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Circa Date
circa 1887
Transcription
92
4th [fourth] day. Yellow sunrise light on the [grand] snow fields above the glaciers, blue shadows in the valley. My companions faces much swollen & eyes nearly closed. They could not realize the danger & would not take the pains to wear the mask of bark that I recommended May have difficulty in getting back to the valley. The Eng [Englishmen] said I [feel] like [lving] [leaving] the [flock]. [pitched] blankets into stream. Set fire to dead pine
The black rock forming the end of a dividing ridge that separates the two branches of the glacier of Lyell casts a massive blue shadow while the pinacles [pinnacles] on the Eastern boundary of the basin cast many long & spiky bars of the same color. In front the bossy mountains of the base of the group of peaks. In foreground the river comes sweeping gleaming brightly around a timbered point, patches of snow on the banks
Camp one mile from upper end. Birds are singing.
The first lake basin in the valley is about a mile long.
The second one & a half miles, is still half lake the other half filled in making meadow
Cascades of 70 feet fall between the two lake basins
93
moory hereabouts & roughened with the detritus carved down by avalanches, both rocks & trees in great abundance.
The 2d [second] lake is situated just above the big tributary channel that comes in from the west
3d [third] Lake is about a mile long, 50 feet [below] lower than the 2d [second] There is a fine brisk soda spring here on the E [east] side of the river.
4th [fourth] Lake basin is hardly distinct from 3d [third] both appear to have been determined by the down-pressure of the big W. [west] tributary glacier that entered the trunk at this point.
Avalanche gap in forest below this point 200 yards wide. Lower & later gap 140 yds [yards]. This last seems of the same age as that in Williamson Spruce on the N. [north] side of Cathedral Peak. Scarred trees 20 feet above the ground.
The breaking of the young trees here seemed to have occurred during winter of extraordinary severity 159 yrs [years] ago. Probably Century avalanches same date
[sketch: 159 yrs old above break]
Date Occurred
1872-1874
Resource Identifier
MuirReel32 Notebook01 Img049.Jpeg
Contributing Institution
Holt-Atherton Special Collections, University of the Pacific Library
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