﻿298 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS I.VOL. _7 



remains of various kinds was procured, and a small collection was 

 brought away. It was Mr. Maddren's intention to proceed from 

 Fort Gibbon down the Yukon some thirty-five miles to the locality 

 known as the " bone yard," thence to Nulato and Ka.ltag, whence he 

 would proceed overland to Nome by way of the Unalaklik, Ungalik, 

 Unglutalik, and Tubatulik rivers. The reports thus far rendered, 

 while not final (Air. Maddren's last letter being dated August 5), 

 encourage the hope of substantial results from another season's 

 work. 



The Smithsonian Glacier Expedition 

 The expedition dispatched by the Smithsonian Institution to the 

 Canadian Rockies and Selkirks, under the immediate direction of 

 Professor William H. Sherzer, of the Michigan State Normal School, 

 has just closed an active and successful season's work on the glaciers 

 along the line of the Canadian Pacific Railway. A selection was 

 made of those five glaciers which are at the present time most readily 

 accessible to the tourist, or the student of glacial geology, and these 

 were found to exhibit, more or less strikingly, all the characteristic 

 phenomena to be found in any part of the world. It may be a mat- 

 ter of surprise to many to learn that four or five days of comfortable 

 railway travel places one in the midst of snow-fields rivaling in size 

 and grandeur those of Switzerland, that the ice bodies descending 

 from these fields may be studied from modern hotels as a base, and 

 that, of those to be reported upon, one may safely ride a horse to the 

 very nose of each. For trips on the ice to the passes and neighboring 

 peaks, experienced Swiss guides are available during the summer 

 months. So far as is known there is here the most magnificent 

 development of glaciers of the Alpine type on the American conti- 

 nent, and the purpose of the survey was to gather as much informa- 

 tion concerning them as the time and facilities rendered possible. 

 Many photographs with which to illustrate the details of glacial 

 structure were obtained, and it is hoped to place these, together with 

 maps and descriptions, within the easy reach of all interested. 



Field work began July 1st, with two assistants, and continued until 

 the middle of September, camps being made at Lake Louise, Mo- 

 raine Lake, and in Yoho, Asulkan, and lllecillewaet valleys, in each 

 case as close as practicable to the glaciers under study. Quite in 

 contrast with the two preceding summers, that of 1904 proved excep- 

 tionally propitious for field studies. The unusual number of bright 

 days and the reduced precipitation, however, reacted unfavorably 

 in that they permitted forest fires to spread in several of the valleys, 



