GLACIERS OF THE CANADIAN ROCKIES AND SELKIRKS. 99 



shown upon the map. There it formed a series of terminal moraines upon its 

 eastern side, the eastern component standing at about the same level and forming a 

 similar series. The sudden bend noted in the eastern component, one-half mile 

 back from the nose, resulted from its pressure against the side of the middle 

 stream which it was unable to force aside. Conjointly they formed a straight 

 medial moraine from the bend to the nose. Upon the more rapid retreat of the 

 middle stream and its disappearance from this part of its bed, this moraine 

 became the left lateral of the easternmost stream (plate xxxix, figure i), and was 

 of such a massive character that it has continued to deflect the ice from its 

 natural course. 



In plate xxxix, figure i, we have shown nearly the entire eastern and middle 

 streams of the Asulkan, and a portion of the ne"ve" of the western. A distant view 

 of the entire glacier is given in plate xxxix, figure 2, taken by Wheeler from the 

 summit of Avalanche Peak (9,387 feet) in 1 90 1 . The Dome may be recognized from 

 its contour and from it there is seen to be a broad ridge extending valleyward and 

 marking the western limit of the present Asulkan Glacier. To the right of this 

 ridge, along the eastern slopes of Mts. Afton (8,423 feet) and Abbott (7,710 feet), 

 four marked depressions occur, each containing small-sized glaciers. The 

 contour of the rocky slopes separating these amphitheaters, or cirques, as they 

 are termed, proves that at an earlier stage of glaciation these streams coalesced 

 laterally and united with the present Asulkan, forming a grand, hanging, piedmont 

 glacier, extending from the Asulkan Ridge to Mt. Abbott with at least nine or 

 ten main commensals. Previous to this stage they had united with others from 

 the head and opposite side of the valley into a grand Alpine glacier, which became 

 a tributary of the ancient Illecillewaet trunk glacier in Pleistocene time. 



3. NOURISHMENT. 



The neve" field of the present Asulkan is arranged in the form of a semicircular 

 belt, extending from the Asulkan Ridge upon the east around to the Dome upon 

 the west, having a length of about three and a half miles and an average breadth 

 of perhaps three-fourths of a mile. The area of this field is somewhere between 

 two and a half and three square miles, or less than half that of the Illecillewaet neVe" 

 field. The amount of precipitation over this field cannot be essentially differ- 

 ent from that given for the neighboring glacier (page 82). From an elevation 

 of about 7,000 feet the neVe" snows reach up to the crests of the bounding ridges, 

 in many places, attaining an elevation of 9,000 feet. It is possible to pick out, in a 

 general way, the neVe fields by which the separate ice streams are nourished. 

 The eastern stream receives its supply from Asulkan Ridge (9,100 feet) and from 

 the Pass (7,710 feet), the former moving westward down the oblique slope and 

 delivering its supply of ice and subglacial debris to the right side of the mainstream 

 flowing from the Pass. A still less amount is received from the opposite side 

 from the snow that accumulates upon the northern slope of the unnamed peak 

 (8,700 feet +) lying to the east of Leda. The Pass and upper neVe" are reached 

 by means of the right lateral moraine. Judging from the course of the transverse 



