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Alaska Glaciers

Alaska Glaciers image
Parent Issue
Day
28
Month
November
Year
1879
Copyright
Public Domain
OCR Text

Akrivinö opposite the mouth f the fiord we steered straight iulund !"'- twuen wboded sliores u-passinglj beauÜfal, and tb grand glaoiercatue in ajght, lying at home inits masive granite ralïey,.glowiBg in the early Bunshine, wia extending n noble invitr.tion ti pi and see. Alter we wors ïairly between the tvvo nmjestic mountain rouks that o-uard the. gateo! the ÜQrd, the view that was uuajiolded ftxéd every eye in wondering admiration. Nó -irritten words, hbweyer buiided together, can oonvey anytbing üke an wlequiitt; ronception of its sublime grandeur- the noble siuapUclty and the Bnenesa of the sculptvireof tlie vvaila; tfceir magniMcent prepoTtion., their uascü4, gardwi and iorstdornments; the plucid water btweon thüci; tiie greivt white ice-wall tretcfcing auross in the middk, nd thu snow-liultii naouutaan peaks beyond. Still more impotent ave words fn telling the peculiar we óne experiences in entering these virgin manslona of the iuy north, notwithstanding it is only the perfectly natural effect oi simple ana appreciible nianifestatioiis of the presUnsimilui 'iu the gateway of tlus gloiiöua temple, and reganling it only as r pictare, !ts outlines may be easiiy traeed.' There is the water foreground of a palé, milky-blue color, from tlie suspended rock-mnd issuing frora beneath the grinding glacier- one smooth sheet sweeping back tive or six nulas like on of the lower reachea of a great river. At the head the water is bon ed by a bartier wall of bluish-wWta ice, from 500 to 600 feot high, a few ruountain tops crowued with suow ppeariag bej'ond it. Ou either hand Btretcuèa a series of majeatiu "ranile rocks from 8,000 to 4,000 feet highyiö Bome places bare, in ïome forested, and well patclK'd with yellow-green cha]arral and flowwry " gardsns, eapecially about half-way up from top to botloni, and the vvhole buiit togetiaer in a general, varied miy iuto walls, like tUose of Yoaemite VaJley, exteadieg far beyondthe ice-barrier, one inuneiise Imw appearing bevond tiie other, svhile their bases are burieil in glacier. ïhis is, in fat-t, a Yosemite Valley in prodeas of foonation, the toodeling and suuijiture of the walls nearly eompleted and well phmted, but no groves as et., orgardens, or meadows, ou the raw'and unlinished bottom. 1 l is as'if the explorer, in entering the Mereed ÏOBeniile, skould tiad the walls nearly in their present cor.diti.m, trees and flowers in the warm nooks and along the sunny portions of the moraine-covered browa, but the bottom of tlie ley still covorod with water and becls of gravei ;md mud, and the grand trunk glacier th.-it ttormed it slowly uielting and reeeding, but still filling tiio upper half. its jagged snout extentfing :ül the way aci-oss "f rom the Three Brothers to a ooini below the Sentinel. Sailing directly up tothe sunkenbrow of the terminal moraine, vve then seemed to be separated fromthe glacier only by a low, tkle-leyeled itrip of detritus, a hundred yards or so in width; ut on so grand a scale are all the magnitudes of the main features of the valley that we afterward found it to be a mile or more. The Captain ordered the Indiana to get out the canoe and take as many of us ashore as wished to go, and accompany us to the glacier, also, in case we ghould desire them to do so. ünly three of the company, in the first place, availed themselves of this rare opportunity of meeting a grand glacier in the Ücsh - the missionary, one of the doctors and myself. Taddliug to the nearest and dryest-looking portion of the moraine, we stepped ashore, but gladly wallowed back into the canoe; for the gray mineral mud, a paste made f rom line niouutain meal, and kept unstable by the tules, at once took ns m svnw lowing us feet foremost, with becoming glacial dcliberation. Our next attempt, made nearer the middle of the valley, was successful, and we soon found ourselves on good gravel ground. I made liaste in a direct line for the huge icewall, Whieh seemed to roerde as we approachcd. The only difficujty we met was a network of icy streams, at the largest of which we halted, not willing to get wet in fordinc. The Indian we had elected to go alono with u-s promptly oarried us over the difliculty on his back. Vv'hen my turn came I told him I would ford, but he bowed his slioulders iu so ludicrously pensive a manner I thought I would"try the queer mount, the only one of the kind I had enjoyed since game-day boyhood. Awav staggered my pei'pendicular nmle over the bowlders and cobble-stones into the brawling torrent. The sensations experienced were most novel and most be, but, in spite of a dozen top-heavy predictions t,o the contrary, we crossed without a f all. At length, after being ferried in this way over several more of these outnishing glacial streams, we reached the glorious crystal wall, along which we passed, admiring its noble architecture, theplay of light in the rifts and angles, and the structure of the ice as displayed in the less fractura! sections, etc, flnding fresh beauty and facts for study at every step. The doctor soon left us to return to the boat, taking the Indian with him for portage purposes, while the missionary and I, by dint of patiënt zigzagging and doubling among the crevices, and a vigorous use of our ax in cutting steps on the slopes and cliffs, made our way up over the snow uit' back a mile or so over the cascading brow to a height of about seven hundred feet above the base of the wall. Hert we obtained a glorious view. Tlie whole front and brow of this majestic glacier is gashed and sculptured into a mazo of yawning chasms, and erevasses, and a bewildering variety of strange architectural forms, appalling to the strongest nervcs, lmt novel and beautiful beyond measuré- clusters of glittering lance-üpped spires, gables and obelisks, bold outBtanding bastions and plain mural cliffs, adorned the too will fretted cornW.o ""' uattlenienf, wliile every go rge and crevasse, chasm and hollow, was filled with light, ïhimmering and pulsing in pale blue tones of ineffable tenderness and lovelincss. The day was warm, and back on the broad waving bosom of the glacier water-streama were otitspread in a complicated nutwork, eaeh in its own frictionless ehannel cut down through the porous decaying iee of the surface into the quiok and living blue, and flowing with a grace of motion and a ring and gurgle and tlasliing of light to be found only on the crystal hills and dales of a glacier. Along the sides we could see the mighty lluod grinding against the granite with tremendous pressure, rounding the outswelling bosees, t'i-]iening and smoothing -the retreatin hollows, and shaping evefy portion oi' the mountaiu walls mto the forms they were meant to have, when, in the fulfness of appointed time, tlie ice-tool should be liited and set aside by the gun. Every feature glowed with intention, reflecting the earth-plaas of God. Back two or three milea from the front the current is now probably about one thousand two hundred feet deep; but hen we examine the walls, the grooved and rounded features, so gurely glacial, show that in the earlier days of tlie ice-agc they were all overswept, this glacier having flowed frota three thousand to four thousaud feet above its present level. Standing here, with facts so fresh and telling, and held up so vividly before us, every seeing obsurver, not to say géoiógïst, must really apprehend the earth-aculpturing, landscape-mating aetion of !)■ win ice. And hcrs'i too, oiiu easily learns tfaat the world, though made, faytjt being made; that this is still the mpraiug of crèation; that mountains, loug conceived, aro now being born, brought to iight by the glaciers, channels traced for rivera, basms hollovv-cd for lakes; that moraine soil is being grourid uvl otitspread for coming pküitu, coarse bowld'ei-s and gravel for the foresta, finer meal 6or grassea aad flowers, while the tinest water-bolted portion of the grist, sefin hftStening far out to sea, is being Hti;n-d aw.iv in the darkness, andbuilded, partióte on pai-tiele, eementiag and wystaliaSjig, to make the Boottntains, and vnlleys, and plaina of other landscapes, which, like lluent, pulsing water, rie and fall, and pass on througli the astea in ndless riiythm ;ind beauty. Vo would gladly have remained ou this rogged, living savage oíd mili oí God, mui watcked lts work; butwehad no bread, and the Cassiair was sereaining nei'vously for our return, 'l'herefore, threading our way baek acrossthe crevassea and down the blue clifïs in mean liaste, we snatched a few floweta from a warm spot on tlie edge of the ice, plashed aoruss the moraine atream withi'iit ludían ferry, and we re paddled aboard, rejoicing in the possession of so blessed a day, and feeling that in verv foundation! truth we had been to ohurch and seenGod. - j

Article

Subjects
Old News
Ann Arbor Argus