THE 



National Geographic Magazine 



Vol. IX OCTOBER, 1898 No. 10 



LAKE CHELAN 



By Henry Gannett, 



Chief Geographer, U. S. Geological Survey 



To most readers, especially those of the East, this title conveys 

 little information, for it is an almost unknown lake, in an almost 

 unknown region. It lies in the northwestern part of the state 

 of Washington, upon the eastern slope of the Cascade range, its 

 lower end being near Columbia river, into which it is drained ; 

 thence it stretches northwestward in a long, winding ribbon, far 

 up toward the heart of the range. Into the head of tbe lake 

 flows Stehekin river, whose sources are in Cascade pass, at the 

 summit of Cascade range. The river has numerous branches, 

 all of which head in high, snowy mountains, among small gla- 

 ciers, audit consequently brings a considerable volume of water 

 to the lake. 



In the northern part of Washington the Cascade range con- 

 sists of a broad and extremely rugged mass of granite mountains, 

 whose highest summits are between 10,000 and 11,000 feet in al- 

 titude. High up in the heads of the gorges and at the foot of 

 the peaks are many small glaciers, the remains of others, much 

 larger, which in times past extended far down the present stream 

 valleys, filling them to great depths with streams of ice. Evi- 

 dences of these are present in all the valleys and gorges of this 

 part of the Cascade range. The occupation of these gorges by 

 glaciers is so recent that in many of them the subsequent work 

 of the streams by which they are now occupied has produced 

 but trifling results. Only in a few places are evidences of ex- 

 tensive stream erosion seen. 



29 



