The Washburn times. [volume] (Washburn, Wis.) 1896-1976, 1907-08-01
TIE Creep Of
II Glacier.

Hans Britterman, the Swiss, passed
the years of his youth in the shadow of
the Matterhorn and finally took his
place as a guide.
One day Professor Huxley of the
Royal Geological society arrived at
stay. After a week he decided to ven
ture up the MatterhOrn to study the
glacial river further He had been
there each year for five years, and the
frozen river was his subject The pro-
fessUr was a quiet, thoughtful man,
and his trips had always been made
with only his guide for company. He
SO arranged it on this occasion, only
that his guide happened to be Hans
Britterman for the first time. Not a
mile from his home a great wall Of ice
fifty feet high, from which huge blocks
split off at intervals of years, invited
the attention Of tourists as the mouth
of the frozen stream.
His surveys proved beyond doubt
that the mighty tumble of snow and
ice and rock stretching for a mile be-
fore him moved down into the valley
at the rate Of seven inches a year. 1t
was a movement so mighty and steady
that no power on earth could check it.
"Seven inches a year," unused the
professor as he looked over the jum-
ble-"seven, and no more, no less. A
mighty mass fifty feet thick goes
grinding down into the valley, crush
ing and overriding everything, and
should a man fall into the crevasse be-
fore me am able to compute the time
when his head and frozen body would
appear in sight in the valley, three
miles away. 1t would take hundreds
of years, but it would be found
The statement aroused the guides
curiosity to the greatest degree, and
he found himself doubling it. Neither
his father nor his grandfather had ever
made such statement. They had not
even contended that the mass moved.
What assurance on the part of an en-
tire stranger to appear and make such
statement and claim to be able to
fully corroborate it! Hans was piqued
and vexed. He finally became indig-
nant. 1t seemed like criticism on his
own knowledge of the mountains.
"Can it be so? Can it be so?" he kept
asking himself, and he walked away
few steps to contemplate the tumble
and wonder what was going on forty
feet below. His flesh crept as he
thought Of falling into the deep Gre
vase to be entombed alive, to freeze
and die, to be carried along with the
years and then appear incased in the
icy wall in the valley. 1t would be
horrible doom, but was the professor
correct in his computations? 1t was
new train of thought for the young
mana birth of the feeling of curiosi-
ty.; He could not express himself in
words, but he could think. He did
think, and had not the professor been
too busy with his own thoughts and
words he would have seen strange
looks pass over the face of his guide
in quick succession-doubt, fear, won
der, sudden determination. He would
have lived his life and been sleeping
in the grave for centuries before the
professors body would appear in the
ice wall in the valley, but
Careful, manw exclaimed the pro-
fessor as he caught at knob of Ice
and saved himself. upon my soul,
that was laundering move of yours,
+ ;nxh% iv,
us both into the crevasse"
"And after hundreds of years our
dead bodies would have appeared at
the ice WALTZ" asked Hans In a thick
voice as he turned his face away
Eyes, after hundreds of years. But
let me make closer computation. You
seem greatly interested in this matter.
You must have heard your father and
others talk Of the speed of a glacier.
Even you must have seen them showed
along several feet since you began
coming up the mountain. 1t is full
three miles to the valley from this
point, and the glacier travels seven
lanche to temporarily arrest its prog
ress. Sit down beside me here, and
will give you extra figures"
The guide cast a look of craft and
murder at the man with pencil and
paper and did not sit. A doctor would
have but glanced into his face to dis
cover signs of lunacy. The grimness,
the mightiness. the mystery of the
were affecting him for the
first time. The thought of being in
cased in coffin of ice for a century
did not alright him. On the contrary,
it lured him. For a moment he bent
over hands on knees, and watched the
professor at his figures. Then he
Strengthened up and looked cunningly
around. They had paused on a shelf
Of ice almost suspended over Gre
vase. Let the weather change few
degrees warmer and it would fall Of
it's own weight. 1t seemed as if a
stamp Of the foot would send it down
now.
II think / have my figures absolutely
correct" said the professor without
raising his eyes. I'm mile there
aro"-