Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1915-12-07
Glacier Park Another Alps.
FORMED IN DIN AGES BY SHRINKING OF
EARTH's SKIN.

! FORMED IN DIM AGES BY SHRINKING o.
EARTH's SKIN.
. Many hundreds, perhaps thousands, o
! people who never heard of the Glacie
, National Park before this spring hav'
visited 1t this summer. 1t has been
National Park since 1910, but, In periot
} of utter public Indifference to the glorie
of American scenery, it has passed al
J most unnoticed. Now that America hal
suddenly become aware that she possess
ca the most superb accessible scenery IL
J the world. Glacier Is destined to rapiC
recognition as the one real Switzerland
of America. 1t is in northwestern Mon
tana, close to the Canadian border line
The Park derives its name from it's 6(
glaciers; but there are more than 80, al
told, il one classes as glaciers many in
terestiug snow patches of only few
acres each, which, nevertheless, exhibi,
all the characteristics of true glaciers
Its scenery is strikingly Alpine, yet II
possesses individuality to high degree.
In ruggedness and sheer grandeur !;
probably surpasses the Alps, while geo.
logically it is markedly different.
1t strongly differentiates also from
other mountain scenery in America.
Ice-clad Rainier, mysterious Crater Lake,
spoutipg Yellowstone, exquisite Yosem-
ite, beautiful Sequoia-to each of these
and to all other of our National Parks
Glacier offers highly individualized
contrast.
| REGION OF REMARKABLE BEAUTY.
| To define Glacier National Park, pic
lture to yourself two approaching chains
of vast tumbled mountains which pass
the Continental Divide back and forth
between them in wormlike twistings,
which bear living glaciers in every hollow
of their loftiest convolutions, and which
break precipitately thousands OF feet to
lower mountain masses, which, in their
turn, bear innumerable lakes of unbe-
lievable calm, offspring OF the glaciers
above; these lakes, in their turn, giving
birth to roaring rivers of icy water, leap
ing turbulently from level to level, carv-
ing innumerable sculptured gorges Of
grandeur and indescrbable beauty.
These parallel mountain masses form
a central back bone for the National Park.
Their western sides slope from the SUM-
NIT less precipitately. Their eastern
sides break abruptly. 1t ia on the east
that their scenic quality becomes titanic.
To really comprehend the personality
of Glacier one must glance back for
moment into the geological past when
the sea or great lakes rolled over what
is now the northwest of this continent.
1t was water that deposited the stratitied
sediments which are now these rocks.
Untold ages passed, and the sea or
lake bottom, under the urge of terrific
forces hidden in the interior Of the earth,
lifted, emerged, and became land. Un.
told ages passed, and the land hardened
into rocks And all the time the forces
kept pressing together and upward the
rocky crust of the earth. For untold
ages this crust held safe.
RESULT OF TITANIC UPHEAvAL.
At last the pressure won. The rocks
first yielded upward in long irregular
wavelike folds. Gradually these folds
grew in size. When the rocks could
stand the strain no longer, great cracks
appeared, and one broken edge, the " est
ern, was thrust upward and over the
other. The edge that was thrust over
the other was thousands of feet thick.
Its crumbling formed the mountains and
the precipices.
When it settled the western edge OF
this break overlapped the eastern edge
ten or fifteen miles.
This thrusting of one edge of the burst
and split continent over the other edge
is called faulting by geologists, and this
particular fault is called the Lewis Over
thrust. 1t Is the Overthrust which gives
the peculiar character to this amazing
country, that and the inconceivably tum
bled character of the vast rocky masses
lying crumblpg on its edges.
Thus was formed, in the dim days be-
fore man, for the pleasure of the Amer
lean people of today, the Glacier Nation
al Park.
Today the visitor finds this the most
wonderful combination of mountain tops
iu America, bounded by vertical walls
sometimes 1000 feet in height diversified
by many glistening glaciers and by beau
tiful timbered slopes leading down by
graceful curves to the bottom OF deep
valleys. Scores of lakes are unsurpassed
in sheer beauty by any even Of Italy and
Switzerland. There are more than 25O
lakes in all.
HOW IT WAS DISCOVERED.
Nor is this scenic wonderland merely
a sample of the neighborhood. North of
the park the Canadian mountains rapid.
ly lose their scenic interest. South and
west there is little Of greater interest
than the mountains commonly crossed
in a transcontinental journey. To the
east lies the plains. This region appears
not to have been visited by white men
before 1853, when A. w. Tinkham,
Government engineer exploring route
for Pacific railroad, ascended Nyack
Creek by mistake and retraced his steps,
W hen he discovered the mpracticability
for railroad purposes of the country he
had penetrated. The next explorers
were group of surveyors establishing
the Canadian boundary line. This was
in 1861. In 1890 copper ore was found
at the head of Quartz Greek and there
was a rush of prOspectors. The east
side of the Continental Divide, being
part of the Blackfeet Indian Reservation,
was closed to prospectors, and Congress
was iriportuned for relief. In 1896 this
was purchased from the Indians for
81, SOC, 900, but not enough copper was
found to pay for the mining. Thereafter
it was visited only by big-game hunters
and occasional lovers of scenery.
Muddiest of Rivers.
The Missouri Ia the muddiest river in