794 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. II. No. 50. 



accompanies the main range for more than 

 sixty miles. On the northward and east- 

 ward slopes are many large snow fields 

 which might be the heads of glaciers, but 

 which give no satisfactory evidences of be- 

 ing such in a distant view. We also en- 

 deavored to find a trail to the summit at 

 the eastern end of the basin. The view 

 from the point mentioned above suggested 

 strongly that on the northeastern slope 

 might be found several small glaciers. It 

 was, however, found impossible to reach 

 the summit by any route which we were 

 able to try. It may still prove that the 

 glacial looking water of Avalanche Lake 

 is not misleading. Our evidence regarding 

 it is wholly negative. While it may prove 

 impossible to reach any glacier of impor- 

 tance by way of this valley, it must con- 

 tinue to be both to tourist and geologist a 

 place of fascinating interest, for nowhere, 

 so far as I am aware, are glacial phenomena 

 on such a scale so easily accessible. 



Being thus disappointed in Avalanche 

 Basin, our party determined to try its for- 

 tune further north . Recently some mining 

 properties have been located at a point 

 where the main range, after trending almost 

 due north from Lake McDonald for about 

 thirty mUes, suddenly sweeps around to the 

 westward. To secure access to these prop- 

 erties those interested have cut a very good 

 trail from Lake McDonald to their camps. 

 The trail follows for a large part of the dis- 

 tance McDonald Creek, which flows along 

 the valley between the main and the sec- 

 ondary ranges. By this route our party 

 took up its march. The lower part of the 

 trail rises slowly, but near the end it be- 

 comes steeper, although nowhere so difficult 

 as to make it troublesome riding even for 

 unaccustomed horsemen. We made our 

 final camp near a group of mines in which 

 development and locating work was going 

 on. The group is called the International 

 Camp. Its altitude is sixty-five hundred 



feet above the sea, and from it there is a 

 wonderful mountain view, especially of the 

 secondary range west and south. To the 

 east there is a saddle of the main range 

 some two thousand feet above the camp. 

 To this saddle our attention was directed as 

 affording access to the eastern side of the 

 range, and our mining friends asserted that 

 immediately over the divide a glacier was 

 to be found. Accordingly the morning after 

 our arrival we made the ascent, finding it 

 not difficult and entirely practicable for 

 saddle horses up to less than a thousand 

 feet below the ridge and easily made pas- 

 sible for pack animals to the summit. We 

 found the point where we crossed the divide 

 to be 8,400 feet above sea level. Immedi- 

 ately on stepping down from the rocks on 

 the eastern side of the range we were upon 

 an immense snow field filling an amphi- 

 theater some four miles in diameter. While 

 of greater extent than any which we had 

 before visited it did not seem to be different, 

 and we thought again that the glacier must 

 be farther on. As we crossed the snow 

 field to the east, there appeared running 

 parallel with the curving wall of the amphi- 

 theater lines upon the surface whose signifi- 

 cance we did not at first apprehend. Ob- 

 servation with the field glass soon indicated 

 what closer examination afterward con- 

 firmed, that these were long crevasses in 

 the ice. We then knew that we stood upon 

 the upper snow fields of a glacier not of 

 great size, but in many respects very typical. 

 The crevasses first noted were found to be 

 of varying width from one so narrow that 

 the finger could scarcely be thrust into it to 

 one some five feet across at its widest. In 

 this we made soundings to the depth of 

 forty feet, this being the length of all our 

 available cord. From dropping stones into 

 the crevasse we judged that it reached a 

 depth of one hundred feet or more. Pass- 

 ing on to the eastern side of the amphithe- 

 ater we ascended the rocky ridge which 



