H 
ALASKA GLACIERS 
Boundary Commission in 1894. 1 They are of interest in 
this connection chiefly from their bearing on the interpre¬ 
tation of morainic ridges observed farther west, at the front 
FIG. 4. DAVIDSON GLACIER. 
Side view of expanded end, June, 1899. 
of the Fairweather Range. If Davidson Glacier were to 
melt away and the sea to retreat from Chilkat Inlet, there 
would remain in the valley a high ridge of water-laid 
gravel, recording by its circling course the present out¬ 
line of the glacier front, and by its even crest line the 
present position of the sea surface. 
As to modern changes in the extent of this glacier there 
is little specific information, but the condition of the fring¬ 
ing plain warrants a few general statements. An outer 
zone is covered by forest, an inner is barren (figs. 2, 3 and 
5). The forest is in general lofty, dense, and apparently 
mature, but a narrow belt next the barren zone has smaller 
trees in rather open growth. The forest zone has an 
average width of less than half a mile, ranging from one- 
fourth at the north to five-eighths at the south; the bar- 
1 See page 6 and figs. 2 and 3. 
