Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1914-09-30

great starfsh. All reach down to the
foot Of the mountain and some advance
considerably beyond.
WITHIN EASY ACCESS
As for the plea that these glaciers lie
In scarcely opened, out-of-the-way re-
gion, forbidding wilderness as compared
with meturely civilized Switzerland, it no
longer has the force 1t once possessed.
Rainiers ice fields can now be reached
from Seattle or Tacoma the two princi-
pal cities Of western Washington in a
comfortable days journeying, either by
rail or by automobile. The cooling sight
of crevassed glaciers and the exhilaratlng
flower-scented air of alpine meadows need
no longer be exclusive pleasures TO be
gained only by a trip abroad
or the mountain Mr.. Matthes says:
Mount Rainier stands on the west edge
or the Cascade range, overlooking the
lowlands that stretch to Puget Sound.
Seen from Seattle or Tacoma, 80 or 30
miles distant, respectively, lt appears to
rise directly from sea level, so insignf-
cant seem the ridges about its base Yet
these ridges themselves are OF no mean
height. They rise 5000 to 1000 feet above
the valleys that cut through them and
their crests average 5000 feet in altitude.
q
MAJESTIC MOUNT RAINIER
Mount Rainier stands in round num-
bers, 10000 feet high above its imme-
diate base, and covers 100 square miles Of
territory, or one-third of the area Of
Mount Rainier National Park. In shape
II fs not simple cone tapering to n slen-
der pointed summit. like Full Yama, the
UnI ~ a.
broadly truncated mass, resembling an
enormous tree stump, with spreading base
and irregularly broken top ."
The altitude of the main summit has for
many years been in doubt. Several figures
have been announced from time to time,
no two of them In agreement with each
other; but all of these, II Is to be OBJ
served. were obtained by more or less
approximate methods. In 1913 the United
states Geological Survey in connection
with Its topographic surveys of the Mount
Rainier National Park, was able to make
new series of measurements by tri-
angulation methods at close range These
give the peak an elevation of 14,4Os feet,
thus placing it near the top of the list
of high SUBMITS OF the United States.
This last figure, II should be added is
not likely to be in error by more than
foot or two, and may, with some conf
dence, be regarded as final. Greater ex-
aSlheSs VI Is scarcely pTdC-
tlcnble in the case of Mount Rainier. as
its highest summit consists actually of a
mound of snow, the height of which nat
urally varies somewhat with the seasons
and from year to year.
This crowning snow mound, which was
once supposed t. be the highest point in
the United States, still bears the proud
name of Columbia crest It is essentially
huge snowdrlft or snow dune. heaped up
by the westerly winds. Driving furiously
up through the great breach in the wet
flank OF the mountain. between Peak Sue
cess and Liberty Cap, they eddy lightly
as they shoot over the summit and there
deposit their load of snow.
WHAT A GLACIER IS
Mr.. Matthes describes 15 of the glaciers
of the mountain. In regard to glaciers
generally he says: A glacier is not a
mere stationary blanket of snow and ice
clinglng inert to the mountain flank. It
is slowly moving, streamlike body that
descends by virtue of it's own weight
The upper parts are continually being
replenished by fresh snowfalls which at
those high attitudes do not entirely melt
away in summer, while the lower end,
projecting as it does below the snow
line, loses annually more by melting than
1t receives by precipitation, and is main
tanned only by the continued accession of
masses from above.
The rate at which the ice advances has
been determined by Prof J. n. lie Conte
of the University of California In 1903
he placed a row of stakes across the
glacier, and with the aid of surveying
obtained accurate measure
ments of the distances through which
they moved from day to day. He found
that in summer, when the movement is
greatest, 1t averages 16 inches per day.
This figure. however, applies only to the
central portion of the glacier-the main
so to speak-for the margins
necessarily move more slowly. being re-
tarded by friction against the channel
sldns