The General Geography of Alaska 



183 



graphs of these localities. The head 

 of Port Wells and a large branch com- 

 ing in from the west were explored and 

 mapped. This western branch, shown 

 on the sketch map as Harriman Fiord, 

 was in all probability closed at no very 

 remote time by the front of Barry Gla- 

 cier, which extended across the fiord to 

 the opposite shore ; indeed, until our 

 visit, it was still supposed to be closed. 

 In bringing our ship close to the glacier 

 front to obtain photographs of it, our 

 party discovered the opening between its 

 point and the land, and as we steamed 

 through we saw unfolded before us 

 a magnificent vista of mountain and 

 glacier. 



' ' We were the first that ever burst 

 Into that silent sea. ' ' 



It was sunset when we entered the 

 portals, and through the long twilight 

 of the Arctic evening we passed up the 

 fiord, with mile-high mountains and 

 great glaciers on either hand. A little 

 before midnight we reached its head, 

 where it is terminated by the front of 

 Harriman Glacier. A surv^eying party 

 was landed there, and two days were 

 spent in making a reconnoissance of the 

 fiord and its surroundings. In this 

 fiord, in a length of 15 miles, there are, 

 besides a score of " dead " glaciers, five 

 live glaciers, four of them of the first 

 magnitude, and all reaching the sea and 

 discharging bergs into it. 



The general direction of the coast, 

 which trends northwest to a point 

 beyond Mount St. Klias, graduall}^ 

 swings to the westward, and beyond 

 Prince William Sound turns toward the 

 southwest in the Kenai Peninsula. Be- 

 yond the end of this are mountainous 

 islands — Afognak (594 square miles) 

 and Kadiak (3,642 square miles), the 

 latter the largest island in Alaska waters. 

 These continue the line of Kenai Penin- 

 sula to the southwest, and are separated 

 by the waters of Cook Inlet and Shelikof 

 Strait from the Alaska Peninsula. This 



latter peninsula bears the backbone of 

 the mountain system which follows the 

 coast, the westward extension of the 

 Cordillera. Of its structure little is 

 known, except that here and there are 

 upturned stratified beds and occasional 

 volcanoes, some extinct, others still 

 smoking, as if the internal fires were 

 banked but not extinguished. Among 

 these are Redoubt, Iliamna, St. Augus- 

 tine (on an island near the coast), Pavlof , 

 and man}- others. Beyond the west end 

 of the Alaska Peninsula its general direc- 

 tion is continued by groups of islands 

 and islets, as if the mountain range of 

 which it is composed were sunken below 

 the sea and only the summits of its peaks 

 protruded above the waves. These are 

 the Aleutian Islands. Upon them also 

 are many volcanoes, some alive, some 

 dormant. 



BERING SEA 



Just north of the Aleutian Islands, 

 which run in a broad curve, convex 

 southward, over ten degrees of longi- 

 tude, are two islands, Bogoslof and Gre- 

 minck. These are very young, the older 

 having come into being 104 years ago, 

 the other being but 17 years of age. 

 Only half a generation ago it rose from 

 the sea with great fury and turmoil of 

 escaping steam, and although for 17 

 years its shores have been bathed in the 

 icy waters of Bering Sea and its summit 

 wrapped almost constantly in chilling 

 fogs, it is still hot and gives out steam. 

 Its older brother has long since cooled 

 and is now the nesting place of millions ' 

 of birds and the breeding ground of hun- 

 dreds of sea-lions. 



North of these rocks, far in the gloom , 

 of the eternal fogs of Bering Sea, lie the 

 Seal Islands, or Pribilofs, St. George 

 and St. Paul — little islands of hills and 

 gentle slopes of tundra, clothed in sum- 

 mer with a rich mantle of grass and 

 flowers. Still farther north, in the midst 

 of this dreary sea, where the sun seldom 



