14 ALASKA GLACIERS 



Boundary Commission in I894. 1 They are of interest in 

 this connection chiefly from their bearing on the interpre- 

 tation of morainic ridges observed farther west, at the front 



FIG. 4. DAVIDSON GLACIER. 

 Side view of expanded end, June, 1899. 



of the Fairweather Range. If Davidson Glacier were to 

 melt away and the sea to retreat from Chilkat Inlet, there 

 would remain in the valley a high ridge of water-laid 

 gravel, recording by its circling course the present out- 

 line of the glacier front, and by its even crest line the 

 present position of the sea surface. 



As to modern changes in the extent of this glacier there 

 is little specific information, but the condition of the fring- 

 ing plain warrants a few general statements. An outer 

 zone is covered by forest, an inner is barren (figs. 2, 3 and 

 5). The forest is in general lofty, dense, and apparently 

 mature, but a narrow belt next the barren zone has smaller 

 trees in rather open growth. The forest zone has an 

 average width of less than half a mile, ranging from one- 

 fourth at the north to five-eighths at the south; the bar- 

 gee page 6 and figs. 2 and 3. 



