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Circa Date
circa 1887
Transcription
56
It is interesting to study the reclamation of these bare spots by Nature. The planting of grasses & flowering plants in seams & on films of soil washed upon it from above, spiders weave & spin their frail works cross the pathways of avalanches as if nothing strong enough to break them could possibly come their way again.
1500 fir trees were said to have been uprooted in one avalanche in 1846 in one of the valleys of the Swiss Alps.
In the Valley of Andermatt, at the northern foot of the St Gothard [Gotthard], the penalty of death was once adjudged on any one found guilty of felling any of the trees that sheltered the dwelling against avas [avalanches].
In some places stakes are driven to prevent the snow from starting to slip, also the surface is roughened with terraces, & channels made to drain off the snow past the villages etc.
When the granite-bed of an avalanche of the Century kind is composed as it often is, of flakes 2 or 3 inches thick, many of them [they] are stripped off & crowded & jammed together & overlapped like cakes of ice on a [shore]
57
The date of the occurrence of the century avas [avalanches] may be approximated by the condition of the uprooted trees, & by the age of the young growth springing up in their places
The withered needles still cling to the dead pines of the last Century avalanches, & that the year in which they occurred was a very favorable one for this kind of avalanches is evidenced by the fact that many instances occur of the same age in [many of] the upper valleys of the San Joaquin & Kings River & others.
Only three Century avalanche years appear from an examination of the forests to have occurred since the planting of the post glacial forests of the summit valleys.
Of all the loud sounds to be heard in the High Sierra – the booming & exploding sounds of waterfalls – the rush & boom of snow avalanches – [the] thunder [of alpine] storms etc. the roar of rock avalanches far surpasses them all.
Date Occurred
1872-1874
Resource Identifier
MuirReel32 Notebook01 Img031.Jpeg
Contributing Institution
Holt-Atherton Special Collections, University of the Pacific Library
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