The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1904-01-31
HOW alaska RIVERS FREEZE.
Small Ice GIObuIes First Rise to the
Surface from the Bottom.
ST. Louis Republic.

st. Louis Republic.
The waters of Alaska freeze from the
bottom. One may be gliding along
CLASSY lake, with a gorgeous sun over
head, in a crisp, invlgorating atmosphere.
There is not a sign of ice except high up
on the mountain sides. A little circle APP
pears on the sivery surface. though a
tiny pebble had fallen in-then another,
and still another. There isn't a sound,
and not even mosquito to disturb the
placid picture, but still the little circles
come. Presently CLASSY bead bubbles
about In the center of one of the widening
circles, then a larger one, and still larger
Those beads are tiny ice globules. They
come bobbing up in rapid succession. then
several together. In half an hour the sur
face is covered They have grown large
as a butter bean, and nearly the same
shape. but crystal clear In an hour they
are as large as a ladys 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 few hours the whole
surface will be a mass of slush ice, from
which 1t will be impossible to eXtricate
a rowboat. and equally impossible to leave
IT. BY morning the cold air of the upper
world will have welded all this mass to-
gether. If one will take the trouble TO peep
into some shallow rivulet at this time of
year he may see nature in her workshop
making a winter. Each tiny grain of sand
is first given coat of ice. The coat grows
thicker on the upper side. Finally it gets
so thick that the buoyancy of the ice over
balances the weight of the gravel; the mass
leaves the bottom, and reaching a stratum
of warmer water, the ice melts little, re-
leasing the gravel, and 1T hobs merrily to
the surface. The fact of its being anchored
to the gravel at the bottom has given it
the name of "anchor Ice and that freez-
up is eXpressively called 'anchor-ice
freeZe-up'
After n week or two of good, hard freeZ-
ing there is nearly always chinook 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 or
with the current, and when they are
stopped by some natural barrier they pile
up on each other; sometimes many feet
high, making the ice jams that are so hard
for "mushers" or log WALLPAPERS" TO get
over in travelling. Then comes the real
| freezup, when the surface of the lake and
| river is sealed solid.
water in the depths gives off a vapor. and
this being warmer than the ice, melts Ii
here and there forming airholes-the
| pedestrian who happens to strike one of
these airhOles just before 1t opens, for
| in each of them is written the internal
| legend, Leave hope behind. who enters
| here" One may look upon the frozen
surface OF n lake or river and see many
| of these. airholes, distinguished only by
the volumes of vapor rising like the smoke
| of huge signal fires upon n prairie. When
| the weather moderates some of these gigan-
| tic nostrils seem 10 be unnecessary
and thin coat of ice forms over them
| Then they are more dangerous than ever
| because the channel is just beneath. ready
10 take a victim instantly into the ice
| After n month or two of freezing wea theI
| the ice grows very thick. The waters
beneath. dried up of their source, shrink
| into smaller space, and the great mass OF
| ice settles" Long cracks open in its sur.
face with laundering noises like volleys OF
| artillery. Then the water beneath, hare
| pressed for an easy channel. runs into anC
| along these cracks, the surface freezes up
| and there is an artificial subterranear
| river. so to speak. More cracks open anC
| more of these little rivers form, until the
| great mass of ice contains a veritable net
work OF independent streams.