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

into a great field OF ice mountains. which
| in the distgnce seem TO be OF marble carved
| Coming closer we rode almost TO the foot
| Of the glacier and there left the car. We
then climbed over the rocks OF the moraino
! TO the edge Of the glacial stream which
J flows along the foot OF the wall. We were
| not more than the width OF a city street
! from the wall itself The Mendenhau gla-
4 cier where it bursts forth from the noun
! tain, is not more than a mile wide. 1t rises
/ almost precipitOusly. with great cutters cut
/ ting its face and with many small holes
( which the guides tell the credulous Chez
! chako. or tenderfoot, have been made by
! the ice worms. They say there are certain
| worms that live in the ice, and that these
| are often taken out and eaten by the miners
! when starving. Indeed, they prove the story
! by showing photograph Of miner actu-
! ally masticating tie worms which ne is
sucking from the ice. The photograph Is a
real one but the worms 1 am told, are
| strings OF spaghetti
! Greatest Of Alaskan Glaciers.
From the Lynn canal westward, running
I from here for a distance of four or five hun
bred miles, are to be found the greatest gla-
! ciers OF Alaska. Gen. Greedy gives cata-
/ log Of the names and localities Of more than
| 200 Of them and G. X Gilbert Of the Har-
riman expedition says their glacial ice COW
ers from 900 to 10000 square miles. These
glaciers are mostly found within 100 miles
OF the ocean and the largest are on the
south side Of the coast range There are IL
wide glaciers on Prince William sound. and
you can stand in Seward and see glaciers
all about you on the sides Of the mountains.
There two great glaciers IN the Mount
Mckinley region. one Of which Is 40 miles
long The latter is weighted down with
broken stones and Is said TO have a larger
moraine than any other glacier OF the world.
Among the Prince William sound glaciers
are three mighty ones named after three OF
our chief mems colleges, Columbia. Harvard
and Yale: and there are five named after
, women's colleges, Wellesley, Bryn Mawr,
Vassar Radcliffe and Smith, The latter are
! all cascade glaciers and have mountain
streams pouring from under them
Where Rivers Start.
Nearly every river in Alaska has its
source in a glacier The tributaries Of the
Yukon are fed by glaciers and the same is
true OF the KuskOkwim. The Tanana, upon
which Fairbanks Is located, is formed by the
Chisana and Nabesna rivers, both Of which
rise in glaciers in the Wrangen mountains.
and the Susitna springs forth from a glacier
Of the Alaskan range. The Copper river is
fed by glaciers, and the Copper River rail-
way, which connects the Kennecott mines
with the sea, passes between the Childs gla-
cier and the Miles glacier on its way to
Cordova. The Childs glacier is 300 feet high
and three miles in width. It winds its way
down the mountains like a mighty frozen
snake for distance Of rs miles. The Miles
glacier IL almost large
Glacier Bay Filled with Them.
Glacier bay is only short distance from
where I writing. This body OF water is
so miles long. and it has more than a half
dozen glaciers Of enormous size. The big
Gest is the Muir glacier. named after John
Muir. who discovered it. It is three miles
wide where it enters the water, and the
height Of the fee wall is almost 1000 feet
700 feet being underneath the surface. The
glacier is very lively, and II has been sup
posed by some to move as much as 90 feet
a day. but a fair estimate would probably
be One-sixth Of that eed Very few Of the
well known glaciers move more than foot
a day. although there are some in Alaska
that move five and ten feet. and one in
northern Greenland that is said to move
over four feet every hour. The movement
OF a glacier NAV be measured by laying
stones upon or driving posts into the sur
face As the glacier moves onward the
space between these posts and fixed points
on the landscape shows how fast it is trav-
cling.
In addition to the valley glaciers. Alaska
has some great ice fields, or ice caps, such
as the Nalaspina glacier. This glacier Is
great sheet Of ice larger than the state OF
Rhode Island. 1t has a front OF about %
miles as it faces the sea. and runs 30 miles
back into the country 10 the St. Elias range
OF mountains. It is really vast plain or
with hills and mountains Of gravel 1t is
the biggest ice field on the North American
continent. although 1t is only a patch in
comparison with the great ice caps OF
Greenland and Antsrctica The Greenland
cap has an area Of over 400. 900 square miles.
or twO-thirds that OF Alaska. The ice sheet
OF Antarctica is supposed to cover about
three million square miles. Il Is rs big as
the United States proper.
The Nalaspina glacier had a series OF
about ten years ago which
changed its whole surface twisting the bed
rock and uprooting the timber for miles
about In 1879 a lake in one OF the crew
asses Of the Miles glacier burst through the
walls Of ice and hurled blocks Weighing
thousands OF tons down Into the river. n
wave 30 feet high spread over the flats. and
against the bridge Of the Copper river rail-
road.