146 I. C. Russell — Expedition to Mount St. Ellas. 



Thus each year the surface is renewed and made fresh and clean, 

 and any debris that may have previously accumulated is con- 

 cealed. 



There is another reason, however, why but little debris is 

 found at the bases of the steep precipices. The snows of winter 

 are banked high against these walls, but when the rocks are 

 warmed by the return of the summer's sun the snow near their 

 dark surfaces is melted, and leaves a deep gulf between the up- 

 ward-sloping banks of snow and the sides of the cliffs. These 

 black chasms are frequently 150 or 200 feet deep, and receive all 

 the debris that falls from above. In this way very large quan- 

 tities of earth and stones are injected, as it were, into the glacier, 

 and only come to light again far down toward the ends of the 

 ice-streams, where the summer's melting exceeds the winter's 

 supply. 



On August 14, Kerr and I made an excursion ahead to the 

 border of the Agassiz glacier. The snow-slope south of our camp 

 led westward up a gentle grade to a gap in the hills between two 

 bold, snow-covered domes. The gap through which the snow 

 extended, uniting with a broad snow-field sloping westward, was 

 only a few hundred feet wide, and formed a typical mountain 

 pass, designated on our map as Dome pass. Its elevation is 

 4,300 feet. AVhen near the summit of the ]3ass a few steps car- 

 ried us past the divide of snow, and revealed to our eager eyes 

 the wonderland beyond. St. Elias rose majestically before us, 

 unobstructed by intervening hills, and bare of clouds from base 

 to summit. We were greatly encouraged by the prospect ahead, 

 as there were evidently no obstacles between us and the actual 

 base of the mountain. A photograph of the magnificent peak 

 was taken, from which the illustration forming plate 19 has been 

 drawn. To the right of the main mountain mass, as shown in 

 the illustration, rises Mount Newton,^ one of the many separate 

 mountain peaks crowning the crest of the St. Elias range. Our 

 way led down the snow-slope in the foreground to the border of 

 the Agassiz glacier, which comes in view between the foot-hills 

 in the middle distance and the sculptured base on which the 

 crowning pyramid of St. Elias stands. After reaching the Agassiz 

 glacier we turned to the right, and made our way to the amphi- 



* Named for Henry Newton, formerly of the School of Mines of Co- 

 lumbia college and author of a report on the geology of the Black hills 

 of Dakota. 



