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The National Geographic Magazine 



sea in a narrow fiord, bordered on either 

 side by high mountain walls. This ex- 

 tension, heretofore named Disenchant- 

 ment Bay, has been rechristened. The 

 story of the localit}^ is as follows: More 

 than a century ago Malaspina, the 

 Spanish navigator, entered Yakutat Ba}^ 

 while in search of the Northwest Pas- 

 sage. Sailing on up the bay and finding 

 that open water extended far inland, he 

 for a time thought that for him had been 

 reserved the fame and satisfaction of dis- 

 covering' the long-sought route through 

 the North American continent. His 

 dream was short, however, for on near- 

 ing the bend in the bay he found his way 

 blocked by a solid wall of ice. This ice 

 was the front of the combined Hubbard 

 and Turner glaciers, which then ex- 

 tended far beyond their present limits, 

 completely closing the entrance to the 

 fiord above, which at that time was prob- 

 ably an open lake some 200 feet above 

 the level of the sea and overflowing 

 southward into the Pacific. In memor}- 

 of his disappointment, Malaspina named 

 the upper part of Yakutat Bay ' ' Disen- 

 chantment Bay." 



Prof. I. C. Russell, when exploring 

 the head of the bay in 1891, discovered 

 the fiord, and in an open boat traversed 

 it for its entire length. Instead of nam- 

 ing it, he extended the application of the 

 name Disenchantment Bay to cover it. 

 We have rechristened it, in honor of its 

 discoverer and first explorer, Russell 

 Fiord. Our ship, the George W. Elder, 

 was the first large vessel to go to the 

 head of this fiord. We made the passage 

 under the pilotage of a Yakutat Indian, 

 and lay at anchor over night at its head. 



Northwest of Yakutat Bay for many 

 miles the shore is covered by a field of 

 i:e, Malaspina Glacier, which is in the 

 main a stagnant pool, wasting only under 

 the heat of the summer sun, and sup- 

 plied by ice streams from the St. Elias 

 Alps, which border it on the north and 

 east. Farther to the northwest stretches 

 a low coast, rising into mountains a score 



or two of miles inland. Through these 

 mountains flows Copper River, at whose 

 mouth is an enormous delta, built up of. 

 detritus which it brings down from the 

 interior. 



Then comes Prince William Sound, 

 a bay of irregular shape, with manj^ 

 tentacle-like fiords extending in various 

 directions into the land. Its entrance is 

 nearly closed b}' islands between which ' 

 are several navigable passages. The 

 islands near the shores are everywhere 

 mountainous, and on the north shore 

 mountains rise to about 10,000 feet, the 

 higher ones everj^where skirted with 

 glaciers, many of which come down into 

 the sea. Several of the fiords are of 

 great length, reaching far inland. Thus 

 Port Valdez, up which the Copper River 

 route to the interior passes, extends in- 

 land more than 30 miles, and Port Wells, 

 on the northwest of Prince William 

 Sound, pushes 40 miles into the inte- 

 rior, far up amongthe high mountains, 

 and each of its branches terminates in 

 a living glacier. Passage Canal, too, 

 up which runs the portage route to 

 Turnagain Arm of Cook Inlet, has a 

 length of 30 miles. 



Prince William Sound, in the moun- 

 tainous character of its shores, in its 

 multitude of islands and fiords, and in 

 the almost total absence of level land, 

 resembles southeastern Alaska. It was 

 until recentl}^ but little known, all our 

 information concerning it being derived 

 from the explorations of Vancouver and 

 Malaspina, made a century or more ago. 

 Within the past two' years, however 

 (1898 and 1899), exploring parties un- 

 der Captain Abercrombie and Captain 

 Glenn have supplemented the work of 

 Vancouver and Malaspina, and have 

 added materially to our knowledge of 

 the coast and adjacent lands. Some 

 additional information also was gained 

 by the Harriman Expedition, especially 

 concerning Columbia Fiord and Glacier, 

 and of Port Wells and its glaciers, in 

 the form of sketch maps and photo- 



