CHAPTER XXV 

 GLACIERS AND GLACIATION OF ALASKA 



THE HARRIMAN EXPEDITION TO ALASKA: 1899 



When a great excursion to Alaska was planned for the summer of 1899, transportation being 

 munificently provided in a special train from New York to Seattle and in a fine ocean-going 

 vessel chartered for the voyage from Seattle to Alaska and return by the host of the party, Mr. 

 Edward H. Harriman, it was natural if not inevitable that Gilbert should be included among 

 its 25 scientific members, inasmuch as they were chosen as leading representatives in various 

 lines of research. The party, known as the Harriman Alaska expedition, left Seattle in the 

 steamship George W. Elder on May 31, reached Bering Strait before turning back, and had trav- 

 eled 9,000 miles before arriving at Seattle again on July 30. The narrative of the journey records 

 that — 



the ship had no business other than to convey the party whithersoever it desired to go. Her route was entrusted 

 to a committee comprising the heads of the various departments of research; so that from day to day and 

 from hour to hour her movements were made to subserve the interests of the scientific work. . . . Another 

 factor which contributed materially to the results was the length of the days and lightness of the nights in 

 northern latitudes, permitting work on shore the greater part of the night. . . . Naphtha launches were of the 

 utmost service, landing large parties quickly and safely, and conveying men and supplies to remote points out of 

 reach of the ship. . . . Nearly every evening an informal lecture or talk on some subject connected with the 

 work of the Expedition, and illustrated by blackboard sketches, was given in the main cabin. 



By great good fortune, the party was " favored with unusually fine weather so that on either 

 the outward or the return voyage practically all parts of the coast from Puget Sound to Unalaska, 

 including the splendid peaks of the St. Elias and Fairweather ranges, and the great mountains 

 of the Alaska peninsula, were clearly seen from the steamer. ... In all not less than five 

 thousand photographs were secured," in addition to large natural history collections. The 

 expedition was a noteworthy scientific event. 



GLACIERS AND GLACIATION 



Gilbert's share in the expedition was not limited to his special studies. He was a member 

 of the executive committee, and of the committees on route and plans, geology, geography 

 and geographic names, and lectures; and, as in every party that he joined, he was a prized 

 companion for a walk on deck, a trip to the shore, or an eveniDg in the cabin. The subjects of 

 study assigned to him were "glaciers and glaciation." He treated them in the third of the 

 handsome volumes published by the Smithsonian Institution as the Harriman Alaska Series. 

 As to the first topic, to which John Muir also devoted a short chapter in the first volume of the 

 series, Gilbert gave general accounts of nearly 40 glaciers, many of which reached tidewater; 

 but as his observations were made either from the passing steamer or from short trips to the 

 shore, he early decided that the phase of glacial science which he could best advance was the 

 history of local changes shown by the advance or retreat of glacier ends. Effort was therefore 

 made to visit as many as possible of the glaciers that had been previously described or mapped 

 by earlier observers, with the object of determining fluctuations that had taken place later, and in 

 the case of the numerous glaciers not previously studied, means were taken to define their ends by 

 maps, photographs, and descriptions in such a way that their future fluctuations might be 

 measured by later observers. So numerous are Alaskan glaciers and so little had they been 

 explored, that this expedition discovered and named a good number of new ones. No finer 

 example of a tidal glacier was found than the first one encountered, the Davidson Glacier in 

 the Lynn "canal" or fiord; it is noteworthy that Gilbert's description of this beautiful ice 

 stream recognized the possibility of its submarine extension beneath the low belt of gravel that 

 surrounds its visible termination, and that his longitudinal section of the glacier represents its 

 actual end resting on the fiord bottom and reaching about 2,000 feet beyond its visible end. 



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