32 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. 2LI. No. 1044 



head of department; consulting orthodontists, 

 George C. Ainsworth, Alfred Rogers and Law- 

 rence W. Baker; assistants, Arthur L. Morse, 

 Harry W. Perkins, Ernest W. Gates and Nor- 

 man G. Eeoeh. 



The trustees of the institution, besides 

 Thomas Alexander Forsyth, Director Cross 

 and John Francis Dowsley, the president of 

 the State Board of Eegistration in Dentistry, 

 are Edwin Hamlin, Chester Bradley Humph- 

 rey, Edward Walter Branigan (deceased), 

 Harold Williams, Timothy Leary, Gordon 

 Robert McKay, Erwin Arthur Johnson and 

 Nelson Curtis. Theirs is a good work well 

 begun. G. V. N. D. 



FISST EXPLOSATION OF AN ALASKAN 

 GLACIER 



The first exploration of the Harvard Glacier 

 and the continuation of the observations of 

 previous scientific expeditions in regard to the 

 'great glaciers of Prince William Sound, 

 Alaska, have resulted from a field expedition 

 recently completed by Miss Dora Keen, of 

 Philadelphia, with the aid of three men. 



Leaving Valdez, Alaska, on August 15, 1914, 

 in a small launch, the party was set down next 

 day near the head of College Fjord, with six 

 weeks' outfit and two small boats, to one of 

 which a detachable motor was afiixed. The 

 object of the expedition was twofold : (1) to 

 explore the sources of the Harvard Glacier in 

 the unmapped section of the Chugach Moun- 

 tains. If a pass were found, it was planned to 

 cross the divide and return to tidewater down 

 the Matanuska Glacier and the Valley trail of 

 the same name — a traverse of some 50 miles 

 of snow and ice, almost entirely without 

 timber, and a succeeding 100 miles of a hard 

 trail chiefiy through uninhabited country. (2) 

 To continue the observations of the changes 

 talcing place in the glaciers of College Fjord 

 and Harriman Fjord, by means of photographs 

 taken from lettered stations variously occu- 

 pied since 1899 by the Harriman Expedition, 

 TJ. S. Geological Survey, and the National 

 Geographic Society's Expeditions. Both of 

 these objects were accomplished, in spite of 



almost constant rain or snow, during an expe- 

 dition that lasted six and a half weeks actu- 

 ally in the field. 



The expedition was a private one, but under- 

 taken at the suggestion and under the guid- 

 ance of the junior leader of the National Geo- 

 graphic Society's Expeditions, Professor Law- 

 rence Martin, of the University of Wisconsin. 

 The party consisted of Miss Keen, leader, whose 

 previous experience had been on the glaciers 

 of the Alps and in two extended expeditions in 

 Alaska, entirely on the glaciers of the Wran- 

 gell Mountains and resulting in the first ascent 

 of Mt. Blackburn, 16,140 ft.; Mr. G. W. 

 Handy, of McCarthy, Alaska, who had been 

 responsible for the success of her second at- 

 tempt on Mt. Blackburn; G. A. Rabehl, also 

 an old timer in Alaska, and Mr. H. L. Tucker, 

 of Boston, topographer, whose previous experi- 

 ence had been on the 1910 Parker-Brovme 

 Expedition to Mt. McKinley and with the 

 Tale Peruvian Expedition on Coropuna, 

 21,000 feet. 



Exploration of the Harvard Olacier 

 The Harvard Glacier has a tidal ice cliff 

 a mile and a quarter wide and 350 ft. high, 

 from which ice breaks constantly in summer, 

 causing danger to small boats. Still, a land- 

 ing was effected in safety on one side and 

 supplies gradually relayed to a point seven 

 miles from the face, where the ice was at last 

 smooth enough to make travel on the glacier 

 itself possible. Over another nine miles of 

 crevasses the party succeeded in reaching the 

 sources of the glacier, to a point where further 

 progress was impossible, even on snowshoes, 

 because of the shattered condition of the gla- 

 ciers flowing from the steep divide. No pass 

 being found, the return was made from this 

 point, by the same route. All the way, food, 

 tents, etc., and for most of the distance fuel, 

 had to be relayed on the backs of the party, 

 and all the going was hard, so that three and 

 a half weeks were spent in reaching an alti- 

 tude of 6,100 feet, sixteen miles from the face 

 of the ice. 



Danger from snow slides also prevented any 

 high ascent, but data of value were secured! 



