GLACIAL PHENOMENA IN NEVADA 



and the physical characteristics of the rock- 

 formations. 



On the Jeff Davis group of the Snake Range, 

 the dominating summit of which is nearly 

 thirteen thousand feet in elevation, and the 

 highest groimd in the basin, every marked fea- 

 ture is a glacier monument — peaks, valleys, 

 ridges, meadows, and lakes. And because here 

 the snow-fountains lay at a greater height, 

 while the rock, an exceedingly hard quartz- 

 ite, offered superior resistance to post-glacial 

 agents, the ice-characters are on a larger scale, 

 and are more sharply defined than any we 

 have noticed elsewhere, and it is probably 

 here that the last hngering glacier of the basin 

 was located. The sunmiits and connecting 

 ridges are mere blades and points, ground 

 sharp by the glaciers that descended on both 

 sides to the main valleys. From one stand- 

 point I counted nine of these glacial channels 

 with their moraines sweeping grandly out to 

 the plains to deep sheer- walled n6v6-f ountains 

 at their heads, making a most vivid picture 

 of the last days of the Ice Period. 



I have thus far directed attention only to 

 the most recent and appreciable of the phe- 

 nomena; but it must be borne in mind that 

 less recent and less obvious traces of glacial 

 action abound on all the ranges throughout 



189 



