THE HUBBARD GLACIER, ALASKA 



297 



Fig. 4. East half of Hubbard Glacier, discharging icebergs into Russell Fiord. Mt. 

 Seattle (10,000 feet) on right. Panorama with Fig. 3. 



many of them into the air and overturning others. This causes a wave 

 that splashes with lightning rapidity against the ice cliff and crunches 

 in the ice caves there, while other waves spread ring-like across the 

 fiord, overturning great icebergs on the way and causing the surf to 

 splash spitefully on shores two and a half miles away for ten minutes 

 or more. The accompanying noises were never absent at our camp 

 facing the Hubbard Glacier. The stream of icebergs thus produced 

 (Fig. 9) moves endless out toward the sea. 



Retreat of the Hubbard Glacier 



This glacier, long known to the natives, was seen from a distance 

 of about six miles by the searchers for the Northwest Passage, Malas- 

 pina and Vancouver, in 1793 and 1794. The former gave the unde- 

 scriptive name of Desangano to this bay because of his disappointment 

 at once again failing to find the passage. Before historic times the 

 Hubbard Glacier extended southward more than thirty miles to the 

 Pacific Ocean, receiving large tributaries on its way. In 1792 and 

 1794 it had probably retreated nearly to its present position, not being 

 five miles down the bay as several have inferred. 2 When seen by the 

 late Professor I. C. Russell, in 1890 and 1891, it was no doubt slightly 

 farther back than in 1792 and 1794. 3 By 1899, when studied and 



2 See Tarr, R. S., and Martin, Lawrence, " Position of Hubbard Glacier 

 Front in 1792 and 1794," Bull. Amer. Geog. Soc, Vol. XXXIX., 1907, pp. 

 129-136. 



3 Russell, I. C, " An Expedition to Mount St. Elias, Alaska," Nat. Geog. 

 Mag., Vol. 3, 1891, pp. 90-100; see also " Second Expedition to Mount St. Elias," 

 Thirteenth Ann. Rept. U. S. Geol. Survey, pt. 2, 1892, p. 85. 



