June-July 1890, Trip to Alaska; June-August 1893, Trip to Norway Image 21

• Main Author: Muir, John
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: Scholarly Commons 1890
• Subjects: John Muir; journals; drawings; writings; travel; journaling; naturalist; Marvel; Menzies; Norway; glacier; Alaska
• Online Access: https://scholarlycommons.pacific.edu/jmj-all/1868; https://scholarlycommons.pacific.edu/context/jmj-all/article/2867/type/native/viewcontent

36 gullies. descended one on N. [north] side, the rawest dirtiest dustiest most dangerous have seen here abouts. There is large quantities of fossil & scattered on this island especially on N [north] side. That on S. [south] side having been cleared off earlier & carried away by the 1st trib [tributary] gl [glacier] wh [which] being lower & melting earlier has allowed the soil of mor. [moraine] material to fall with its forests & be carried off. That on N [north] side is now being carried off or buried. The last of the main foundational ice is melting & at successive stages the mor [moraine] materials is reformed over & over again. & the fallen tree trunks decayed 37 or half decayed or in fair state of preservation is also unburied & buried again or floated off to the terminal or lateral mors [moraines] of the gl [glacier]. The marvel is that none are left alive The cause seems to be that there were no exposed resisting [fissured] bosses or crests for any tree to grow on. as the gl [glacier] at first swept over, then loaded all parts with soil Then the slopes as the level of the clasping gl [glacier] was lowered. Then the soil at first frozen perhaps, thawed as the ice lowered to the sheer sides Then giving way soil & forests fell. 3 small Menzies spruces found https://scholarlycommons.pacific.edu/jmj-all/2867/thumbnail.jpg