38 ALASKA GLACIERS 



At the northern margin of the Hugh Miller ice field, 

 where it discharges toward Glacier Bay, there is some- 

 what similar evidence of retreat. Muir's sketch shows 

 that this front reached tide-water in 1879, but was inter- 

 rupted near its eastern margin by a small island. This 

 detail serves to fix its approximate position as represented 

 in fig. 17. Reid states that at the time of his survey it 

 was non-tidal, but his map places the ice margin at the 

 water's edge. Photographs made in 1894 indicate a bare 

 tract 1,500 or 2,000 feet broad between the ice front and 

 the strand, and at the time of my visit the distance was 

 2,600 feet, the surface being chiefly occupied by ground 

 moraine. The ice front in 1899 had a gradual slope, was 

 covered by drift near its margin, and was traversed by a 

 large medial moraine. Close to its front it received a 

 tributary, cascading down a narrow valley from the west. 

 The total retreat of the ice front at this point was prob- 

 ably a little less than one mile in twenty years. 



Geikie Inlet. Exploring Geikie Inlet in 1879, Muir 

 found it headed by a tidal glacier, to which he gave 

 the name Geikie. His notes estimate its width as several 

 miles, but do not serve to fix the position of its front. In 

 1892 Reid found that its front had receded so far as to 

 convert its two branches into distinct glaciers. Retaining 

 the name Geikie for the more northerly, he called the 

 other Wood Glacier. The Geikie was tidal; the Wood 

 barely touched the water at two points, but yielded no 

 bergs; and the nearer corners of the glaciers were con- 

 nected by a short body of motionless ice. Photographs 

 made by the Canadian Boundary Commission in 1894* 

 show that in the two years elapsed since Reid's survey 

 both glaciers had shrunk, the Wood receding several 

 hundred feet and the Geikie about half a mile. The 



1 A. J. Brabazon, NOS. 32, 38, 39 and 40, contained in volume 14 of the official 

 album, pp. 9, 32 and 33. 



