An Expedition to Mount St. Elias, Alaska — John Shaqi
An Expedition to Mount St. Elias, AlaskaRussell, Israel C. (Cook)
History
An Expedition to Mount St. Elias, Alaska
Russell, Israel C. (Cook)
Alaska -- Description and travel; Saint Elias, Mount (Alaska and Yukon)
On the steep mountain sides sloping toward the Hubbard glacier there
are more than a dozen secondary ice-streams which are tributary to it.
The amphitheatres in which the glacier has {100} its beginnings have
never been seen; but our general knowledge of the fountains from which
glaciers flow assures us that not only scores but hundreds of other
secondary and tertiary glaciers far back into the mountains contribute
their floods to the same great stream.
After being received on board the _Corwin_, late in September, we had
an opportunity to view the great sea-cliffs of the Hubbard glacier
near at hand. Captain Hooper, attracted by the magnificent scenery,
took his vessel up Disenchantment bay to a point beyond Haenke island,
whence a view could be had of the eastern extension of the inlet. So
far as is known, the _Corwin_ was the first vessel to navigate those
waters. Soundings made between the island and the ice-foot gave forty
to sixty fathoms. At the elbow, where the southeastern shore of the
bay turns abruptly eastward, there is a low islet not represented on
any map previous to the one made by the recent expedition, which
commands even a wider prospect than can be obtained from Haenke
island. Future visitors to this remote coast should endeavor to reach
this islet, after having beheld the grand panorama obtainable from the
summit of Haenke island. The portion of Disenchantment bay stretching
eastward from the foot of Hubbard glacier is enclosed on all sides by
bold mountains, the lower slopes of which have the subdued and flowing
outlines characteristic of glaciated regions. Several glaciers occur
in the high-grade lateral valleys opening from the bay; but these have
recently retreated, and none of them have sufficient volume at present
to reach the water. The general recession, in which all the glaciers
of Alaska are participating, is manifested here by the broad débris
fields, which cover all the lower ice-streams not ending in the sea.
The absence of vegetation on the smooth rocks recently abandoned by
the ice also tells of recent climatic changes.
A débris-covered glacier, so completely concealed by continuous sheets
of stones and earth that its true character can scarcely be
recognized, descends from the mountains just east of Hubbard glacier.
It is formed by the union of two principal tributaries, and, on
reaching comparatively level ground, expands into a broad ice-foot,
but does not have sufficient volume to reach the sea. Another glacier,
of smaller size but of the same general character, lies between the
Hubbard and Dalton glaciers.
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