Daily press. [volume] (Newport News, Va.) 1896-current, 1907-05-05
GRANDEUR OF ALASKAN
SCENERY IS UNEXCELLED
Beautiful Word Picture Describing the Spendors of This Won
deff Land, Drawn by Lieutenant Colonel GIassford i'm
Letter to His Friend, Major Bingham

aud PERCEPTIONS sides. The mountains
bordering this strait, or its southern
nall, do not rise to such extreme nj.
tstudes as they do about the northern
portion. On the west side of Lynn
Canal the mountains rise TO equal the
highest peaks of the Rockies. Those
who have seen the scenery of Lynn
Canal declare II nnequaled anywhere.
We had clear day in the Lynn Ca
nal and standing on the Burnside's
DECK us the morning sun first lit up
the very high peaks. the contrast of
deep shade anu fiery reflection from
the Chilkats and st. Elias made an
illumination of those distant sum.
mits. AS the rising sun continued tn
spread It's light to the lower cleva-
lions the whole became frightened
until the vast smooth snow surfaces
appeared as n great white mass of
slipping fields. resembling immense
crystalographlc surfaces, the Jagged
peaks being The angular functions
Below these fields the glacier be.
gins.
AS seen from Lynn Canal the Dnv-
ldson the Eagle and the Menicnhul
glaciers are the most conspicuous.
The Davidson glacier is a tongue
from the Muir glacier. Oae can sec
how high perpetual snow fields, bank.
ed and smoothed by the wind ard
steep sloped by gravity. settle to low.
er levels between ridges where they
become squeezed into an extended
tongue and solidify into ice. AS these
heavy masses accumulate they press
their way downward over the less
cInnac
between the ridges. Their color
changes with increasing qualification
to Il bluish-green The form becomes
,wayy. long and worm-like. till they
melt away ut their foot In rivers or
drop as iceL'erss into the sea With
snow fields and glaciers as 4 hack.
Frn'na, the dark shades or tn, hem
lock lo'ests on the mountn,,: sides
and the livelier color of the cotton
woods in the valleys. Il most sublime
picture is presented of force, mass
and beauty. These inside waters re-
semble In n general way the entire
chain OF water channels inside the
Pacific shore islands.
The course of vessels to and from
Alaska along these narrow water.
ways is, as has been stated, called
the Inside Passage" 1t extends from
Skagway. at the head of Lynn Canal,
to Olympia ON Puget Sound. BY the
inside route one scarcely looks out
upon the ocean. except at Dixon En-.
trance the south boundary OF Alaska.
Along the coast from Olympia TO
Skagway the narrow waterways ap.
pear 10 have been gouged out in
gorses, by ice. These gorges have n
northerly and sontherly direction In
almost every instance. The whole
country looks as If it had sunken fol-
lowing the action of the ice, making
an embayed coast similar to Norway
and Maine. Many of these water
channels are so narrow and long that
they are called Canals" Their sides
are ofteli PERCEPTIONS and always pic
turesQue.
The foot of Mendenhall Glacier was
visited. 1t is but few miles from
Juneau. This stream of ice has re-
treated from the shore some five
miles. Landing is made from boat
upon the glacier delta Mt the mouth
of swift river and from the silly
color of the water. the gravel, boullers
and the scratched sides of the noun.
his presence on the moraine of n
dense forests. the boulders. rocks, and
everything tells you of the great
length of time that has elapsed since
the ice retreated from the shore.
As the glacier is approached the
timber changes In character and size.
so that Immediately in front of the
ice wall the forest dwindles to bush
es. and the surface of the ground is
more newly made, bare, wavy and
irregular. The distant or general
view of the glacier. resembling the
flow of a mass of thick mortar down
an inclined trough. was changed at
close range into a detail of rough
ridges, hollOws. rents, crevasses, fis-
sures and cracks In every direction
and masses Of rock supported on pill.
lars OF ice so various and. immense
that the whole is wonderfully wierd.
Where a part of the front has recent
ly broken away the deep greenish.blue
color Of the ice wall is so intense that
1t has no equal elsewhere. The roar
of the rushing water. formed from
the melting ice. is almost deafening.
The width of this ice wall is over
three miles. The sides of the noun.
tains between which the glacier
moves are almost perpendicular rock
and are being ground away by the
ice. The Mendenhall glacier is small
as compared with the Muir and Male
spina glaciers, but 1t is three times
the width of the largest in Switzer-
land.
Floating blocks of ice that fall from
a glacier whose foot reaches the sea.
are occasionally seen. Ice. always a
trifle lighter than water, floats show
ing only slight prat Of its size above
the surface. The Muir, Taku, Dawes,
Brown. Sawyer and LaConte glaciers
reach the water, hence icsDergs are