78 /. C. Russell — Expedition to Mount St. Elias. 



four ]_)Ocket thermometers, two psychrometers, one field-glass, 

 two mercurial barometers, three aneroids, steel tape-lines, and 

 two photographic outfits. 



Fkom Seattle to Sitka. 



Preparations having been completed, the expedition sailed 

 from Seattle June 16, on the steamer Queen, belonging to the 

 Pacific Coast Steamship Company, in command of Captain 

 James Carroll, and reached Sitka on the morning of June 24. 

 This portion of our voyage was through the justly celebrated 

 ** inland passage " of British Columbia and southeastern Alaska, 

 and was in every way delighttul. We touched at Victoria and 

 Wrangell, and, after threading the Wrangell narrows, entered 

 Frederick sound, where the first floating ice was seen. The 

 bergs were from a neighboring glacier, which enters the sea at 

 the head of a deep inlet, too far away to be seen from the 

 course followed by i\iQ.Qi-i.een. The route northward led through 

 Stephens passage, and afforded glimpses of glaciers both on the 

 mainland and on Admiralty island. In Taku inlet several hours 

 ^were spent in examining the glaciers, two of which come down 

 to the sea. One on the western side of the fjord, an ice-stream 

 known as the Norris glacier, descends through a deep valley and 

 expands into a broad ice-foot on approaching the water, though 

 it is not washed by the waves, owing to an accumulation of mud 

 about its extremity. Another ice-stream is the Taku glacier, 

 situated at the head of the inlet. It comes boldly down to the 

 water, and ends in a splendid sea-cliff of azure blue, some 250 

 feet high. The adjacent waters are covered with icel)ergs shed 

 by the glacier. Some of the smaller fragments were hoisted on 

 board the Queen for table use. The bold, rocky shores of the 

 inlet are nearly bare of vegetation, and indicate by their polished 

 and striated surfaces that glaciers of far greater magnitude than 

 those now existing formerly flowed through this channel. 



After leaving Taku inlet, a day was spent at Juneau ; and 

 then the Queen steamed up Lynn canal to Pyramid harbor, near 

 its head. For picturesque beauty, this is probably the finest of 

 the fjords of Alaska. Several glaciers on each side of the inlet 

 come down nearly to the sea, and all the higher mountains are 

 buried beneath perpetual snlow^ On returning from Lynn canal, 

 the Queen visited Glacier bay, and here passengers were allowed 

 a few hours on shore at the Muir glacier. The day of our visit 



