20 The Mountaineer 



more deeply covered with stones and dirt. Below the 

 beginning of the steep descent leading to the terminus 

 no ice can be seen in a general view. The end of Car- 

 bon Glacier was seen by Willis in 1881. At the time 

 of our visit the glacier had retreated about 100 yards, 

 as nearly as could be estimated, above the position it 

 occupied thirteen years previous, and the precipice at 

 its terminus had become less steep. 



[The Mountaineers' Club built a trail, easily used 

 by pack train, up this face of Carbon Glacier in 1909. 

 This shows that in the thirteen years since Mr. Russell 

 reported, there has been much greater wasting away of 

 the ice. See Plate 18.] 



A recent lowering of the surface of the glacier is 

 recorded by abandoned lateral moraines. These are 

 conspicuous along each side of the glacier. On leaving 

 the glacier on either side and climbing the fresh slopes 

 of morainal material bordering it, one finds similar 

 parallel ridges, each of which is clothed with forest 

 trees. These older moraines are in several instances 

 higher than the most modern ones, and show in gen- 

 eral a progressive lowering of the surface of the ice 

 as the width decreased. When the earliest pair of mo- 

 raines were formed it was about a mile broader and 

 its surface about 250 feet higher than now. Whether 

 the valley was ever more deeply filled with ice than is 

 recorded by these old moraines remains to be deter- 

 mined. [These elevated lateral moraines are common 

 at the sides and above most of the glaciers on Mount 

 Rainier.] 



At the foot of the steep descent Carbon River 

 emerges from a cavern in the ice, a roaring torrent, 

 heavily encumbered with boulders. [Plate 18.] 



Winthrop Glacier. 



The neve of Winthrop Glacier extends to the sum- 

 mit of Mount Rainier. A part of the snow that ac- 



