4 o 
ALASKA GLACIERS 
The western part is partly concealed by a timbered ridge 
running parallel to the coast (fig. 20). This ridge, which 
is probably a huge moraine of Pleistocene age, extends 
westward far beyond the end of the glacier. Our landing 
(June 18) was at the western end of the ice cliff, coincid¬ 
ing with the eastern limit of the timbered ridge. 
The ice cliff facing the ocean at this point has the gen¬ 
eral appearance of the front of Muir Glacier, but its sub¬ 
merged profile is different. Instead of deep water it 
overlooks a shoal, from which boulders project here and 
there and on which we saw small bergs stranded. 1 Very 
little floating ice was visible, and no large bergs. The 
cliff is evidently sapped at base by the wash of the waves, 
and the process which perpetuates it is closely similar to 
the process which main¬ 
tains rock cliffs along other 
portions of the coast. 
The glacier, which farther 
west presses against the 
timbered ridge, flows past 
its end to the sea, and thus 
the extremity of the ridge 
occupies a reentrant angle 
in the margin of the glacier. 
Close to the angle a stream 
of water, escaping from the 
glacier, has crossed the 
ridge, eroding a deep gash, 
in whose walls the structure 
of the ridge is revealed. The walls are not clothed by 
vegetation, but are somewhat cumbered by the trunks of 
forest trees fresh-fallen from the crests on either side. The 
stream has been very active within the last decade or two, 
and it seems probable that all its work of erosion was 
1 If our visit was at high tide, this shoal may have been bare at low tide. 
The row of circles marks the position of 
a fresh-formed moraine ridge, with overturned 
trees. Forest is indicated by stars, sand beach 
by dots. Approximate scale; 1 inch=2,000 feet. 
