RUSSELL GLACIER 



face, and were trailing on an ice bed beside which 

 Nizina and Regal (crossed while hunting goats) 

 paled to mere insignificance. It is twelve miles 

 across Russell, and each mile traveled is danger- 

 ous and difficult. From the headwaters of the 

 Skolai River (which is fed by Russell Glacier) 

 we cross over on the ice to the head of the White 

 River, which also finds its source in the same 

 glacier. In other words, Russell Glacier is the 

 divide between McCarthy and the White River 

 country. 



Russell Glacier is composed about half of 

 white ice and half of moraine. The former, of 

 course, is pure ice, but for the benefit of those who 

 do not know it may be well to rudely and briefly 

 describe the moraine. To glance over certain 

 parts of its mountainous surface, where the 

 gashes and precipices do not disclose the ice, one 

 would liken it to a very hilly formation com- 

 posed of broken, angular-shaped lava rock, or 

 shale rock, so frequently found in our moun- 

 tains. These rocks run in size from a grain of 

 sand to a cook stove, averaging, perhaps, two or 

 three inches in size. They form a sort of coating 

 or dressing over the ice bed, this coating running 

 in thickness from an inch to several feet, averaging 

 about six inches. It is more treacherous to travel 

 than the white ice, for the reason that either 

 horse or man is apt to depend on it to hold when 

 it will not. On a sharp declivity, where the 

 greatest support is needed, the horse, fooled by 



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