GLACIEES IX THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS. 31 



this glacier the greatest width on the steep slope of the mountain is said to 

 be four or five miles, and its length scarcely less than ten. 



Mount Baker, which is near the boundary line between the United States 

 and British Columbia (latitude 49"), and which is 10,791 feet in height 

 according to the measurements of the U. S. Coast Survey, is said to have large 

 glaciers upon its flanks, as would be expected from its northerly position and 

 proximity to the sea.* It has never been ascended by any one possessed of 

 sufficient scientific knowledge to describe with accuracy the character and 

 conditions of the ice-fields. 



Farther north in British Columbia the absence of maps making any ap- 

 proach to accuracy, and of detailed geological exploi'ations, make it impossible 

 to give anything more than tlie most general statements in regard to the 

 present glaciation of the Cordilleras in their extension north of latitude 49°. 

 No active glaciers have Ijeen noticed on the eastern ranges, or the continua- 

 tion of the Rocky Mountains proper, until some distance north of the boun- 

 dary has been reached. 



According to Dr. Hector, the geologist attached to the Palliser Expedition 

 (1857-60), the mean altitude of the Rocky Mountains between latitudes 49° 

 and 53' is about 12,000 feet above the sea ; but there is a singular absence 

 of marked peaks. The chain, according to the same authority, culminates 

 in latitude 52', where the mountains are very massive, and traversed by pro- 

 found valleys, the highest offsets from which are occupied by glaciers. Con- 

 sidering the great elevation and high northern latitude of this portion of the 

 rano-e, it seems remarkable that so few glaciers should exist there. Mr. 

 Selwyn, chief of the Canada Geological Survey, in his exploration of 1875, 

 at the head of Peace River, still farther north, in latitude 56", observed only 

 patches of snow, sometimes of several acres in extent, but no glaciers or 

 permanent snow peaks. The altitude of the point ascended by Mr. Selwyn, 

 and from which, as he remarks, a perfect sea of Alpine peaks and ridges was 

 visible, was only about 6,200 feet, a falling off in elevation of the chain in 

 this direction which more than compensates for the increased latitude. 



In the Coast Ranges of British Columbia, on the other hand, as might be 

 expected from their position with reference to the direction of the prevailing 



* Professor Davidson, in giving the elevation of Mount Baker as determined li\' the Coast Survey, adds that 

 the height of the snow-line on the west side of the mountain was found to be 5,301 feet, which he says "is 2,1.10 

 feet higher than tlie elevation reported hy Alexander Agassiz, which has generally been distrusted." From what 

 has been previously stated in this chapter in regard to the varying amount of snow on Mo\int Shasta, it will I'eadily 

 be inferred that any such thing as a fi.^ed snow-line on these volcanic cones does not exist in nature. 



