IN GREEN ALASKA 



campion, blooming here and there just below the 

 snow-line, and looking to unbotanical eyes like 

 blossoming moss. From the height, Muir Glacier 

 stretched away to the north and soon became a sheet 

 of snow, which swept up to the tops of the chain of 

 mountains that hemmed it in. The eastern half of 

 it, with its earth tinge, looked like a prairie newly 

 plowed and sown and rolled. The seed had been 

 drilled in, and the regular, uniform, straight lines 

 were distinctly visible. Along the western horizon, 

 looking down on the Pacific, the Fairweather Range 

 of mountains stood up clear and sharp, Fairweather 

 itself over fifteen thousand feet high. The snow 

 upon these mountains doubtless in places lay over 

 one hundred feet deep. 



Glaciers are formed wherever more snow falls 

 in winter than can melt in summer, and this seems 

 to be the case on all these Alaskan mountains on 

 the Pacific coast. If by a change of climate more 

 snow should fall in the Hudson River valley than 

 could melt in summer, our landscapes would soon 

 be invaded by glaciers from the Catskills. Farther 

 north in Alaska, beyond the reach of the moisture- 

 loaded Pacific air currents, the precipitation is less 

 and there are no glaciers. 



SITKA 



On the 13th of June we weighed anchor, and after 

 picking up our camping and exploring parties, 



53 



