444 The National Geographic Magazine 



September, 1899. At that time the part 

 of Alaska in which the Muir Glacier is 

 situated was visited by several severe 

 shocks of earthquake. Previous to that 

 the steamers had experienced no great 

 difficulty in landing their passengers 

 within a short distance of the front of 

 the glacier, but during no season since 

 have they been able to get nearer than 

 five to ten miles, owing to the immense 

 quantities of floating ice. Instead of 

 receding a mile in seven years, as has 



been estimated heretofore, it has drawn 

 back about two and one-half miles 

 since 1899 ; consequently, to assign the 

 changes to that cause is not at all un- 

 reasonable. 



I append a sketch, based on Professor 

 Reid's map heretofore referred to, show- 

 ing changes, and also photographs by 

 Mr Case and myself, showing some of 

 the existing conditions. 



C. L. Andrews. 

 Skagway, Alaska. 





T 



\W 



/ 



° l *C/£/t BAr 



Scale ofmiles 

 7. 3 * 



Sketch Map of Muir Inlet and Front of Muir 



Glacier, Showing Positions of the Ice Front 



in 1890 and in May, 1903 



The main features are taken from the map published by 

 H. F. Reid in volume iv of the National Geographic 

 Magazine. The ice front in 1903 and the data as to the 

 condition of the inlet in that year are by C. L. Andrews. 



NOTE BY G. K. GILBERT 



THE Muir Glacier is the 

 best known and also one 

 of the most interesting of Amer- 

 ican glaciers. It is not a nar- 

 row river of ice of the ordi- 

 nary alpine type, but rather a 

 broad lake of ice fed b}' trib- 

 utary streams from man}- direc- 

 tions, and discharging through 

 an outlet valley to Glacier Bay. 

 The bottom of this valley of 

 discharge is below sea-level, so 

 that whatever position in it the 

 glacier front occupies the ice 

 is washed by. the water of the 

 ocean. The part of the valley 

 not occupied by the glacier is 

 known as Muir Inlet, and is 

 a branch of Glacier Bay. In 

 1792, when this part of the 

 coast was mapped by the En- 

 glish navigator, Vancouver, 

 nearly the whole of Glacier 

 Bay was filled with ice, the 

 Muir Glacier being tributary 

 to a broader stream. This 

 broader stream ended in an ice 

 cliff at a point more than 20 

 miles farther seaward than the 

 present front of Muir Glacier. 

 In 1879 the region was visited 

 by John Muir, who explored 

 Glacier Bay and its various in- 

 lets. He found the front of 

 Muir Glacier well within Muir 



