16 TEE ICE AGE IN NORTH AMERICA. 



of the ice-front on the flanks of Shasta that Mr. King drew 

 the analogies which first solved the problem of the irregular 

 gravel deposits forming the so-called kames and kettle-holes 

 in New England, as above described.* Mr. King gives a 

 thrilling account of how he at one time started such a move- 

 ment of earth into one of the ice-tunnels, and came near 

 himself falling into the yawning ice-chasm.f 



The following are the principal portions of Mr. King's 

 clear and vivid description of the glaciers on the north side 

 of Mount Shasta : 



We reached the rim of the cone, and looked down into a 

 deep gorge lying between the secondary crater and the main 

 mass of Shasta, and saw directly beneath us a fine glacier, 

 which started almost at the very crest of the main mountain, 

 flowing toward us, and curving around the circular base of 

 our cone. Its entire length in view was not less than three 

 miles, its width opposite our station about four thousand feet, 

 the surface here and there terribly broken in "cascades," and 

 presenting all the characteristic features of similar glaciers else- 

 where. The region of the terminal moraine was more extended 

 than is usual in the Alps. The piles of rubbish superimposed 

 upon the end of the ice indicated a much greater thickness of 

 the glacier in former days. After finishing our observations 

 upon the side crater, and spending a night upon the sharp 

 edge of its rim, on the following morning we climbed over 

 the divide to the main cone, and up the extreme summit of 

 Shasta. . . . From the crest I walked out to the northern edge 

 of a prominent spur, and looked down upon the system of 

 three considerable glaciers, the largest about four and a half 

 miles in length, J and two to three miles wide. On the next 

 day we descended upon the south side of the cone, following 

 the ordinary track by which earlier parties have made the 

 climb. From the moment we left the summit we encountered 



* Eussell, "Existing- Glaciers," p. 11. 



f " Proceedings of the Boston Society of Natural History," vol. xix, p. 61. 



i These estimates prove to be somewhat exaggerated. Thompson gives the 

 length of the Whitney Glacier, the longest on the mountain, as only 3,800 yards, 

 less than two miles and a half. 



