The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1900-06-22
Throws OF Countless Tons From
Its Icy Face.
EARTHQUAKES MIGHTY JAR,
~r..s Proximity of ships Barred ny
4. Great Field of Ice-Queen I'm
.hle 10 Get within better Than
rive-Mlle Range of Alaska's
Marvellous Attraction-Enorm
Else of the Floating Chunks.

rho,rh It's imposing grandeur is still
rrmarred. countless thousands Of tons OF
- have sloughed Off the face Of famed
Su,r sIacfer through the erratic action OF
80 sep.ember's Alaskan earthquake. The
incarnation comes from Capt. David Wal
,.ce master OF the steamship Queen.
~h,rh returned Wednesday from an ex-
rursion voyage TO Alaska.
rsn, Wallace as has been his custom
an the past sixteen or eighteen years,
sousbt 10 limo up his ship across the face
AZ the glacier, but for the first time In
sssrly two decades he scored a failure.
"a was unable owing TO a great field OF
6ost ice, TO get the vessel closer than Ave
miles from Alaska's wondrous attraction.
whose scenic beauties have been gszed
mon and admired by tourists from the
tsusth and breadth OF the land
Il never saw so much ice.' Capt. Wal
lace said last night. discussing tho strange
phenornenon "Forty-hve miles out from
he glacier we encountered stray chunks
Of noat and they gradually grew thicker
and thicker until closer approach to the
slacier was impossible We got within
Ave miles OF II and could go no further.
The Ice was packed so solid that one could
not fam stick OF stovewood between the
cakes, which in some Instances rose 100
feet above the surface OF the water. Con-
p:der that Ice floats but one-seventh out
OF the water and then you have an idea
Of tho enormous size OF such chunk.
There must have been 800 or go feet I'M
der the water.
ITO tell the truth. when we were there
n seemed so damned that one cannot even
make prediction when the bay will clear
Of the CONCEALED obstruction and permit
close proximity 10 the great glacier
think. however. that old Muir still retains
rs facial beauty. We took the glasses and
viewed 1t as best We could at such dis
lance. The sea front seemed TO stand
out In bold, perpendicular form, as Of
yore, but the Jagged float Ice rose up. 80
obstrGcting the sight that one could not
get definite idea OF what damage has
been wrought. The heavy sioushing of
was undoubtedly caused by last Septem-
per's earthquake: hut the glacier is ever
on the move and II Will push on seaward
until as much Of its remarkable formation
Il visible as before.
II have been running ships 20 Muir
glacier for sixteen or eighteen years. but
this was the first time II gave me such 4
chilly reception. Even the Queen had
10 stand of at a respectful distance. But
tho tourists and others aboard expressed
themselves as amply repaid by what they
saw or course we we're all curious to get
up closer. but that was impossible by
the time We return the bay may be COM
paratively free. permitting us to get as
close TO the glacier as formerly. but no
ono can tell
Were the Ice In the bays and iniess
about the glacier oil packed together I
should say II would constitute field rve
or six miles wide by probably twice that
distance In length. No doubt the ice In
the bay approach TO the glacier extends
clear TO the bottom and the water drops
of rather abruptly from twenty fathoms
TO 600 and 60 feet