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Those too large to be entirely included in one exposure are filmed beginning in the upper left hand corner, left to right and top to bottom, as many frames as required. The following diagrams illustrate the method: Un des symboles suivants apparaitra sur la derniire image de uhaque microfiche, selon le cas: le symbole — »■ signifie "A SUIVRE", le symbols V signifie "FIN". Les cartes, planches, tableaux, etc., peuvent dtre filmis d des taux de rMuction diffirents. Lorsque le document est trop grand pour Stre reproduit en un seul cliche, il est filmd d partir de Tangle supirieur gauche, de gauche d droits, et de haut en bas, en prenant le nombre d'images nicessaire. Les diagrammes suivants illustrent la mithode. irrata to pelure. n d □ 32X 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 5 6 .3 j4-.- > 7a^ K, fn.- fr.^ W SOME OBSERVATIONS ON THE Illecellewaet and Asulkan Glaciers of British C.>olumbia. BY George and William S. Vaux, Jr. From the Proceedings of The Academy of Naiural Sciences of Philadelphia, February 7th, 1899. I i '//■ / U1,J|LIU 911 t Gijt'yy^i 561. 3/Z ^ y/.io.djs •J} LlI < -J z CQ :d - < a: -J -J _1 CQ ■f. D a: 1/ / \ 1899.] NATiiiAi. s( ii;\( I's or riiii.ADi.i.riiiA. 121 [ SOME OBSERVATIONS ON THE ILLECELLEWAET AND ASULKAN GLACIERS OF BRITISH COLUMBIA. BY GEOltdE AND WILLIAM S. VAUX, Jli. With but a very few exceptions it seeras to bo a rule at tlic present time that all trlaciors are receding up the valley?; into which they extend. Whether this will be a permanent leccssion, or whether a period will come during which an advance will take place, time alone will tell. That there has been a pennanent recession the numerous moraines below the prominent glaciers bear ample witness, but they also show that there have been many advances between the jicriods of recession. The glaciers of the Canadian Rockies offer many attractions to those interested in their action, both on account of the newness of the region iu which they are located and their marked .activity. The Canadian Pacific Railway, without which this region would be almost inaccessible, was first o))ened but a little over a dozen years ago, and before that time it was practically an unbroken wilderness. Among the most accessible glaciers from the line of the railway are those in the vicinity of the Glacier House, which is situated in the heart of the Selkirk range, at an elevation of 4,122 feet above sea level. With this point as a centre a score of glaciers nuiy be reached. It seems to form a natural station for their observation. The most accessible, and in some respects one of the most re- markable, is the Great or Illecellewaet (ilacicr, situated about one and one-half miles iu a direct line from the station. The inunense neve which feeds it, lies on the top of the range forming the divide, and from it several branches flow down into as many valleys. The Great Glacier is notable on two accounts: its freedom from dirt at its foot, and the remarkable rapidity of the ice fall. One of the first persons to make observations on this glacier was Dr. William S. Green, F.R.G.8., who in 1)^88 spent some time in surveying and exploring the region. He records that in twelve days the cen- tre of the ice moved twenty feet, while at ihe side it moved only 122 i'i;<)( i;i;iuN(;s oi' tmi: .\< adioiv oi' [IS'.MI. seven feet. He iilso notes " that tin.' snout of the glacier showed evidence of retreiit, for there were two rows of hoiddtrs in front of it. Tiie outer one, about si.xty feet from the iee, seemed to havt; licen dropped tlie previous year; the inner row (Uirini;- the present year.'" Since tliat time the glacier lias been visited l»y a number of |)er- sons who have located the snout as respeet.i certain marked roeks, or in some other way, but in many instances the record has become lost or uncertain so as to be of little value. At the present time the glacier is rapidly recedini--, and from an examination of the bare moraine and scrub below it, there seems to be evidence that this has been going on actively tor a comparatively short period. July 1(), l-SiSj — one year before Dr. (Jreen — we iirst visited the glacier, and made u number of photographs of its foot (PI. III). These photographs, after a lapse of over eleven years, make possible an exceedingly interesting comparison of the jjosition of the ice. At the ju'esent time there is a broad space of loose boulders below the .«.nout, utterly devoid of vegetation. In i8.S7 alder bushes grew within twenty feet of the ice. The slope of the ice was also very ditterent from what it is now. Tliere was then a great mass with stee[) sides extending over the present bare .space, while now the ice slopes comparatively evenly till it dies away altogether in the stream. The fact that during eleven years the alder bushes have not advanced on the retreat of the ice, and that in 1HS7, when the photographs were taken, they Avere so close to it, would seem to indicate that at least for a score of years pre- vious to 1887 the glacier had not extended materially further into tlie vallev than it did at that time. Taking; into consideration the border moraine marking the position of the ice in 1 887, the alder bushes which then, as now, grew up to the lower side of the mo- raine, and which have increased l)ut little in size during the eleven years, and the characteristic steepness of the slope of the ice, it would seem probable that a period of advance had occurred shortly before the year 1887. One very small moraine about 200 feet from the snout of 1898 showed an insigniHcaut advance since that period, but apart from this the motion of the glacier ai)pears to have been only of recession. ' Anioug the Selkirk (ilaoiers, hv W. S. Greeu. Maemillan & Co., l-<!)0, p. 21!). I iSil!).] NATriiAi- s( ii;n( i:s oi- |'iiii.aih:i,1'IIIA. \'2'y JMiotoi^niphy ^eeiiis Id offer the iiio.st ^ati?<tjict()rv means of jitM-- iiuuiently rccorflini,' the position of the ice from year to year. On onr visit, therefore, to the ( !reat (llaeier in lH!),s, a hiru;-e roeli was chosen on the sonth side of the trail, below the bridge, and some five hundred yards from the iee foot. The 1S!)S test view was taken from this position on the IDth of August ( IM. V). The umal) moraine in the lower ri<,flit-hand corner is the one mentioned by Dr. Orcen, and shown in the pictures of 1S87. The lar<j:e rock marked '* E " was then partly encased in the ice, as will be seen in the centre of tlie liSHT picture, and forms a most excellent point for identification ( PI. IV). In conjunction with the photo- graph a number of rani^e rocks on the moraine were selected and marked for identification. The rocks " li " and " I) " on tlie photograph were chosen because they were of unusual size, and were far enougli fi-om the ice to prevent any movement. A line tlrawn between them August 17, 181)8, passed eighteen inches below the extreme snout of the glacier at " H." " B " is a large rock, with a triangular black mark on the nortli side. It was lettered with Venetian red paint as follows: •ri6i-iI-ITIA VI1I-17-'IH. ■"I)'' is a yellow rock which has l)een split in halves. It was marked on one piece, " Rock opposite lines with snout, VIII-17- '98," and on the side opposite with a vertical line and two arrows. The rock " (1 " was not marked, but nuiy be easily identified by the photograph. Its highest point was fifty -nine feet to the nearest iee on August 17, 189!^. To locate the position of the snout, the rock " C," a long, rounded boulder, was chosen. It was marked " ()()' 0" to snout, VIII-17-'9«," and with arrows. During the warm weather of August the rate of recession was very rapid, and a few days made a marked change in the posi- tion of the ice. October 21, 1«!»8, .Mr. Hugh B. Walkem, of Vancouver, visited the glacier and compared the position of the ice with the rocks marked by us, sixty-eight days before. He found that the snout had receded forty-six feet in that interval, or eight and one-tenth inches per day. As respects the annual rate of recession it is hard to obtain reli- 124 ri:<i( i;i:i)iN<i^ oi' riii: acadiomy «iI' [|Hn9. ul)l(' flatii nn :i fomidatiim. There are several roeks on the lUDraiiiO' which l)ear marks or ihites as old as IS'JO, hut most of them are so worn as to lie almost ille^^ihle. We found one, however, near the border moraine above referred to whieh, if it had not been moved, indicated that in Au5,'ust, 18!(0, the snout was sixteen feet al)ove a certain mark. The distance from that mark to the snout in August, 18!(8, was four hundred and fifty- two (4")2) feet, or an averaj.fe animal recession of fifty-six (")(> ) feet, <lurin<^ the period of eight years. There is reason to believe, however, that for a part (>r this perioil the glacier remained more nearly stationary, and in the rciiuiining years nwide up for the deficiency by a nmch more rapid molting away. The Asidkan fllacier being situated at the head of tlie valley of the same name and al)out four miles distant from the Glacier House is not nearly so easy of access for oiiservation. Its neve is con- nected with that of the Tll'cellewaet over the ridge which separates them, so that while they fiow into separate valleys they rise from practically the same source. We are not aware that any work has been done upon this glacier, as it is probably not visited by more than a score of persons lu the course of the year. The rapidly descending stream from its foot, which is joined l)y another from the glaciers in the immense amphitheatre to the east, passes through a narrow canon a (piarter of a mile below the .'■nout. In this cafion there appeared to be no sign of glacial action, which would indicate that the ice had extended below this point only before the formation of the canon, A very large moraine flanking the glacier on the west also pointed to the fact that the ice had not receded materially in recent years. The same methods were pursued here as in the case of the lUecellewaet Glacier. A very large rock, the top of >v!iich was smoothly glaciated, was chosen on the east side of tlie stream below the glacier, and the test })icture was taken, August 23, 1898 (I'l. VI). While it records the general outline of the ice, it does not locate the snout, which seemed to be deeply buried in moraine. Apart from thus fixing the position of the ice on this date, it was impossible to draw any conclusions, as there are no previous record* with which to make comparisons. \ 9r^ ^. in < > c X o z o r > n m ■X w O -n 03 H CO I n o r > o > n > o > H en O •0 X r > 2D CO ■■0 -1 r > H i o in < > X o o c ?; ■■^ f: 73 T) o > ^ x —J o •< r r- > .,-) r^ ^ ^— •t; m ^ 71 D in D3 O ■< ■Ti o CO •/i H CO o o r c 2 CD ■u o n > > p > o 13 r > JO CD CD 13 r Cf $ u „ <; r r > m c X r r C m X ^ > c E 2 G r C > r r. > fr r X — T] p- 3) n C (/ 2 c -r c/. H CE ,t; X C ■"" n ■"- ?^ — cr 5 X .c 00 r. 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