Glaciation on the North Side of the Wrangell Mountains, Alaska

Abstract

Since the pioneer trip of Lieutenant Henry T. Allen, in 1885, it has been known that a range of mountains lying north of the Chisana River, and later called Wrangell Mountains,2 was heavily glaciated. The glacial phenomena of the Copper River basin and the south side of this range have been more or less fully discussed by various writers,3 and some notes have been published4 on the occurrence and position of glaciers and of Pleistocene deposits on the north side of this range, and in the White River Valley. During the summer of 1908, it was the writer's privilege to take a trip into the region north of the Wrangell Mountains with a party from the U. S. Geological Survey, in charge of Mr. Fred H. Moffit. The attempt is here made to summarize the glacial conditions of this region. In certain portions not personally visited, the unpublished maps and notes of F. C. Schrader, collected in 1902, have been drawn upon. The names of rivers, mountains, etc., referred to are taken from the topographic maps of the U. S. Geological Survey.5 The dominant topographic feature of the region under discussion is the Wrangell Mountains, extending from the Copper River basin in a southeastern direction to Russell Glacier and the headwaters of