136 I. C. Russell — Expedition to Mount St. Elias. 



gin of the glacier. Far above the angular crest of the Samovar 

 hills in the middle distance towered St. Elias, sharp and clear 

 against the evening sky. Midway up the final slope a thin, hori- 

 zontal bar of gray clouds was delicately penciled. Through the 

 meshes of the fairy scarf shone the yellow sunset sky. The 

 strong outlines of the rugged mountain, which had withstood 

 centuries of storms and earthquakes, were softened and glorified 

 by the breath of the summer winds, chilled as they kissed its 

 crystal slopes. 



Could I give to the reader a tithe of the impressions that such 

 a view suggests, they would declare that painters had never 

 shown them mountains, but only hills. So majestic was St. 

 Elias, with the halo of the sunset about his brow, that other 

 magnificent peaks now seen for the first time or more fully re- 

 vealed than ever before, although worthy the respect and homage 

 of the most experienced mountain-climber, scarcely received a 

 second glance. 



Returning to camp, we passed the night, and the following 

 day, August 6, advanced our camp to the eastern border of the 

 Seward glacier at the extreme western end of the upturned crest 

 forming the northern wall of Pinnacle pass. 



The western end of the Pinnacle pass cliff is turned abruptly 

 northward, and the rocks dip eastward at a high angle, showing, 

 together with other conditions, that the end of the ridge is 

 determined by a cross-fault running northeast and southwest. 

 West of the Seward glacier there is a continuation of the Pin- 

 nacle-pass cliff, but it is greatly out of line. The position of the 

 ScAvard glacier, in this portion of its course, was determined by 

 the fault Avhich broke the alignment of the main displacement. 



Many facts of similar nature show that the glaciers of the St. 

 Elias region have had their courses determined, to a large extent, 

 by the faults which have given the region its characteristic struc- 

 ture : the ice drainage is consequent to the structure of the 

 underlying rocks ; the glaciers not only did not originate the 

 channels in which they flow, but have failed to greatly modify 

 them. 



Camp 14 was on a sharp crest of limestone, conglomerate, and 

 shale belonging to the Pinnacle system, which was not over 

 ten feet broad where our tent was pitched. East of our tent there 

 was a broad, upward sloping snow-plain banked against the 

 precipitous base of a hill about a thousand feet high. At the 

 edge of the snow, within three feet of our tent, there was a pond 



