30 H. F. Reid — Studies of Mair Glacier. 



its snow tielcls are too small and too low to supply ice for a 

 glacier of its width, and it is evidently melting away. At its 

 western extremity it crosses over a divide and flows into a valley 

 beyond. 



The mountains immediately surrounding Muir glacier are not 

 high, the highest peaks being between 5,000 and 7,000 feet. The 

 mountains which first attract the attention of the visitor are 

 mount Wright,* mount Case,t and Pyramid peak (see plates 1, 

 3 and 8) — the first two by their jagged crests, seamed by snow 

 corloirs ; the last by its symmetrical form ; all three by their 

 proximity. The more distant mountains seem to lack somewhat 

 in individuality. This is largely due to their distance, for they 

 are from fifteen to thirty miles away. All is bare and bleak, and 

 the scenery is entirely lacking in picturesqueness. If we go out 

 on the ice as far as H the three bold peaks of mount Young show 

 themselves over Tree mountain (see plate 9), and the beautiful 

 Snow cones at the head of the northwestern tributaiy can be 

 seen. 



Surface of the Glacier. 



The surtace of the ice presents the honeycombed appearance 

 common to all glaciers ; it crunches under the foot, making walk- 

 ing very tiresome, and rapidly wears out one's boots. This sur- 

 face ice varied very much with the weather. Sometimes after 

 ram the ice was hard, smooth, and blue ; sometimes the rain 

 increased the roughness. 



Crevasses. 



The eastern })art of the glacier Avas free from all large crevasses ; 

 none in this part were too large to be stepped over. This, of 

 course, indicates a small differential motion, not necessarily a 

 small actual motion. That this, however, is also small follows 

 from our measures, which show that although all the ice supply 

 from the eastern part of the glacier is crowded through a narrow 

 space between the ice-front and the mountain to the east, still 

 the greatest motion here is only about two inches a day (see 

 page 45). The amount of crevassing in the other parts of the 



* Named after Professor G. Frederick Wright, who spent some time 

 studying INIuir glacier in 1886. He has described it in his Ice Age in North 

 America, chap. ill. 



t Named after the Case School of Applied Science, Cleveland, Ohio. 



