380 HARRY FIELDING REID 



United States of America.'^ — The glaciers of the United States 

 have for the most part been so infrequently visited that the 

 information regarding them is very meager. Professor Russell, 

 in 1892, collected the evidence showing that in general they are 

 retreating.^ A few glaciers, however, give evidence of being in 

 a state of advance. 



The Malaspina glacier occupies a large plateau on the south- 

 ern side of the St. Elias Mountain range. Though in general 

 receding, a part of it near the Yahtse River was advancing and 

 destroying trees in 1886.2 Professor Russell states that the 

 southeastern portion of the same glacier near Point Manby has 

 recently advanced a distance of 500 meters and again retreated.'* 



The Frederika glacier, in the interior of Alaska (long. 142° 

 35' N., lat.6i°40' W.) was the only glacier in its neighborhood 

 advancing in 189 1.^ 



Mr. John Muir writes me that a glacier at the southern end 

 of the Fairweather range was advancing and destroying trees 

 when he visited it in 1880. 



Muir glacier, Alaska, which has in general been receding for 

 the last hundred years or more, made a temporary advance 

 between 1890 and 1892 of nearly 300 meters, but in 1894 it had 

 again retreated to its limit of 1890. This glacier reaches tide 

 water and ends in a vertical cliff of ice, 2.75 kilometers (9000 

 feet) long and 50 to 65 meters (150-215 feet) high; on each 

 side of this cliff the glacier rests on the land and ends like an 

 ordinary alpine glacier. The oscillation mentioned applies only 



"This paper gives a more detailed description of the variations of the glaciers of 

 this country than is contained in the Rep. of the Intern. Com. An excellent account 

 of our present knowledge of these glaciers has been given by Professor Israel C. Rus- 

 sell in his recently published book, "The Glaciers of North America." 



^ Climatic Changes Indicated by the Glaciers of North America, by I. C. Russell. 

 Am. GeoL, Vol. IX, 322-336. 



3 Shores and Alps of Alaska, by H. W. Stetson Karr, p. 77. 



4 Am. GeoL, Vol. IX, 329. The best map of this region is in Russell's Second 

 Expedition to Mt. St. Elias, 13th Ann. Rep. U. S. Geol. Sur., p. 6, or his Malaspina 

 Glacier, this Journal, Vol. I, p. 221. 



s An Expedition to the Yukon District, by Willard Hayes, Nat. Geog. Mag., 

 Washington, 1892, Vol. IV, p. 153. 



