THE STORY OF MAUNA
Being a Historical Narrative of the
Great Ice Age Told by Jan Iran
in the Alaska Monthly Magazine.
“The glaciers of Alaska, all of them J
put together, are as nothing compared j
with the tremendous ones of a former
age,” says Jan Iran, writing in the
Alaska Monthly Magazine for I>ecembcr.
“There was a time when 2,000,000
square miles of Kuropo and 4,000,000
square miles of North America were
covered with a tremendous, almost un
believable blanket of ice. In Europe it
swept from the highlands of the Scandi
navian peninsula to near the Alps; from
central European Russia to and over the
north of England, over Ireland and over j
all of Scotland and beyond to the deep
ocean; if, in fact, it did not till the
whole of the shallow north Atlantic,
from the outer Hebrides to Greenland
and the American continent. In Amer
ica it extended from the Atlantic to the .
Rocky Mountains, from Kentucky on
the south to the Arctic regions on the
north.
“The evidence of its existence are |
striated stones, transported boulders, I
some of them of immense size, earth
mounds, hills, islands and other phe
nomena that make and mark the pres- j
ent contour and surface of the ground.
“This glacial area was greater in ex
tent than a continent. It was more
than one and a half times as large as
Euro lx'. It Was S1 per cent, as large as
North America and >0 per cent, as large
as South America. It was blanketed
with nn ordinary deposit of snow and
ice, such its we are now familiar with,
even in tlW' polar regions, hut with an
ineomprehensihle height and mass of
ice. Conservative glaciologists admit it
was two or more miles high in its
'centers,' and hundreds or thousands ut j
feet in hight at or near its borders. One j
author places its possible greatest hight
at 21 miles; while further on in this,
artiele I will show you lmw and why 1
estimate it at the tremendous altitude
of 30 miles; it may have been higher;,
with an extent and cubic contents be
yond tlie capacity of our human imag
inations to realize.
“Such was the Ureat Glacial Ice Age. ,
Though a voluminous literature describes
it, few, comparatively speaking, are fa
miliar with the details of its tiemendous
phenomena. Its eause has been a mys
tery which the wisest of our scientists
have Wen unable to satisfactorily solve. ■
t leologieally sjieaking, its oecurrenee was
of very recent date—immediately pre
ceding our epoch — modern estimates
placing it at 7,000 to 12,000 years ago,
though formerly it was thought to have
been as far l.a. k as sn.ooo to 2SO.OOO
years.
“The Story of Mauna. *
Tiu* art if I** uIm»v«* ipioted from, though
itmdf of extraordinary interest in it?* en
tirety, if* hut preliminary to a aerial
»tory of the gnat iff ago by tin* autnr
author, which Ha* to fotnmeiure in thf
February number«»f tin* Magazine under
tin* title ni “Thf Story of Mauna.'* It
iii to lie told a* by eye w»tn« -*e*, and in
it* telling the tradition* and all thf arl
entitle evidence Hill l*‘ *tn»tl> IoIIomhI.
Thf author w rite* **» pleupthgly and
i« no manifestly muster of hi* subject,
that * The >t«*rv of M»»unu" i» U>un<t
attract aide attention, a re I if it fomv*
uj* t«» f x|«fflati«»M* it ought feo attain a
wide circulation in book form after it
has had the run of the Magazine.
In the little more than a year of its
life the Alaska Monthly Magazine has
improved until it is marvelous that such
excellence could be developed in so short
a time in a new territory like Alaska.
It would be a most appropriate present .
to outside friends. Juneau: 25 cents; j
$2.50 a year.
In the February number “Sargasso,”
a serial story, was to commence, and in
March was to appear the first of a series
of articles on current social problems,
called “The Remedy.” Much number
of tbe Magazine has illustrations and
reading matter of territorial interest.
On the Canadian Side
The White I’ass ami Yukon Route
proposes to build several new barges for
use on the upper Yukon during the
coming open season.
Application a ill be made for an act to
incorporate a company to build a line of
railway from a point on the northern
boundary of British Columbia to Daw
son, by way of the Yukon river valley or
other feasible route.
Officials of the Canadian department
of immigration estimate that .V.t.atK) la
borers will be required for railroad work,
with no resources in sight. The contract
labor law and the law against admission
of Orientals may be revised to meet the
emergency.
The senate has passed a resolution for
a special committee to inquire into the
resources, etc., of the country north of
the watershed of the Saskatchewan,
ea-t of the Rockies and west of Hudson’s i
bay, and other distant points, with a
view to the publication of the conditions
and the inducements offered for settlers.
While Carl A. Smith was driving in a
cutter between Wounded Moose and
Stewart City one of his dogs, SO yards
back on the trail, was pounced upon
and devoured bv a pack of wolves. Mr.
Smith saw the wolves attack the dog
and at once whipped up the horse and
left in a hurry. Freighters passing soon
after said a little blood on the trampled
snow was all that remained of the dog.
A transfer of 140 claims from Tread
gold to the Yukon Codsolidated Com
pany was recorded at Dawson Feb. 1.
Scores of the liest producing claims in
the camp are included in the transfer.
Some of the projierty is on the upper
ends of Bonanza near the Forks, other
parts on tributaries and hills and creek
bottom claims all along the Bonanza
basin and on tributaries of Bonanza,
and other claims are in the famous
Acklen-farni group on the right limit of
the Klondike, op|sisite the mouth of
Bonanza.
THE SECOND LIFE
OF OLD CARIBOO
Carilion, II. will always retain its
plat*- in history ns a very ri«-li plater
rump Tim two upper miles of Williams
treek viekletl $3MXK).OIIO ami tlm whole
itistrifl lip In iIm- present liim* has pro*
illlvetl ove r |litUNiO,tltMI
Tim tlistriel at tlm present tiiim i*
mostly given over In livtlrnulie opera
tion*. Iir. Kim mm A. Kilter in tlm
Mining Worltl of |tee. a »uul llwir an
-*a livilranlu mines working in tlm Car
il»»» «li*trkt proper, amnml tlm town »l
hurhr rv ills. Tlm llnlamn mine, Isiught
Hr I He • <ugy* nlmliim la»t year lor ♦1,-i
S. E. HEETER,
Freighter and Packer
Good Equipments and
Service Unexcelled
onnnnnonnnnooooooooooonooo
r>00,000, is really in the Queanel mining
division and not in the Cariboo. It has
produced over $1,250,000 in the j»ast and
is increasing tremendously its water
supply, bringing from the railroad two
steam shovels to dig ditches 22 miles
long and 25 feet wide.
The hydraulic gravel is in ancient
channels considerably above the present
river beds. There are several old chan
nels not worked now, which promise
good returns if properly equipped and
managed. It is probable that during
the next few years the cariboo district
will see several new mines opened up,
equipped and worked successfully.
The cost of hydraulicking has been
gradually lowered, until at present some
claims are being worked successfully at
only M cents to 4 cents per cubic yard of
gravel washed. This may he surprising
to some, when it is remembered that
Cariboo is a high-priced camp, that sup
plies have to be hauled by wagon 250
miles, ami that the working season con
sists of from only 150 to 200 days.
WANT FT. GIBBON
FOR FAIRBANKS
“A movement is soon to tie launched
the purpose of which is to have the Fort
Gibbon military jmst moved from its
present location, at the mouth of the
Tanana, to Fairbanks."
That is the introductory paragraph to
a long article in the Fairbanks Times
the tenor of which indicates that the
“movement" w ill really materialize and
be pushed along with all possible ce
lerity. There is no telling what the
outcome will be.
Maud Muller in her cosy home
'Raked her head with a fine-tooth comb.
The judge rode bv on his runaltont
And advised the maiden to smoke ’em
out.
Maud tossed her head and said “Oh,
fudge!”
And told her lieait and he licked the
judge. —Shears.
F. M. A. L.
SMITH & COLLINS,
Proprietors
FIRST-CLASS
Wines, Liquors and
Cigars.
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