GLACIERS Oy THE PACIFIC COAST. 27 



portion of the front as it spreads out in the valley is so cov- 

 ered with bowlders, gravel, and mud that it is difficult to tell 

 where the glacier really ends. But from the valley to the 

 higher land it rises in precipitous, irregular, stair-like blocks, 

 with smooth sides, and so large that it was impossible to sur- 

 mount them with the ordinary equipment of explorers. The 

 glacier is estimated to be about forty miles long. 



Another glacier, upon the opposite side of tne river, of 

 which Mr. Blake does not speak, was reported to me by those 

 familiar with the country as coming down to within about 

 two miles of the bank. The Indians are very likely correct 

 in asserting that these two glaciers formerly met, compelling 

 the Stickeen River to find its way to the sea through a vast 

 tunnel. It would then have appeared simply as a subglacial 

 stream of great magnitude. 



North of the Stickeen River, glaciers of great size are of 

 increasing frequency, and can be seen to good advantage 

 from the excursion-steamer. The Auk and Patterson gla- 

 ciers appear first, not far north of Fort Wrangel. On 

 approaching Holkham Bay and Taku Inlet, about latitude 

 58°, the summer tourist has, in the numerous icebergs en- 

 countered, pleasing evidence of the proximity of still greater 

 glaciers coming down to the sea-level. Indeed, the glaciers 

 of Taku Inlet are second only in interest to those of Glacier 

 Bay, hereafter to be described more fully. 



In going from Juneau to Chilkat, at the head of Lynn 

 Canal, a distance of about eighty miles, nineteen glaciers of 

 large size are in full sight from the steamer's deck, but 

 none of them come down far enough to break olf into the 

 water and give birth to icebergs. The Davidson Glacier, 

 however, comes down just to the water's edge, and has there 

 built up an immense terminal moraine all along its front. 



An illustration of the precipitous character of the south- 

 eastern coast of Alaska is seen in the fact that it is only 

 thirty-five miles from the head of Lynn Canal to the sources 

 of the Yukon River, which then flows to the north and west 

 for nearly three thousand miles before coming down to the sea- 



