The Savannah morning news., 1903-12-17
HOW ALASKA RIVERS FREEZE.
Tiny Ice GIObuIes First Rise to the
Surface From the Beds of the
streams.

streams.
From the st. Louis Republic.
The waters of Alaska freeze from
the bottom. One may be gliding along
on a CLASSY lake with a gorgeous sun
overhead, in a crisp, invigorating at
mosphere. There is not sign of ice
except high up in the mountain sides.
A little circle appears on the silver
surface, as though a tiny pebble had
fallen in-then another, and still an
other. There isn't a sound, and not
even a mosquito to disturb the placid
picture, but still the little circles
come.
Presently a CLASSY bead bubbles
about in the center of one of the wild
ening circles, then a larger one, and
still larger Those beads are tiny ice
globules. They come bubbling up in
rapid succession, then several togeth-
er. In half an hour the surface is
covered. They have grown as large as
a butter bean, and nearly the same
shape, but crystal clear. In an hour
they are as large as a lady's watch.
and each one has little grains of sand
sticking to it; some have large piece
of gravel sealed up inside.
The old sojourner will row for the
shore when he sees these signs upon
the water, for he knows that in a few
hours the whole surface will be mass
of slush ice, from which it will be i'm
possible to eXtricate a rowboat, and
equally impossible to leave it.
By morning the cold air of the up
per world will have welded all this
mass together.
If one will take the trouble to peep
into some shallow rivulet at this time
of year he may see nature in her work
shop making a winter. Each tiny
grain of sand is first given a coat of
ice. The coat grows thicker on the
upper side.
Finally it gets so thick that the
buoyancy of the ice overbalances the
weight of the gravel; the mass leaves
the bottom, and, reaching a stratum
of warmer water, the ice melts a lit
tie, releasing the gravel and it hobs
merrily to the surface. The fact of its
being anchored to the gravel at the
bottom has given ii the name of AN
Choir ice" and that freeze-up is ex-
pressively called the "anchor-ice freeze
up"
After a week or two of good, hard
freezing there is nearly always a Chi
nook wind that comes UP from the
south for the last flying visit, and the
ice Is broken up into huge cakes
These drift before the wind OF
"
stopped by some natural barrier they
pile up on each other sometimes many
feet high, making the ice jams thai
are so hard for "mushers" or log wal
lopers" to get over in travelling.
Then comes the real freeze up, wher
the surface of the lake and river il
sealed solid.
AS the cold grows more intense tn,
water IN the depths give off a Vapor
and this, being warmer than the ice
melts IL here and there, forming al
Notes.-The rivers lungs. Woe betid
the unwary pedestrian who happens q
strike one OF these air holes just be
fore IL opens, for IN each Of them Il
written the Internal legend. "Leav
hope behind, who enters here" on
may look out upon the frozen surface
o. lake or river and see many o
these air holes. distinguished only b,
the volumes OF yapor rising like IN
smoke of huge signal fires upon
prairie When the weather moderate
kssas q Laess gigantic R0suiLs seeu