^he Stickeen River 



ing-post called "Buck's" in front of the Stickeen 

 Glacier, and remained long enough to allow the few 

 passengers who wished a nearer view to cross the 

 river to the terminal moraine. The sunbeams stream- 

 ing through the ice pinnacles along its terminal wall 

 produced a wonderful glory of color, and the broad, 

 sparkling crystal prairie and the distant snowy foun- 

 tains were wonderfully attractive and made me pray 

 for opportunity to explore them. 



Of the many glaciers, a hundred or more, that adorn 

 the walls of the great Stickeen River Canon, this is 

 the largest. It draws its sources from snowy moun- 

 tains within fifteen or twenty miles of the coast, pours 

 through a comparatively narrow canon about two 

 miles in width in a magnificent cascade, and expands 

 in a broad fan five or six miles in width, separated 

 from the Stickeen River by its broad terminal mo- 

 raine, fringed with spruces and willows. Around the 

 beautifully drawn curve of the moraine the Stickeen 

 River flows, having evidently been shoved by the 

 glacier out of its direct course. On the opposite side 

 of the canon another somewhat smaller glacier, which 

 now terminates four or five miles from the river, was 

 once united front to front with the greater glacier, 

 though at first both were tributaries of the main 

 Stickeen Glacier which once filled the whole grand 

 canon. After the main trunk canon was melted out, 

 its side branches, drawing their sources from a height 

 of three or four to five or six thousand feet, were cut 

 off", and of course became separate glaciers, occupying 

 cirques and branch canons along the tops and sides of 



[47] 



