The Alaska prospector., 1907-05-16

result the water courses of Alaska are
 widely divergent and non cODformaoie
 to the system that had previously pre- vailed. All over Alaska may be seen
 the old dry beds of the ancient streams crossing and recrossing the present
 rivers at an elevation of hundreds ana
 even thousands of feet above them ana sweeping off across the country along lines that completely ignore the pre-
 sent contour of the land.
 Alaska has presented an anomuy to
 miners, ln that gold is quite as ire
 quentiy found upon the mountains ao tli
 the bottom of the streams. 1t Is these
 old river beds, high up on tbe noun
 tains that constitute the Bench Dig
 gings" which ave been so valuable to i Alaska and so profitable to Alaska 1 miners. The same conditions that ] brought about the forward movement ! Cf the masses of ice that pushed,
 punched and ground their way over the mountain ranges, cut deep canyons
 through solid rock, ground down whole | valleys to depth Of several hundred 1 feet below the level ot the sea, has ! brought about a cessation of glacial 1 activity and caused recession of the | glaciers up the chanels, valleys and
 canyons of their own making, leaving l in their wake bays, sounds and inlets,
 cascades, cataracts and waterfalls.
 The great Muir glacier has during l the last ten years receded more than i seven miles. as shown by Government measurements The Valdez glacier, ] just back of he little village bearing
 its name, has u0t receded as rapidly aa 1 the Muir. but, since the turn in the ] Jide of affairs. the Valdez glacier has receded from way beyond Hlnchen-
 crook, distance Of one hundred miles and Is new slowly retiring up the main valley, with about thirty mIles 0f l ice mIie wide and six huEdred feet deep .tlli 5o waste, While each ot lts several Orancheo, spurs and feeders Is slowly and quietly wasting away and vanishing up It's respective valley 0r canyon. at q rate less marked than
 he Muir but just as nauifestiy and un . aisputaDiy WaotlGg away, block 0F
 ice thirty miles long mile wide and SIX hundred feet deep. with one en elevated to q height of five thousand
 feet, resting on polished and iubrica- ed plane, would still wear a formida-
 pie aspect, but. it Is as the echo of q voice that spoke in thuuders, or the ,hadoW of thugs that were " hat has
 Ueen said Of the foregoing glaciers may equally we'll De caid of them all, for -,IacIal activity in Alaska Is on tue < He, aud practically a thing of the
 past. They are going, many of them
 ait gone, bat thelr works survive them and on the face ot the rocks they have written their history, a history that speaks eloquently or their magLlf, cence and power.
 The conditions which have prevailed i'll Alaska and those which now exist seem mex piicab bIe on any other n.y. pOthesiS tnan that in her normal state, Alaska was tropical or semi -tropical; that from such condition she @as
 changed to frigid climate; that such change came suddenly: that such
 change was accompa anied by some phe- uOmenOn or active energy that frOZe everything to great depth; that from the resulting deposits Of snow the
 glaciers were formed: and that during ali this tine Aiazka has been slowly gravitatiug back to the conditions that prevailed III the beginning
 That Alaska was at one time blessed
 with a mild and equable climate Is abundantly attested by the presence
 of the remains of tropical birds and animals The tusks, boues and even the fiesb-clOthed bodies of nIem oers of 1 the elephant family have been found ] in various localities all over Alaska, 1 nhile the horns and skull of the cape l buffalo. spring bok, weide beastie and 1 various species of ic eX as well as the 1 skulls aud tusks of the wild boar and ! peccary indicate the presence of these