368 L. MARTIN ^ALASKAN EARTHQUAKES OF 1899 



At Glacier Camp, on the Dalton trail, north of the Saint Elias Range 

 and 115 miles east of Yakntat, two men were building a cabin, one of 

 whom was shaken off the log he was placing on the wall by the earth- 

 quake. 



Dry Bay. — At the month of the Alsek River, 60 miles sontheast of 

 Yakiitat, information collected for the writer by Charles Johnson indi- 

 cates that the Dry Bay natives felt this September 10 earthquake as a 

 much more severe one than that of the preceding Sunday. They were 

 unable to stand up during the heaviest shaking and some of their houses 

 were damaged by the earthquake. 



Glacier Bay. — In this inlet, 150 miles southeast of Yakutat and famous 

 as the location of Muir Glacier, the earthquake was observed by Mr. Au- 

 gust Buschmann, superintendent of the Bartlett Bay salting station. He 

 observed two shocks, not recording the exact time. They seemed to come 

 from the westward. One lasted ten seconds, the other five seconds. They 

 caused a trunk to move several inches on its casters and empty barrels to 

 fall from beams overhead in the fish-house. An old man, walking up the 

 beach, nearly fell during the earthquake. 



The flow of icebergs from Muir Glacier increased many fold, the 

 amount of drift ice in Glacier Bay making navigation for the small can- 

 nery steamers very difficult, as Mr. Buschmann observed. 



The increase of floating ice and damage to Muir Glacier was noticed 

 at once^^in Glacier Bay and Icy Straits. It was commented on by the 

 members of the Harriman Expedition,^^ and has been accompanied by a 

 great recession of glaciers. Prof. H. F. Reid has recorded the retreat of 

 Muir and adjacent glaciers.^® Supt. 0. H. Tittmann, of the IT. S. Coast 

 and Geodetic Survey, observed the floating ice on July 29, 1900, on the 

 steamship Queen. Other vessels attempting to reach Muir Glacier in 

 1901 and 1902 were turned back by the floating ice in greatly increased 

 amounts. The Muir Glacier receded between 2% and 3 miles between 

 1899 and 1903 ;^<> it continued to retreat through 1906 ;«^ by 1907 it had 

 receded about 8 miles from its position before the earthquakes in 1899.^^ 



1 



s^lctoria Semi-V7eekly Colonist, October 2 and October 12, 1899 ; Scientific American, 

 vol. Ixxxi, 1899, pp. 405-406. 



s8 John Burroughs : Harriman Alaska Expedition, vol. i, p. 89. 



G. K. Gilbert : Harriman Alaska Expedition, vol. iii, pp. 23-25 ; National Geographic 

 Magazine, vol. xiv, 1903, p. 445. 



°9 Variations of glaciers. Journal of Geology, vol. ix, 1901, p. 253 ; x, 1902. p. 317 ; 

 xi, 1903, p. 287 ; xii, 1904, pp. 258-260. 



^^ C. L. Andrews and W. H. Case : National Geographic Magazine, vol. xiv, 1003, pp. 

 441-444. 



81 F. E. and C. W. Wright : Journal of Geology, vol. xvi, 1908, pp. 52-53. 



63 Otto Klotz : Geographical .Journal, vol. xxx, 1907. pp. 419-421. 

 Fremont Morse : National Geographic Magazine, a^oI. xix, 1908, pp. 76-78. 



