38 
ALASKA GLACIERS 
At the northern margin of the Hugh Miller ice field, 
where it discharges toward Glacier Bay, there is some¬ 
what similar evidence of retreat. Muir’s sketch shows 
that this front reached tide-water in 1879, but was inter¬ 
rupted near its eastern margin by a small island. This 
detail serves to fix its approximate position as represented 
in fig. 17. Reid states that at the time of his survey it 
was non-tidal, but his map places the ice margin at the 
water’s edge. Photographs made in 1894 indicate a bare 
tract 1,500 or 2,000 feet broad between the ice front and 
the strand, and at the time of my visit the distance was 
2,600 feet, the surface being chiefly occupied by ground 
moraine. The ice front in 1899 had a gradual slope, was 
covered by drift near its margin, and was traversed by a 
large medial moraine. Close to its front it received a 
tributary, cascading down a narrow valley from the west. 
The total retreat of the ice front at this point was prob¬ 
ably a little less than one mile in twenty years. 
Geikie Inlet. — Exploring Geikie Inlet in 1879, Muir 
found it headed by a tidal glacier, to which he gave 
the name Geikie. His notes estimate its width as several 
miles, but do not serve to fix the position of its front. In 
1892 Reid found that its front had receded so far as to 
convert its two branches into distinct glaciers. Retaining 
the name Geikie for the more northerly, he called the 
other Wood Glacier. The Geikie was tidal; the Wood 
barely touched the water at two points, but yielded no 
bergs; and the nearer corners of the glaciers were con¬ 
nected by a short body of motionless ice. Photographs 
made by the Canadian Boundary Commission in 1894 1 
show that in the two years elapsed since Reid’s survey 
both glaciers had shrunk, the Wood receding several 
hundred feet and the Geikie about half a mile. The 
1 A. J. Brabazon, nos. 32, 38, 39 and 40, contained in volume 14 of the official 
album, pp. 9, 32 and 33. 
