The mirror. (Stillwater, Minn.) 1894-1925, 1905-06-08


became filed deep with snow packed
by pressure into soft ice. This evolved
into clear, blue, glacial ice, which be-
gan to descend from the mountains
down the canyons, moving slowly,
partly by down hill pressure, and partly
by alternate thawing and freezing.
These huge masses of ice greatly en-
larged, deepened and widened the orig
inal canyons through which they
passed, and broadened them from the
cut by the stream, to their present
broad V shape. The rocks on the sides
and bottom of the canyon were SCARED,
grooyed, rounded and polished.
The fragments of rock that have
been precipltated into the canyons
may be any size; we measured one at
Wenatchee that measured seventy feet
long, sixty feet wide, and twenty-five
feet high-Iarger than a good sized
log cabin.
One of the most striking and re-
markable features of this region is
what is called the coulees, of which the
Grand Coulee is four miles wide, and
consists Of flat-bottomed valley, now
occupied as farm lands between verti-
cal walls of rock several hundred feet
high. The bottom of this valley must
be at least five-hundred feet above the
valley of the present Columbia River,
and the descent into it is by precipice
over which great cascade once poured
that cut back the cliff for half mile.
When the ice OF one of the great gla-
ciers discharged south, it crossed the
Columbia Canyon, and damned back
the waters of the river, which escaped
south over the precipice and down the
Grand Coulee. The glacier also
poured. over The western wall and,s
breaking off, charged the river below
with icebergs that swept down the
coulee and over the plain to the south,
to the outlet Of the gorge at Coulee
City, and there dropped the boulders
that still obstruct the plain. The can
yon below Coulee City is about four
hundred feet lower than the bottom
of the great gorge leading north to the
Columbia. AS the great river flowed
through the coulee, it plunged into the
canyon over precipice four hundred
feet high, in fall more than twice the
height of Niagara, and wore out deep
basins in the rocks below. We can
imagine how the cliffs would look if
the waters that pour over the Niagara
Falls were drained off; so that to look
back over precipice of black basalt
twice the height of Niagara--over
which the Columbia once poured-is a
most impressive sight.
A peculiar feature observed in this
region is that the rivers have cut down
their channels across the upraised
volcanic blocks of mountains as rapid
ly as the volcanic ridges were raised by
; faults athwart their course. A river
like modern railway-that once gains
right-of-way is bound to keep it, no
, matter what distractions are raised in
its path. The higher the mountain
rises, the deeper the river cuts.
Such are some of the remarkable
phenomena of this remarkable region
but besides the traces of the gigantic
7 forces of the past, there are still some
: diminished representatives of them ex.
: listing in the neighborhood. At one
t time it was thought that we had nc
5 glaciers in the Rocky Mountain system
at least none comparable to those OF
. the Alps, but later researches have dis
covered several quite or nearly on 9
: par with those of the latter. A good
t sized glacier was first discovered in thu
Q mountains of Wyoming; later quite {
! number of glaciers of various sizel
s have been found in the Sierras; an(
q not many years ago we saw the dimin
9 ished relics of he great Chelar Glaciel
! still clinging to the SUBMITS and uppe
Q canyons Of the Cascade Mountain
+ above the old glacial lake; and in th,
s canyons in that vicinity the glacia
marks on the smooth, round walls ar
80 fresh as to impress one with tn
:, idea that it is only comparativel,
Y short time since the glaciers vacate,
them. E. w. M.
IL There's something wrong about
It piety when it provokes others to pre-
a fauitv -EY