March 2, 1906.] 



SCIENCE. 



353 



establislied along the front and accurate 

 measurements made between definite points 

 upon boulders firmly planted in the front of 

 the glacier and others in the moraine and tem- 

 porarily stationary. During a period extend- 

 ing over 34 days in 1904 (August 9 to Sep- 

 tember 12) it was found that the extremities 

 of some of the component streams were sta- 

 tionary, some slowly wasting and others ad- 

 vancing. From September 12, 1904, to Sep- 

 tember 8, 1905, all the blocks carried at the 

 front of the glacier indicated an advance, the 

 horizontal component of which varied from 

 .15 foot to 1.7 foot. The least movement 

 occurred about the ends of those streams which 

 make up the eastern half of the glacier, while 

 the greatest was about half-way up the long 

 front, opposite Mount Deltaform, where the 

 rolling stones from the glacier are now cutting 

 trees. All the evidence points to the fact that 

 we have here an exceptionally sluggish glacier, 

 which owes its existence to the peculiar condi- 

 tions under which it has been formed and is 

 now maintained. 



At the head of Paradise Valley, the next 

 valley to the west, the Horseshoe glacier is 

 also of the piedmont type, with some fifteen or 

 sixteen component streams. The supply of 

 snow is meager and derived from Mounts 

 Hungabee, Ringrose and Lefroy. The glacier 

 carries much less surface debris than the 

 Wenkchemna and is in slow retreat, the west- 

 em end having already separated from the 

 main body. In front of each portion there 

 lies a collection of coarse, weathered frag- 

 ments of the mountains, which are to be cor- 

 related with the ' block moraines ' of the 

 neighboring glaciers. 



m. Wapta Glacier. — This imposing ice 

 stream occupies the head of the picturesque 

 Yoho Valley, to the west of the Continental 

 Divide, and is nourished from the great 

 Waputehk snow-ice field. From its great 300- 

 foot archway issues the north branch of the 

 Kicking Horse River. The nose of the gla- 

 cier lies to the east of this stream and rests 

 upon bed-rock, over which it has been slowly 

 retreating. During the past year (August 

 18, 1904, to August 31, 1905) this retreat has 

 amounted to 9 feet, as compared with 23 feet 



of the previous year. The average annual 

 retreat for the past four years is 30 feet. 

 From certain data discovered last season it 

 was calculated that the glacier is shrinking 

 laterally down the eastern mountain slope at 

 the rate of five to six feet a year. Upon the 

 west side of the river the ice front at one 

 point has receded 4.6 feet during the past 

 year. 



IV. Illecillewaet Glacier. — Passing west- 

 ward to the Selkirks, we have two glaciers 

 occupying adjoining valleys, the larger of 

 which has more visitors each year than any 

 other glacier upon the western continent. 

 Owing to its size and easy accessibility it has 

 been longer under observation than any other 

 of the Canadian glaciers. Since 1887 it has 

 been in continuous retreat at a mean annual 

 rate of 33.6 feet. For the last seven years 

 this rate has been 25.6 feet. The retreat for 

 the year 1903-4 was 11 feet and for 1904-5 

 (September 1 to August 25) was but 2.1 feet. 

 This diminution in the recession of the ice 

 front suggests that the glacier is preparing to 

 inaugurate an advance, which would probably 

 have been begun this season had the summer 

 been less warm. Such a result was to have 

 been anticipated from observations made in 

 1899 by George and William Vaux. Upon 

 comparing their photographs of the glacier, 

 taken from the same view point in 1898 and 

 1899, it was noted that the ice was increasing 

 in volume in the upper part of the glacier. 

 Along the western side of the glacier, near the 

 nose, a wall of ice about 60 feet high has with- 

 drawn 2.4 feet from the bed-rock, in two 

 years. Around upon the eastern side, at two 

 stations, there has been a retreat of 14 and 16 

 feet, respectively, during the past year, while 

 higher up the ice has practically held its own 

 for two years. 



V. Asulkan Glacier. — Owing to its cover- 

 ing of fine gravel and glacial sand the nose of 

 this glacier has behaved exceptionally during 

 the past six years. In August, 1899, the Vaux 

 brothers established a line of reference, mark- 

 ing the position of the nose. During the year 

 following the nose withdrew up the valley a 

 distance of 24 feet. On September 17, 1903, 

 the writer found that the nose had pushed its 



