El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1916-02-19

crowd OF tourists on board. II took US righ
! up to the glacier. so that we were within
| coo feet Of the ice when stopped.
| At this moment the struck il full and
the great wall became one mass Of silver
] frosted with diamonds and sparkling with
/ sapphires. Where the ice breaks off Tho
1 wall looks like a mighty cutting Of the
1 whitest ice cream. When the berg falls
! into the water IL rises up in gigantic floating
masses Of aquamarine.
As we anchored the wind came TO US over
4 the glacier. 1t had been warm coming VI
4 20 the inlet. but here the icy breath OF JACK
| Frost sent chill TO our bones. 1t was SC
! cold that ] could hardly write. and this cold
! continued during out stay.
! The face Of the glacier is ragged and its
/ top has hundreds might say thousands
! Of peaks. some OF them as sharp as spires
i and others broken and shattered. 1t re-
minds one Of the relief map OF a rugged
mountain range. The ice Is melting. and
! now and then. with noise like thunder, a
great mass slides off into the water. The
] shooting OF a cannon would bring down hun
! dreds Of icebergs, and the vibration Of the
air caused by the blowing Of our steam
whistle never failed to send an avalanche
The scenery Of the glacier was so beautiful
as to be almost awe-inspirlng. and II
brought out expressions Of wonder from the
crowd OF tourists about me. remember
especially the words OF one woman who stood
at my elbow, She said:
My amt that grand It reminds me Of
the drop curtain OF our opera house. But
there Amt no polar bear here"
As the great ice mass fell into the water
a mamie may have been restaurant
keeper-remarked:
Gee. what lot Of ice cream man could
make out OF that bunchW
Deer Swimming Near Ice Field
Il was not far from the glacier that we
saw large deer swimming about in the
water. Our steamer passed within 200 feet
Of him. and Texan on board aid that he
could have lassOed him from the deck The
deer had magnificent antlers. IL horns and
head rose above the water. and its body could
be seen close 20 the surface. It was still
swimming as we moved onward. and we saw
some hunters near the shore start out to
catch Il. They chased the animal this way
and that, and finally dragged 1t into their
boat.
that I rode out in an automobile TO see the
Mendenhall glacier The moraine OF this
the city. You can leave the busiest section
Of the liveliest town in Alaska, surrounded
by mines and mills, by stores and banks and
the other busiest activities Of busy man,
and within less than an hour be In the heart
OF the wilds and in the shadow OF one OF
the most famous glaciers Of this wonderful
visiting Glaciers in Autos.
Think OF going 10 glacier by automobile
I have climbed Nesuvius by wire cable
and have orawled up the Rigi by the famous
cog-railway. but this was my first expert
enoe in shooting through the moraine OF a
glacier in a gasoline car. went as the
guest Of B. H BehrendE. banker OF juneau.
a man who in appearance is the very spit OF
James Whitcomb Riley, and who IN goou lei
lowship f. quite the equal OF the sreat
Hoosier poet We rade from Juneau rlght
into the woods Trees from so to 100 feet
high climbed the steep walls. about US, ana
elderberry bushes with trunks as big around
as my arm leaned over and brushed our
wheels as we passed. The sides OF the road.
we're lined with ferns Of dozen varletes
and by wild flowers. blue, red and yellow
We passed through great beds or IRE weed
"a rbed in crimson and rode over thousands
Of blue lupins OF the hue OF the sky: Inere
we're also Wild carrots with lacenKe , p1os
SONS Of white and devil-clubs whose flow-
ers we're a fuzzy yellow. In some places the
grass was as high as my waist. ana the
mountain slopes on both sides Of the road
y-ers the rresnest Of green. The vegetation
was more like that OF the mountalns OF
lava than what I had expected TO find IN
icy Alaska
Our wav was over the path Of the glacier |
The valley through which We went was once !
filled with its ice but It has slowly re
ceded leaving the ground covered with
cobbIes and great bOuders ground round |
and smooth by their long glacial rides. New /
ertheIess the flowers grew among the stones !
their red and blue blossoms scattered by |
thousands over the landscape.
As we came nearer the glacier the SIZE OF /
the boulders increased. Some OF them /
weighed many tons. They were OF white /
and black granite with here and there boul- /
1ers OF slate. In the windings OF the valley ]
we turned 10 the right and all at once came Z
in plain sight OF the glacier. On each side !
n il were mountains high as the high /
sst Of the Areghenies, and 1t was the val /
ey formed by these mountains that the ga
Ter half filled. bursting forth In a precipi- [
ous ice wall which ran back and gradually !
rose TO the sky line. where IL seemed to iii /
he whole space between the hills and was
ost in the clouds
The face OF the Mendenhall glacier is
nile or more wide. Il is a huge corrugated I
vail OF blue and white ice sloping upward