Dog sled team and driver preparing to cross the Nizina River, ca. 1912

• Main Author: Thwaites, John E. (John Edward), 1863-1940
• Other Authors: University of Washington Libraries. Manuscripts, Special Collections, University Archives Division
• Format: Other/Unknown Material
• Language: unknown
• Published: 1912
• Subjects: Dogsledding > Alaska; Dog teams > Alaska; Nizina River (Alaska); Rivers > Alaska; Wrangell-Saint Elias National Park and Preserve (Alaska); National parks & reserves > Alaska; Sled dogs > Alaska > Nizina River; Mushers > Alaska > Nizina River; Sleds > Alaska > Nizina River; glacier; glaciers; Alaska
• Online Access: http://cdm16786.contentdm.oclc.org:80/cdm/ref/collection/thwaites/id/366

Caption on image: Crossing Nizina River, Alaska PH Coll 247.879 The Nizina River starts at the base of the Nizina glacier, in a remote corner of the Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve. The Nizina River is called a brown water river, so colored because of suspended fine glacial flour. (Fine glacial flour is a very fine sand/rock/dirt composite that is created as glaciers grind over and through mountains. When the glacier melts, the flour is what remains. The water from the melting glacier picks it up. It is so fine and light that it is held suspended in the water, rather than settling out.) The Nizina River starts out as a lake and then flows over a natural dam as it begins its 200-mile trip to the sea. It eventually merges with the Copper River.