The New Eldorado: A Summer Journey to AlaskaBallou, Maturin M. (Maturin Murray)
History
The New Eldorado: A Summer Journey to Alaska
Ballou, Maturin M. (Maturin Murray)
Alaska -- Description and travel; West (U.S.) -- Description and travel
Fairweather is situated about two hundred miles southeast of Mount St.
Elias, its hoary head being often visible a hundred miles and more at
sea; rising above the fogs and clouds, its summit is recognizable while
all other land is far below the horizon. We were told that when the
earthquake occurred at Sitka in 1847, this mountain emitted huge volumes
of smoke and vapor. The force of volcanic action in Alaska is, however,
evidently diminishing, though occasional slight shocks of earthquakes
are experienced, especially on the outlying islands of the Aleutian
group and near the mouth of Cook’s Inlet.
Besides these loftiest mountains named,—“Rough quarries, rocks, and
hills whose heads touch heaven,”—Mount Cook, Mount Crillon, and Mount
Wrangel should not be forgotten. Lieutenant H. T. Allen, U. S. A., makes
the height of the latter exceed that of Mount St. Elias, but we think it
very questionable. This officer’s statement that Mount Wrangel is the
birthplace of some of the largest glaciers known to exist seems much
more likely to be correct. In this region, therefore, this far northwest
territory of the United States, we find the highest elevations on the
North American continent. The mountain ranges of California and Montana
unite with the Rocky Mountains, and turning to the south and west form
the Alaska Peninsula, finally disappearing in the North Pacific, except
where a high peak appears now and then, raising its rocky crest above
the sea, like a giant standing breast-high in the ocean, and thus they
form the Aleutian chain of treeless islands, which stretch away westward
towards the opposite continent. That these islands are all connected
beneath the sea, from Attoo, the most distant, to where they join the
Alaska Peninsula, is made manifest by the exhibition of volcanic
sympathy. When one of the lofty summits emits smoke or fiery débris the
others are similarly affected, or at least experience slight shocks of
earthquake. So the several islands which form the Hawaiian group are
believed to be joined below the ocean depths, and several, if not all,
of the islands of the West Indies are considered to be similarly
connected.
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