52 HARRY FIELDING REID 



until the Messrs. Wright's visit, was due to a trip to Muir Glacier by 

 Messrs. Andrews and Case, in May, 1903, and they reported a very 

 considerable recession in that glacier.^ The report of the Messrs. 

 Wright will not be published before next winter but they have very 

 kindly prepared an abstract of the glacial changes which they observed 

 as follows;^ 



On comparing our map with your map of 1892, the following changes are most 

 apparent: Beginning with Muir Glacier and its tributaries the ice front has 

 receded a maximum distance of about 33,000 feet; Dirt Glacier is no longer tidal; 

 White and Adams Glaciers are supplying very little ice to the general ice field; 

 Morse Glacier terminus is about one mile from tide water; the crest of the stagnant 

 ice mass between Girdled Glacier and Muir Inlet has melted down about 200 

 feet since the time of your measurements; Girdled Glacier and Berg Lake, how- 

 ever, have not changed materially in aspect. The length of the total ice front of 

 Muir Glacier is now over 40,000 feet instead of 9,000 feet in 1892. The present 

 ice front passes at its northern extremity at about the position of your 1,000 feet 

 contour on the ice of 1892. This remarkable decrease in elevation is undoubtedly 

 due not only to melting down but also to breaking down of the exposed ice masses. 

 The ascent of the ice mass at this point is decidedly steep and the ice fairly cascades 

 into the water. The present height of the ice fronts of all the tide water glaciers 

 is about the same as noted by you in 1892 (i5o'-25o''), and is a noteworthy fact 

 in connection with these glaciers. Muir Inlet is at present choked by the ice 

 pack which promises to remain congested so long as its source of supply is so 

 active. A considerable portion of the present front of Muir Glacier is in very 

 shallow water and in a few years should decrease in size very materially unless 

 new avenues and inlets for tidal currents are exposed by the receding ice. Dying 

 Glacier is still creeping back and wasting away. 



Carroll Glacier has not changed much in aspect during the last 14 years; its 

 terminal cliff has receded about 2,000 feet and at present, apparently, is continuing 

 to do so. It is discharging icebergs very slowly and Queen Inlet is nearly free of 

 ice. 



Rendu Glacier has also changed but little and its front is about 2,000 feet 

 back of its position in 1892. This Inlet also is not impeded by any amount of ice. 

 The small glacier cascading from the west near its terminus appears to have changed 

 still less. 



In Reid Inlet the changes have been very great and things are still moving at a 



1 C. L. Andrews, "Muir Glacier," National Geographical Magazine, 1903, Vol. 

 XIV, pp. 441-45, and this Journal, 1904, Vol. XII, p. 258. The positions of the gla- 

 ciers in 1899 are described by G. K. Gilbert in the Harriman Alaska Expedition, 

 Vol. III. 



2 A map of this region accompanies an article on "Glacier Bay and Its Glaciers," 

 in the Sixteenth Annual Report of the United States Geological Survey, 1894-95. 



