The Wrangell sentinel., 1928-05-10
ENTHUSIASTIC OVER
GLACIERS OF ALASKA
By=James T. Nichols
=insIowa Homestead

]
AS I want to write about the Co
lumbia Glacier. I will give some at
tention as to the Miles and Childs
Glaciers in another letter. Our cap
tain went out Of his course to give
his passengers a closeup view of the
great Columbia Ice wonder. Can you
imagine a valley near four miles
wide and rs miles long filled with
solid bed of ice from 500 to 700
feet thick and slowly pushing its way
down into the sea. Well, that is Co
lumbia Glacier. 1t has been ealculat-
ed that this mass of ice (the valley
is much wider at places than where
it empties into the sea- covers almost
as much territory as the state of
Rhode Island.
This mighty wall of Ice is perpen=
dieular as it juts out into the sea.
With such an external mass weigh
ing millions and millions of tons
slowly moving. pushing its way down
into the sea with such resistless
force, all the genius of the human
brain with all the hydroelectrie
power that could be generated by
1000 Niagaras could not keep it
back a single inch
have gazed upon the great pyra-
mids of Egypt, the vast ruins of Kar-
max and Thebes. the marvellous
stones and ruins of Baalck, the Ming
tombs and Great Wall of China and
in fact most of the gigantic creations
of mans genius in the ages past.
Could all the power that man has
been able to harness and control be
combined in one mighty effort. all
would be absolutely helpless to stay
even for an hour the onward move
ment of the Columbia Glacier
Continually day and night, sum
mer and winter. this movement goes
on. Of course the time to see it is in
the summer. As the water of the sea
eats its way under the slowly moving
mountain of ice, great bergs break
off and fall. sometimes with roar
that can be heard for miles Often
even the blowing of the steamers
whistle will cause the ice to crack
back hundreds of feet and the noise
makes you think the world is break
ing up.
Often as the steamer moves up
within 1000 feet or more of the ice
mountain great pieces as large and
as tall as the biggest skyscraper
break off and fall into the sea with a
roar that makes the loudest thunder
sound like a pop gun in comparison.
The waves startled by these immense
masses falling makes the greatest
steamship dance a jig on the water.
Should mighty forest trees four or
five feet in diameter along the sides
of these moving ice monsters be
caught in the places where the val
ley becomes narrow they are simply
splintered and ground down as tho
they were blades of grass. Gigantic
boulders and even bed rock in places
are broken and crushed and ground
smooth and round by the time this
moving mass throws them aside or
passes over them in its resistless
journey to the open sea.
The color of this mountain of ice
is a sort of pale blue and while the
sky was overcast with clouds while
we silently watched it, yet they say
that the beauty of the sight when
the rays of the setting sun flash
upon it, holds one almost speHbound. |
There is something indescribable
and mysterious about this Columbia
Glacier. AS the ship steams near the
mountain of ice where bergs are al |
most continually falling and the
cracking of the mass hundreds of
feet back goes on, while the floating
pieces of ice large and small float
around the ship, one almost feels
that he is in the presence of some
terrible personality. Many people
watch the sight in absolute silence.