76 GLACIAL AND SUEFACE GEOLOGY OF THE PACIFIC COAST. 



White River glacier was undoubtedly very large, but, as far as my observa- 

 tions have yet extended, had no tributaries." 



Passing across the Columbia River into Washington Territory, we find a 

 condition of things prevailing similar to that which exists farther south. 

 There is no drift other than that which is local in character, as the writer is 

 able to affirm from personal examination. No doubt the ice-masses of the 

 great volcanic cones of that Territory were once larger than they now are ; 

 at least, reasoning from analogy, we have every reason to believe that would 

 have been the case. Mr. Emmons, however, in his preliminary report on 

 the exploration of Mount Rainier, to which reference has already been made, 

 makes no mention of any proofs of a former more extensive glaciation in 

 that region. 



As far, then, as the second paragraph of the communication made by the 

 writer to the California Academy, in 1866, is concenied, there is no reason 

 whatever for any change in what was said at that time. That there may be 

 evidences that a portion of the country adjacent to Puget Sound has been 

 submerged under the ocean at a not very distant epoch, and that, as a con- 

 sequence of that submergence, icebergs may have left scattered accumula- 

 tions of debris in such places, cannot be denied. It is not true, however, 

 that glaciers formerly extended over this region, or that the mass of the 

 detrital material on the surface came from the north. 



- Passing next to the region north of the boundary of the United States, 

 we have to depend largely on the observations of others, and an attempt 

 will be made to sift the evidence offered, in order to make out whether that 

 part of the Continent presents features of glacial geology essentially different 

 from those existing within our own borders. And for this purpose it will 

 be convenient to begin the pi'oposed examination with the prolongation of 

 the Rocky Mountain ranges in the vicinity and north of the parallel of 49°. 



The first authority that one would naturally be inclined to consult is the 

 geologist attached to tlie Palliser Expedition, which carried on an extensive 

 exploration of the eastern division of the Cordilleras, or the Rocky Moun- 

 tains proper, during the j^ears 1857-18G0. Their routes extended over that 

 portion of the mountain system which lies between the parallels of 47° and 

 53°, or the region drained to the east by the numerous branches of the 

 Saskatchewan and the Athabasca, and to the west chiefly by the Columbia, 

 but also in part b^^ the head-waters of the Eraser. Dr. Hector, the geologist 

 attached to this important expedition, was evidently quite inexperienced, 



