The Bismarck tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, N.D.) 1916-current, 1923-12-28
SCIENTISTS
SAY MT. ELIAS
is INFANT
Has Fine Chance to Develop
Into Full Grown Mountain,
Biologists Assert
Is STILL ACTIV E
Relates History of Growth Of
MOuntain-FOrecast Pos.
sible Movement
~ ,SEA Service

By NEA Service
Skagway, Alaska. Dec. 49, Mount
i. Elias is 1904 Teet high today
out wait until it's through growing.
II may get taller than Mount Nc.
kinley and even take the world v ide
eadership from Mount Everest
ST. Elias is rapidly growing
little cugs. Already St. Elias is third
highest OF North Americas peaks
IND it il mere infant, biologists
declare.
One Of sciences fayorite sports
.hesc days Is watching St. Elias
2row. And it is performing, too,
scientists tell the world.
Mount st. Elias is in southeastern
Alaska, part Of the st. Elias range,
hitch forms the boundary between
american and Canadian territory.
ils lower sides and base are buried
- massive glaciers. which stretch
along the coast for more than 100
miles II Is just few miles inland
rom Yakutat Bay. This makes st.
elias visible from steamers travel
.hg fairly close to shore.
Quakcs Responsible
Rising from the coast through its
glaciers, Mount st. Elias presents a
vista not to be found elsewhere--a
hcer sweep from ocean to aky, with
nothing save low lying glaciers to
break the view Of the mountain.
But to get back to growing noun
tains---
It's not the climate, biologists say,
although IL is admitted that perpet-
ual snow is an asset to peaks
beauty.
Rather, it is geological formation
that makes Elias grow. The St.
Elias mountains were formed by the
earths uplift involving folding and
faulting. Mount st. Elias is still
actively growing, growth being &C
complishcd by movements Of the
Garth along Il series OF fault LIKES.
Through these, the mountain block
is being uplifted.
Earthquakes are the growing
pains" Of the mountains growth. In
addition to sending the peak closer
to the sky, these temblors have also
made many changes in the Yakutat
district.
= "Growing Pains''
The last big growth recorded for
Mount st. Elias occurred late in
1899. A cataclysmic unheaval shook
a wide area in southeastern Alaska.
apparently centcred in the Yaku.
tat region. The few whites and the
natives who were fishing there at
the time, declare the earthquake
shocks, Of unusual violence, contin-
ued for II days.
And Mount st. Elias grew taller as
result. Likewise, Yakutat Bays
innermo,t rccesscs were changed
about.
On the shore of Disenchantnent
Bay closest to Mount st. Elias, the
beach was raised from seven to AZ
feet. On the opposite side, there was
corresponding depression. In the
bay, two reefs appeared. 4
High above the reach Of the pres
ent highest waves, the west shore
shows rock benches, caves, pebbles
and other evidences Of seawater ac-
Scattered through these are
tho remains Of marine life, left high
and dry by the upheavals. Barnacles
and mussel shells are found many
feet from the water, still clinging to
lodges. Marine growths always be.
low low tide level are also out Of
the water, while there are several
lines Of driftwoOd, etc, some dis
lance apart, each marking former
water level.
Sunk Elsewhere
Compensating for this rise is the
depression elsewhere. As a result,
a forest formerly bordering the
siore line is now in the water. Waves
through the trees are begin
hing to kill the trees.
The U. $. Geological Survey, which,
sent party Of scientists to study
he phenomenon, found unqucstion-
lble evidence Of the mountains
growth.
In the course Of few hundred |!
icons, Mount st. Elias, at this rate,
'ught to be a real stable little
lummOck - while Disenchantment
'ay may be moved from Alaska to
'lnama.