Till-; WORST ]■ 

 WADE IN 



.woin 



of crimson Mowers, while 

 a semi - circular shore, 

 with a yellow rihbou of 

 sand, was backed by a 

 green fringe of spruce, 

 and on either side tow- 

 ered snow-capped moun- 

 tains, extending half way 

 down the lake, where 

 rounded and rolling hills 

 sank into a great llat, 

 extending to Cook Inlet 

 on the west and Turn- 

 again Arm on the north. 

 A wide valley on the 

 left, with a muddy Hoor, 

 resembling a for m e r 

 river-course, and through 

 which there trickled sev- 

 eral small streams, Tom 

 said was the outwash 

 plain of a great glacier, 

 beginning a few miles 

 back and extending, he 

 thought, 65 miles to the 

 southwest, b u t about 

 which little was known 

 or at least recorded. 

 His statement imme- 

 diately aroused my in- 

 terest, and during the 

 succeeding days I learned 

 much about the great ice 

 field from which the 

 Skilak glacier flowed ; 

 so that on my return to 

 Seward, and later to 

 ^\'ashington, I was able 

 by dint of much inquiry 

 to learn something fur- 

 ther of its historjr, with 

 a view of suggesting in 

 a general way the possi- 

 bilities of its origin and 

 its probable status among 

 the great ice fields of the northern conti- 

 nent. 



Contmuing down the lake, Tom pointed 

 out what he called a "low divide" in the 

 southern rang'e, sa\'ing it was the gate- 

 way to the sheep country, 10 miles or so 

 in the interior. In the setting sun the 

 distant patches of alders and matted for- 

 ests looked like smooth greenswards on 

 gently sloping sides and the climb ap- 

 peared easy — an impression, however, 

 which changed considerably when wc 



I'iiutu by Geoigt: bhiiab, 3id 

 \KT 01" 'I'UACKIXC, : KEOUIKIXr, THE MEN TO 

 SWIFT W.\TER 01' UXCEKTAIX DEPTH T(J 

 I.0r,-j,\AlS AND 0\'ERTI.\Xl",l XC, TREI'tS 



\N E-\SY IIAI.I 

 THE BANK 



Photo !)y Ocorge Siiiras, 3rd 

 MIEE, WHERE THE ORICIN.VE FORESTS OX 

 WERE CUT DOWN BY RUSSIANS IN 1857 



came to struggle for 3,000 feet up the 

 precipitous sides, where the feet became 

 imprisoned in gnarled limbs and the 

 packs were continually catching in the 

 stiff and unbreakable branches of the 

 dwarf hemlock. 



GUEES .\ND CORMORANTS 



On reaching the lake we had studied 

 its general contour, and estimated the 

 distance to our first permanent camping 

 site to be some 10 miles to the south- 



437 



