Daily inter mountain. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1881-1901, 1900-12-21

to the average height of half
a mile. with peaks and turrets here and
there as much higher. A half dozen
glacier+born streams, doubled in NUM-
Der and volume during a wet season,
leap down the steep wallis of the basin.
In the center of this ~well-guarded valley
OF Rasselas lies a unique lake, half a
mile wide, filled with the tribute of the
glaciers and snowfields far above. 1t
looks like the Nile-green shield of some
giant of the Rockies thrown down there
while its bearer rests for a While from
the eternal strife with storm and frost.
In the creamy-green water swim the fin
est-grained and sweetest-leshed trout
(Salvelini purpuratD anywhere caught
or eaten.
Up the rocky rampant, at the inner end
OF the basin, a toflsome path-if path it
may be ca~lled-leads along the dry bed
OF a torrent. past the guides prospective
copper mine, up a steep crag, where a
suspended rope alone makes the foot-
hold safe. and under a dreching cascade
OF icy water, to the slanting floor of a
Vaster basin above, surrounded by saw
age mountains. On this the retreatine
mass of Sperry Glacier, of unknown
depth, spreads for miles. A nights rest,
with little sleep. under the steel-blue
sky and electric light stars, in a roof
less bivouac by the shore of Mary Baker
lake, prepare for the stiff tramp of the
following day.
All sorts of glacial heiroglyphics are
written on the rocks around and beneath
No better field for the study of glacier
formation and action is to be found in
our country short Of Alaska. Taking a
Ia eft 1nnk into NO - ,,l,1 DIT. e.. -
dizzy battlement surmounted the after
noon before, the ever upward route led
the party over a scratched, grooved and
polished mass of rocks, along morassas
of all types, across icy streams, around
deep crevasses. white at the lip and in
tensely azure at the bottom, and then
over the unwasted SHOWS of a thousand
winters UP to the river of Comeau's
Pass. n dead ptarmigan n a frozen
sncwbird told of the inhospitability of
these frozen heights. but the notes of a
Hudson Bay bird far above gave proof
of life still higher.
From any point on this loping, irreg-
ular plateau of rock and ice the view is
unsurpassed of barren mountain ranges
and savage peaks filling most of the hor-
lion. Words, figures and photographs
are DoWerless to reproduce the scene for
other eyes. One must make the climb
to get the view, which is worth the long
journey to see.
MT. LINCOLN.
The ascent and descent on this side are
easier and the way already described,
although very abrupt in spots and toll
some throughout. Two little mountain
lakes with a miniature white squad
rDp'' IF loo H,lc f,.>n, d, ,1,,;,, .l>:1,.
dips its cold feet into them are passed
at different levels. The marmot's shrill
whistle greeted the leg-weary tourists
as they drew near Glacier Camp in Beu-
lah Basin. The pack train had been sent
around by Lake Macdonald, and was
waiting there to feed them and carry
them down the mountain. One more
climb of three hours took them to the
pointed peak of Mt. Lincoln. Here was
the most varied and picturesque view of
the fortnight. South and west the eve
ranged for a hundred miles and mors
over a vast sea of mountains, with here
and there a dark-blue lake. a sunny little
prairie or a shadoWy valley. On tho d.
eastern side of the summit a dizzy preci-
pice overlooks two beautiful lakelets at
levels a thousand feet apart. A rifle ball
fired from the top of Mt. Lincoln made
a visible circle in the lower Lake eight
seconds after the discharge. The largest
glacier in the entire district, as it SEEM
ed in the distance, cleaned in the sun
of the backs Of four or five mountains.
about fifteen miles to the southeast
hungry Horse glacier is it's name. and
some vacation scientist hungry for facts
ana Tame ought to make it a subject for
study. Our party decided to leave il i'm
~ fnlly tl,1, ,,.i -
mountain, the cayuse caravan over the
"sWitchback' trail and past the lovely
double cascade which madame named
Bridal Veil Falls" to the Glacier no
tel, Bolton, st. Paul, and home to New
York.