

GLACIERS ON THE PACIFIC COAST. 15 



ain-peaks rising upward of 14,000 feet above the sea, and 

 with breadth enough to support numerous snow-fields and 

 glaciers. No less than sixteen glaciers of small' size have 

 been noted among these summits, of which those on Mount 

 Dana, Mount Lyell, and in Parker Creek are the principal. 

 None of them, however, are of great size, being in no case 

 over a mile in length, and none of them descending much 

 below the 11,000-foot line.* 



The continuation of the Sierra Nevada Mo im tains to the 

 north of California is called the Cascade Range, and is largely 

 composed of volcanic rocks. It is on Mount Shasta, in the 

 extreme northern portion of California, that we next find 

 glaciers of any considerable size. But from this point on, 

 glaciers multiply and continue, in ever-increasing glory, 

 through the Coast Range of British Columbia and southern 

 Alaska to the islands of the Aleutian Archipelago. 



The glaciers upon Mount Shasta were first described by 

 Mr. Clarence King in 18 TO. Previous explorers had as- 

 cended the mountain upon the southern side, and reported it 

 as free from glaciers, which are all upon the northern side. 

 The most recent and detailed account of the glaciers on this 

 mountain has been furnished by Mr. Gilbert Thompson, of 

 the United States Geological Survey .f According to Thomp- 

 son, Mount Shasta is a volcanic peak whose altitude above 

 the sea is 14,511 feet. " It stands alone and has no connec- 

 tion with neighboring mountains, none of which within a 

 radius of forty miles attain two thirds its height." The 

 mountain is a conspicuous object to attract attention for 

 over a hundred miles. Five glaciers have been explored 

 upon its northern flank, none of them, however, reaching 

 lower than the 8,000-foot level, and none being more than 

 three miles in length. 



The lower part of these glaciers is covered with vast 

 quantities of earthy debris, so that it is difficult to tell where 

 the ice-field now ends. It was from these half -buried edges 



* Russell, "Existing Glaciers," pp. 310-327. f Ibid., pp. 332-334. 



