A NEW NATIONAL PARK 



219 



and interest that of Glacier Park. From 

 its area water flows to Hudson Bay, the 

 Gulf of Mexico, and the Pacific Ocean. 

 Mount Cleveland, its highest peak, 

 reaches an elevation of 10,434 feet, and 

 there are many other rugged mountains 

 ranging from 6,000 to 10,000 feet above 

 sea-level. This area of the Northern 

 Rocky Mountains, says Mr Chapman, 

 which lies to the north of the Great 

 Northern Railway and to the south of 

 the Canadian boundary, is one of the 

 most beautiful mountain regions in the 

 world. Approaching the divide from the 

 plains region to the east, the mountains 

 present to the traveler a rock wall of 

 great steepness extending northwest by 

 southeast for unbroken miles except 

 where cut by deep U-shaped canyons. 

 These have been largely formed by the 

 great glaciers which once slowly flowed 

 from the mighty snow-covered peaks and 

 ridges forming the divide between the 

 drainage of the Atlantic and the Pacific 

 -the northern Continental Divide. 



oceans- 



FED BY GLACIAI, ICE 



Deep in the canyons are roaring 

 streams, coming from the melting ice and 

 snow and flowing into placid mountain 

 lakes and thence into the arroyos of the 

 plains below. Between the canyons the 

 long finger-like ridges rise to consider- 

 able heights, the timber-covered slopes 

 ascending steeply until a region of brush- 

 grown broken rock is reached, which in 

 turn leads to the base of precipitous 

 cliffs. The canyons at the head usually 

 terminate in great amphitheaters, rising 

 cliff over cliff in a stairway of tremen- 

 dous proportions. Many of the steps of 

 these giant's stairways retain ice masses 

 which slowly flow across them, each fed 

 from a large ice mass above until a re- 

 gion of huge snow-banks is reached. 



The main Rocky Mountain mass is 

 actually made up of two principal paral- 

 lel ridges, the Lewis and the Livingston 

 ranges, which run approximately through 

 the center of the proposed park. These 

 ranges are the remnants of what \yas 

 once a much wider plateau-like region 



THE WHITE MOUNTAIN GOAT 



An animal delighting in the most rugged 

 topograph}' ; yet in the greatest danger of ex- 

 termination, unless protected in its natural 

 breeding places. 



of rock, which, however, has been might- 

 ily carved and shattered by the forces of 

 erosion, principally those of the great 

 ancient glaciers. Resting upon this great 

 mass are the higher peaks, huge pyra- 

 mids and blocks, with cliffs and preci- 

 pices of hundreds and sometimes thou- 

 sands of feet, plunging away down to 

 the roaring streams of the canyons, or 

 ending in the great crevasse at the head 

 of some glacier. 



To the westward the mountains break 

 precipitously, and from the foot of the 

 steep, long, timber-covered ridges reach 

 out toward the valley of the Flathead 

 River. Between these ridges and ex- 

 tending up the canyons of the higher 

 range are many miles of lakes, joined by 

 rushing streams similar to those on the 

 eastern side. 



