GEOGRAPHY 26 1 



back nearly to the sea in a narrow fiord, bordered on 

 either side by high mountain walls. This extension, here- 

 tofore named Disenchantment Bay, has been rechristened. 

 The story of the locality is as follows: More than a cen- 

 tury ago Malaspina, the Spanish navigator, entered Yakutat 

 Bav while in search of the Northwest Passage. Sailing 



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on up the bay and finding that open water extended far 

 inland, he for a time thought that for him had been reserved 

 the fame and satisfaction of discovering the long-sought 

 route through the North American continent. His dream 

 was short, however, for on nearing the bend in the bay he 

 found his way blocked by a solid wall of ice. This ice 

 was the front of the combined Hubbard and Turner gla- 

 ciers, which then extended far beyond their present limits, 

 completely closing the entrance to the fiord above, which 

 at that time was probably an open lake some 200 feet 

 above the level of the sea, and overflowing southward into 

 the Pacific. In memory of his disappointment, Malaspina 

 named the upper part of Yakutat Bay ' Disenchantment 

 Bay.' 



Prof. I. C. Russell, when exploring the head of the 

 bay in 1891, discovered the fiord, and in an open boat 

 traversed it for its entire length. Instead of naming it, 

 he extended the application of the name Disenchantment 

 Bay to cover it. We have rechristened it, in honor of its 

 discoverer and first explorer, Russell Fiord. Our ship, 

 the George W. Elder, was the first large vessel to go to 

 the head of this fiord. We made the passage under the 

 pilotage of a Yakutat Indian and lay at anchor over night 

 at its head. 



Northwest of Yakutat Bay for many miles the shore is 

 covered by a field of ice, Malaspina Glacier, which is in 

 the main a stagnant pool, wasting only under the heat of 

 the summer sun, and supplied by ice streams from the 

 St. Elias Alps, which border it on the north and east. 



