The Snyder signal. (Snyder, Tex.) 1887-????, 1912-05-31

lcebergs are made the year around, but are
bred more rapidly in the sumner time in that
the glaciers move faster at that season OF the
year. When once set adrift on the western shore
OF Greenland the iceberg soon finds itself in the
Labrador current and in this southbound stream
OF the waters OF the north it begins its journey
to the southwark and toward its ultimate disco
luton This is not an unobstructed drift, but one
attended with many stoppages and mshaps.
Many cebergs ruin aground in the Arctic basin.
and there break up. Others reach the shore OF
Labrador where they founder along the coast
for season or two before they 60 to pieces.
Others stick TO the main channel and reach the
open seas without hitch and in this way make
a much more rapid drift to the south, These
are the icebergs that go farthest because less
time is expended in the trip and less opportunity
for melting is therefore to be had These are the
icebergs that stick their noses into the warm
waters of the Gulf stream and that offer them
selves to any transatlantic liner which wants to
convert itself into battering ram. The Labra-
dor current upon the bosom OF which ride great
fleets OF the most imposing icebergs that the
world ever knows passes to the southwark along
the coasts OF Baffin Bay and Labrador, and al
though its currents are in places very slow At
makes an average Roadway OF twenty miles day.
II pours into the Atlantic enormous masses OF
water for which compensation is derived from
the warm streams of the Atlantic and from the
east Greenland currents that are sucked around
Cape Farewell and furnish the only warming in
fluence that comes to the west coast OF Green
land.
The life of the average iceberg is two or three
wears. From the time OF calving to the time OF
dissolution i'm the warm Atlantic the successful
iceberg travels a maximum OF two thousand
miles There are usually many delays. and it is
the second or third season before the iceberg
finally gets into the open Atlantic and melts.
The sheets of surface ice that covers these north
ern waters through the greater part OF the year
materially delay the progress of the iceberg So
vast is the bulk of the berg that is below water
and so strong is the pull of the current upon H.
however that it is no uncommon thing TO see
an iceberg steadily advancing in irczen sea
and Moving It's way through ice thar IS four or
five feet thick Many OF these sturdy vessels that
have explored tar northern waters have taken
advantage Of the drifts of an iceberg 20 the south
have II oored their ships in its wake. and have
been towed many miles to the southwark mus
the,, have gained passage through ice that 1t
would have been impossible for them TO break.
This association with an iceberg however. Is
one az the most dangerous of all affiliations The
emf NJ which these huge bodies arc made IS
thc brittest imaginable, and II IS matter Of
wonder what small things may upon occasion
csrsc Il 10 break to pieces. The blow OF an
ak will at times split huge iceberg the report on
= gun bv conclusion may cause II 10 break to
neces The men o. the north who Snow he
treachcrv al icebergs approach them with great
coufion when il becomes necessary to get wafer
from them or 10 anchor 70 them. Along the
coast OF Labrador in July and August when It
i packed with bergs the noise Of the rupture Of
these great ice masses IL often deatening, and
the experienced give them wide berth.
When the process OF melting is going on the
mater from, the surface which is caused by the
Leat Of the sun finds It's way into the erevassss
and At night freezes again. In the freezing pro
ress Il expands and. acting like wedge, forces
,l,. berg into fragments. This process greatly
aids in the final breaking up OF an iceberg. There
.re on record instances OF ieebergs that have
hen 90 formed as to leave no erevssses and so
fortunate as to strike no distractions during
their trip toward the open and that have hired
almost 70 the Azores.
These stately derelicts Of the far north assume
such fantastic shapes as to remind one OF crystal
palaces of the imagination. Some approximate
rcgriar eeometric figures while others are
crowned with spires, domes. minarets, while vet
others are pierced by deep indentations or caves.
snail cataracts precipitate themselves from the
isroe iccberas. while ieicles hang IN clusters
from every projecting ledge. Il IS no uncommon