Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1904-01-13
LANDS OF PERPETUAL SNOW
None Lying Near Sea Level May BE
Said to Lie Covered the
Year Round.

snow" We know, however, of no land
area lying near the sea level that is per-
petually covered with snow, says Chi
cago paper.
MIR. Peary, the only visitor to the most
northern land yet discovered, found
flowers and grass there, and killed arctic
game that had fattened on the heritage
OF the islands lying north of the ex-
IRENE coasts of Greenland. Spitzbergen
Is one Of the bleakest parts Of the world
yet during the long summer day, when
the sun is continually above the hori.
zon, all the winter SHOWS along the
feet above the sea.
Very little snow can be found in Ice.
land in summer, the line of perpetual
snow being about 1000 feet on the north
ern and 1000 feet on the southern side
OF the mountains. Along the coast c.
west Greenland the white mantle OF
winter disappears in summer and grass
and flowers are found to height OF
1000 feet.
AS for the great arctic plains Of the
northern part of this continent they are
of course, entirely free from snow dur.
Ing the summer months. Vegetable life
thus has chance in all parts Of the
world, unless the elevation is so higt
above the sea that winter polar condi.
tons are maintained the year round.
There are, of course, lofty elevations
such as mountains and the ice cap OF
Greenland, that are perpetually COW
cred with snow. Geographers have
given much attention to what is calico
the snow line, or the line which marks
the limit Of perpetual snow. Its posi-.
ton is chiefly dependent upon the sum-
mer temperature and the depth OF the
winter snowfall. The line along which
the sun ceases to melt the snow is the
snow line.
The snow line extends very irregu-
larly along most surfaces because many
mountain valleys, canyons and slopes
are shielded from the sun, and so are
snow covered the year around far be-
low the general snow line. This is not
the case, however, in tropical regions,
where there is little difference in tenn
perature throughout the year below the
attitudes where frost always reigns
line on the mountains is comparative
| ly straight line.
| OF course the perpetual boundary OF
| snow approaches nearer to sea level the
| farther north or south we go from the
| tropics. The snow line on Mount St.
Elias, in Alaska, is $500 feet above sea
level, while farther south, in the region
Of the Selkirks, British Columbia, the
snow line is at an elevation of $500
feet.
In the Bernese Alps the limit of per-
petual snow is $500 feet; on Mount
Etna, some hundreds of miles nearer
to the equator, it is 1912 feet; on Po-
pocatepetl, in Mexico, it is 1900 feet,
and on Aconcagua, in Argentina, it is
| 14,800 feet. And as we continue. south
| the snow line sinks again nearer to the
sea Levels. 600 feet at Magellan straits
and $500 feet in TERRA del Fuego.
In the northern he misphere, where the
southern slopes of the mountains re-
ceiye the lions share of the suns rays
the snow line lies lower on the northern
slopes. Thus the line of perpetual snow
On the northern slope of Mont Blanc
|
ern slope, overlooking Italy, it is 10000
feet above the sea. For this reason the
hamlets Of the natives are built higher
on the southern than on the northern
slopes of the Himalayas.
On Mount Kilimanjaro, little south
of the equator in East Africa, where
the sun is almost vertical over it, The
snow line on the southern and western
sides is $1,000 feet above sea level, Will,
lon the northern and eastern sides it i:
over $4,000 feet.
| AS ice melts much more slowly thar
snow, many glaciers move down to tn,
sea, while the snow line nowher,
reaches the ocean. This is the case IL
SpitZbergen, Greenland, at Mount st
Elias, and, in fact, in nearly all land
within or quite near the polar regions
In Iceland no glaciers descend lowe
than 65 feet above the sea.
In the temperate regions glaciers de
scend far below the snow line. Thus tn
lower limit of glaciers on Mont Blanc i
5000 feet; among the Canadian Rock
les, 5000 feet; on Acancagua, z 300 feet
and on the southern island of New Zea
land the glacier ends are only $50 fee
above the sea, while the snow line
1900 feet.
But just as we see plants struggling
for life in almost every crack and crevic
of the rocks. so the hardest specimen
of vegetation cling to the mountain
sides up to the very limit of perpetua
snow. Life in many forms is very ten
acious, and is bound to exist whereve
| here is the slightest chance for it.