PROCEEDINGS OF THE CANADIAN INSTITUTE. -, 



two kilometers we reach the Rogers Pass (height 1,310 meters), a flcpp saddle in the 

 mountain, while the peaks rise steeply on both sides to a height of "> 700and>^ 800 

 meters. An outlet between the precipitous walls seems scarcely possible • thJIl -d! 

 at once the train rounds a corner and far below it appears the^IUecillevviet I{iver 

 to which it must now descend in great loops, passing fie(iuently over high Irail- 

 lookmg trestles. As we do so quite a surprising mountain panorama is unfolded 

 Glaciers here recline against mountains only 2,700 meters high, and in the nei^di" 

 bourhood of the highest peak of the group, IMt. Sir Donald (.3,2r,0 meters) thev 

 cover considerable space. A turn of the road brings us quite close to tiie ma<.n'iHceut 

 Illecillewaet glacier whose tongue only ten years ago reached immediatelv up to 

 the lower shrubs, from which it has now retreated a distance of almost 17()" meters 

 Not far from this glittering tongue, which is remarkablv free from ch-bris ri-<e tlie 

 mighty giant trees of British Columbia. Evidently the snow line is here verv low 

 Its height must be reckoned at 2,200 or 2,300 meters, that is lower than upon the 

 summit of the Rockies, where it must be put at 2,700 to 2,800 meters and 

 far deeper than on the eastern edge of the chain, where peaks of 3,000 metei-s in 

 height fall below it. The snow line sinks considerably from the interior of Canada 

 to the Pacific. At the same time it is much lower on the west side of everv chain 

 than on the east side. 



As at Banflt' in the National Park and at Field below the Hector Pass, so, too 

 at this supremely picturesque point, the C.P.R. has built an excellent hotel 

 near the station Glacier, only a few kilometers from the end of the Illecillewaet 

 glacier. This place is frequently made the headquarters for mountain tours in the 

 Selkirks as well as being an excellent point to break the long continental journey. 

 Our excursion also stopped here, but bad weather prevented us from making any 

 use of September 4th. We were obliged to content ourselve-s with a vi'sit to 

 the tongue of the Illecillewaet glacier, of which I gave an extended account in the 

 Journal of the Alpen Yerein for 1898. 



As at the Hector Pass, so, too, at the Rogers Pass the ascent from the east is 

 easier than the descent to the west. The westward flowing river is in both cases 

 the stronger ; it works away with energy at the deepening of its upper channel 

 and as at the Kicking Horse River, so, too, at the Illecillewaet the railway has 

 difficulty in reaching the level of the valley. This is done by a fall of fifteen per 

 cent, in a stretch fourteen kilometers in length. Then road and river descend 

 together until the latter must enter a deep defile to reach the Columbia. It was 

 here dammed up very high with driftwood. The track follows it with difficulty. 

 At Revelstoke both have got down to the level of the great water-artery : it has 

 circumvented the Selkirks in a great curve to the north and descended to a height 

 of 450 meters in doing so. This is a level which we had passed away back on the 

 prairies near Winnipeg, 1,200 kilometers from the eastern foot of the Rocky Moun- 

 tains, and higher than this we scarcely get as we continue our journey west- 

 ward. Even the chain west of Revelstoke, with its glaciers and peaks 2,700 

 meters high, which separates the waters of the Columbia from those of the Eraser 

 river, is crossed in the Eagle Pass at a height of only 610 meters. Here we pass 

 quite gigantic moraines with quite enormous erratic boulders. 



The valleys ivithin the Canadian Cordilleras lie considerably deeper than the 

 prairie and stepjye-land on their eastern borders. At the same time they ai'e partly 

 submerged, that is, they are occupied throughout their entire breadth by long and 

 deep lakes, which not only follow the long valleys, especially in the region of the 

 Columbia River, but also often assume very complicated shapes ; tlie Sliuswap 

 Lake, which the Thompson River drains into the Eraser, reminds one, for instance, 

 of Lake Lugano. Great deposits of sediment, as well as old deltas and shore lines, 

 of which we counted not less than six at Revelstoke, reveal the fact that these 

 lakes were once far more extensive. These deep valleys, rich in lakes, are really 

 confined to the Canadian Cordilleras ; farther south in the United States the space 

 between the Rockies and the Sierra Nevada has not been broken up into valleys 

 but appears as a uniform unbroken highland. This difference may jtrobably be 

 attributed to climatic causes. The Canadian Cordilleras are richly watered and 

 supply mighty rivers. The regions to the south are dry and have no channels tliat 

 reach the sea. But in consequence they have no way of being cut througii, whiK" 

 such a power is working in the Canadian Cordilleras to a great extent and. as it-< 



