HARRIMAN FIORD 
89 
They are separated from the ice, first by a broad belt of 
alders, and then by a barren zone. As the spruce forest 
in College Fiord nowhere stands close to the ice, but is 
separated by a barren zone, it seems fair to assume that 
the ice has occupied this zone so recently that the period 
since its shrinkage has not sufficed for reforesting; but no 
facts are recorded tending to show the nature of the 
changes immediately preceding our visit. 
The four tidal glaciers on the northwest side of the 
fiord, and four branches of the Harvard reaching it from 
the same mountain range, show a remarkable agreement 
in certain general features of profile. Near their de¬ 
bouchure they descend in one or more steep cascades 
through a vertical space of 1,700 to 3,000 feet, and back 
of these cascades their slopes are comparatively gentle. 
Their upper valleys are deeply incised, but their lower 
valleys are shallow, barely sufficing to hold the ice 
streams, so that the faces of the glaciers are nearly flush 
with the general face of the fiord wall. These features 
indicate that the principal work of ice sculpture was per¬ 
formed when the trunk glacier filled the fiord to a level 
somewhat above the line of cascades. It was then that 
the fiord wall received its smooth contours, and much of 
the general excavation of the fiord may have been per¬ 
formed at the same time. The tributary ice streams from 
the side carved shallower troughs, adjusted to their needs, 
and were prevented from excavating deeply at any point 
because the great trunk glacier gave them a high base- 
level of discharge. These tributary troughs will receive 
further consideration in the chapter on Pleistocene glacia¬ 
tion. 
HARRIMAN FIORD 
From the bend where it is joined by College Fiord 
Port Wells extends only three or four miles northward 
and is reduced in width. Its trough then swings quickly 
