Lake Louise, Alberta, Canada. 377 



The writer is indebted to Mr. Basil Gartom and to other 

 officials of the Canadian Pacific railway for information 

 regarding Lake Louise and for assistance in the work. 



Victoria glacier. 



Victoria glacier originates at Abbots Pass npon the 

 crest of the Great Continental divide and flows nearly 

 north between Mounts Lefroy and Victoria to the main 

 valley in which Lake Louise is situated, where it turns 

 northeast and is joined by the tributary Lefroy glacier. 

 The glacier is about 3 miles long measured along either 

 branch. It terminates one mile from the lake and at its 

 terminus is about 450 feet above the lake. The lower 

 part of the glacier, or that part lying in the main valley, 

 is covered by morainic material and by slide rock. 

 Sherzer showed by observations on steel plates fixed in 

 the glacier that the central part moved^in 1904 at a rate 

 amounting to 66 feet for the year and by observations at 

 the end of the glacier that the forward movement is com- 

 pensated for by melting. 3 The glacier is therefore active 

 to some extent, — as is also shown by the silt laden waters 

 discharged from the glacier, — but is not markedly so. 



Lake Louise. 



Lake Louise is 1% miles long and *4 to % mile wide 

 and has a surface area of nearly 1,000,000 sq. yards. It 

 has an altitude of 5670 feet above the sea and is 600 feet 

 •above Bow River into which it discharges by a small 

 stream 2% miles long. The lake is held at its lower end 

 by a drift dam, and is bordered on both sides, except near 

 its lower end, by rock walls, which rise precipitously for 

 considerable heights. The lake has a maximum depth of 

 230 feet ; a considerable part of the bottom being nearly 

 level. The lake freezes over in the latter part of October 

 or early in November and remains frozen until some time 

 in June, ice forming to a depth of about 40 inches. 



It is stated by Mr. Gartom that water from the glacier 

 flows into the lake even during the coldest part of the 



3 Glaciers of the Canadian Eockies and Selkirks, Smithsonian Contribu- 

 tions to Knowledge, vol. 24, p. 32, 1907. 



