
few remarks upon the central hut" of the
! expedition. For those who may not be
! fully familiar with the position of Mount
| ST. Elias it might be stated that the noun
| tain lies approximately on the 14lst merid-
! ian of western longitude, and just beyond
| the siXtieth parallel of latitude-so close
! to the boundary line that separates Alas
| ka from the British North American pos
! sessions as to make somewhat doubtful
! the actual ownership of the highest point
! of the mountain, the joint claims of Eng
| land and the United States being under
examination at the present time.
Until within a comparatively few years
! it was generally assumed that St. Elias
was volcano, and this condition of the
| mountain is still taught in many school
| Biographies, and even in some of the more
| advanced works on geography. Its great
| hight as contrasted with by far the great
er number of the mountain elevations
| which connect the United States-Canada
boundary with Alaska, and its occupancy
of a littoral position similar to that occu-
! pied by the lofty volcanic cones of the
| United States-Shasta, Hood, Tacoma, or
Rainer, etc.-have led to this not abso-
| lutely unreasonable supposition, a suppo-
! sition, however, which recent researches
have shown not to be founded on fact.
| So far as present facts in our possession
| indicate, the great bulk of the mountain
is of sedimentary origin, being built up of
| a part of the same series of deposits
| which compose the heart and surface of
the main mountain backbones of the west
ern part of the American continent Moth
| ing volcanic has been discovered about it.
| Instead of lava, scorria, of volcanic Gin
| ders and ashes, examination has only
| brought out rocks partly non-fossilifer-
| Gus and others that may have been at
| one time well charged with the remains
| of past life-evidence of an uplght from
| an ocean-coVered basin. st. Elias is in
| fact a mountain like the great Alpine
| peaks of Switzerland, and any one who
| has made a comparative study of noun
| tain forms will almost Immediately notice
| the strong similarity of contour which eX-
| lists between it as presented in the face
that is turned to the observer on the NAL
espina glacier and the Jungfrau-or one
might so still further to that of Kunch-
injinga, of the Hmalayas, as seen from
| Darseehng. 1t has its long medium un-
dulating ridge line its sharp cretes, the
included couloirs and flying buttresses; IN
fact, everything that belongs to a noun
tain of its kind and magnitude.
In one respect, and that very import
ant one as affecting the chances of sue
cess in the endeavor of the mountaineer,
it differs from the greater number Of
mountains whose conquest has helped to
make the pages of history. The position
of Mount ST. Elias in a region of low av-
erage annual temperature, and yet of eX-
cessive precipitation, has helped it to an
unusually heavy mantel of snow the low
er limit of which-the so-called SNOW
line"-even in seasons least favoring ac-
emulation, descending to within about
1000 feet of sea level or stlll lower. With
an altitude, therefore, of somewhat more
than 1900 feet, the perpetual snow cover
ing extends over a vertical face of some
1900 feet or in round figures, three miles.
In none of the highest peaks Of the Alps
is there even an approach to this. Mont
Blanc, with its crown lifted 15.7S4 feet
above the Mediterranean, carries a per-
petual snow mantel for not even one-half
of its full hight. and consequently far less
than half the hight which marks posses
sion by the snow on st. Elias. On the
Jungfrau only the upper 5000 represent the
true "abode OF snow" or "Himalaya"
Even on the highest SUBMITS of the globe
-houiL AsNtifTA A-tNNN AGttlt the peak OA
Godwin-Austen. Dapsang, Kunchiniinga,
etc. all rising above 2S,OO) feet In elevation
the summer rocks and fields" crowd the
SHOWS to above the l6O00-l7 0O0-foot line,
leaving winters icy touch only 1900 feet
at the outside.
| II is hardly necessary to emphas re
what this means 10 the mountaineer. The
ascent of a mountain 1900 feet high need
not be a work Of any real magnitude or
even Of hazard. 1t has been done in Asia,
in Africa I'm South America, and in Mex
leo; it has been vastly outdone in such
ascents as those OF the Ibgamin approx
imately ,22.5o0 feet, by the Schlagintweit
brothers). of the Pioneer peak of the Ka-
rakoram Himalayas (22.700 feet. by Will
lam NJ. Conway, OF Chimborazo 800
feet, by Whymperl. of Aconcagua (22So0
or 22.@o feet. by Lurbriggen, on Jan. IA
Of the present year; but it may be doubt
ed. although facts might ultimately prove
otherwise. f the element Of dfhculty or
danger in any Of these ascents Is equal
that which ls embodied IN the mastery Of
the 1900 fcet OF snow OF ST. elias.
The highest point heretofore attained
on 81. Elias lies somewhat above tho d.
vide which connects that mountain with
Mount Newton, estimated hy Prof Israel
Russell. the successful vcnturer 90 this
domain OF icc. 10 approximately 1850 feet
Not unlikely. the correction for the anerold
barometer will reduce this elevation to
perhaps 1900 feet. leaving a full mile be-
tween 10 and the point which 30 Is now
AR. Brynnts ambition. and the hope OF
Prince Luigi OF Savoy ana OF Niuoria
/ Solla. TO reach. The experience al this ale
tltudc is thaa described hy Prof Russell:
lowing 60 che lightncss of che snow. it
required some time before we could get
water enough Go qucnch our iutoiorahio
thirst This allowed time 20 rest ana eat
q light lunch. while wo studied che strange
I scene before ua. The day of our climb
. "a ID 4 IN H.I.