Lakes--splendid intermountain lakes--are an unrivaled attraction in
the Glacier National Park. Here, too, are other striking
features--glaciers, peaks precipitous and stupendous, forests, and
streams. The rugged Alplike mountains are of first magnitude. The
forests that crowd the lower elevations of the park are primeval and
grand. The vigorous streams are set in magnificent scenery. But I feel
that the lakes are entitled to first rank among the scenic attractions
in this park.
There are two hundred and fifty of these, of different sizes, each of
individual outline and with an original alpine setting. Some repose in
the depths of the forest. Others have a shore-line half forest and
half the abrupt wall of a towering peak. Still other lakes have a wild
shore of snow-fields, glaciers, forests, meadows, and mountains.
Waterfalls out of the mountain sky drop into many; cascading streams
rush from the outlets of others.
Many of the lakes are strikingly long for their narrow width. Lake
McDonald is about ten miles long and one mile wide. Waterton Lake is
about twelve miles long, with an average width of perhaps half a mile.
Bowman Lake is about six miles long by half a mile wide. Avalanche
Lake, which lies in Avalanche Basin, is hemmed in on all sides, except
at the outlet, by precipitous mountains. It is a beautiful ellipse
about one mile long. Iceberg Lake is on the north side of Wilbur
Mountain, which towers three thousand feet above the surface of the
water. The Blackfeet name for this is "Fly-around-in." McDermott and
Altyn Lakes are beauty spots. The outlet of McDermott is a series of
spectacular cascades. Its shore is open, and around it one moves about
easily. Altyn Lake is only a quarter of a mile distant from
McDermott. These lakes lie between Grinnell Mountain and Allen
Mountain and are a part of one of the grandest scenes in the Park.
Grinnell Lake lies one mile above Altyn Lake, at the foot of the
tremendous cliffs of Gould Mountain. The lower end of the lake is open
and parklike, while at the upper end cliffs rise about four thousand
feet. This lake receives the waters from Grinnell Glacier. These pour
over high cliffs at the upper end of the lake and form a beautiful
spectacle. The scenes which unite around Grinnell Lake are unsurpassed
in the park.
These lakes are glacier lakes. That is, the basin of each was gouged
or eroded by the movement of glacial ice. There are a few exceptions
where the lake is due chiefly to a morainal dam, or a dam that was
formed by a landslide.
The highest peak in the Park is Cleveland Mountain, 10,438 feet above
sea-level. Several others rise more than ten thousand feet, and a
great number more than nine thousand feet. Many of these peaks are
connected with sharp pinnacled ridges, and most of them rise steeply
into the sky. Precipices, nearly vertical, that measure between two
thousand and four thousand feet are common. Thus it will be seen that
these two hundred and fifty lakes have a mountainous setting.
Distribute these lakes on terraces among the peaks and fit in about
one hundred glaciers, have the forests everywhere in the lower
altitudes, cut these with clear streams, and we have the scenic
make-up of the Glacier National Park. Considered as a whole, it is
unexcelled mountain architecture.
[Illustration: McDERMOTT FALLS AND GRINNELL MOUNTAIN
GLACIER NATIONAL PARK]
The Blackfeet Glacier on the Continental Divide is the largest in the
Park. Mount Jackson towers red above it. It has an area of about three
square miles and lies between the altitudes of six thousand and seven
thousand feet. The much-visited Sperry Glacier, which is easily
reached from Lake McDonald, has a little more than one square mile of
ice-area. Grinnell Glacier is about the size of the Sperry.
Altogether there are about one hundred glaciers in the Park. Most of
these have an area of less than one square mile. The majority of them,
of course, are mere remnants of vast glaciers. In many cases their
small size is an advantage to the student. Carrying, as most of these
do, the characteristics of larger glaciers, and being in a small
compass and surrounded with various kinds of glacial work--moraines,
lakes, and smooth rock-surfaces--they place before us, in one scene,
the story of the ice age.
On every hand is evidence of glacier work. The glaciers themselves in
many instances are placed in a manner that explains their mobility.
You can see that they have moved and are moving. You can see the
effects of their moves, and the results of the movements of the
stupendous prehistoric glaciers that have vanished.
The Glacier National Park has an endless variety of small game, and in
it numerous varieties of large animals are fairly abundant. Most
important of all is the grizzly bear. Black bears are common. So, too,
are elk; and there is a scattering of moose, lions, deer, and
antelopes. In some localities bighorn sheep and mountain goats are
abundant. Trout abound in many lakes and streams.
There is a goodly array of suggestive outdoor names, many of which are
of Indian application. Red Eagle Mountain, Pass, and Valley, Rising
Wolf Mountain, Two Medicine Lake, Avalanche Lake, Swift Current River,
are a few of the vigorous, spirited names. Many of the old picturesque
and descriptive Indian names have been discarded, however, for names
that are utterly unfit or meaningless.
There are scores of varieties of flowers. These brighten the woods,
stand along the streams, border the lakes, and crowd close to the
glaciers. They climb above the limits of tree growth. Grinnell Lake
has a grand wild-flower garden on its shores. Among the many kinds are
bluebell, queen's-cup, violet, water-lily, and wild hollyhock.
The summit slopes of these mountains are above the timber-line. All
the lower slopes and spaces in the Park not occupied and glorified by
lakes, streams, and cliffs are crowded with forests, green and grand.
Much of the old glaciation is covered with forest growths. Many
moraines are crowned with spruces, and numerous glacial amphitheaters
are now filled with splendid forests.
The visitor to the summit of Swift Current Pass will find himself
monarch with great scenes to survey. Below, around, and above are
lakes, streams, peaks, waterfalls, snow-fields, glaciers, cañons, and
mountains. These are splendidly grouped and combined; gradually they
fade into mysterious horizons.
St. Mary's Lake--"Good Spirit Woman Lake"--is crescent-shaped, with
miles of spruce-walled shores. It has a length of ten miles in the
Glacier Park and is a queen among queens of mountain lakes. Kingly
peaks stand waiting around the shores. Red Eagle Mountain, Fusillade
Mountain, and Going-to-the-Sun Mountain are a part of the magnificence
in which this lovely lake reposes. Mount Jackson, one of the highest
summits in the Park, is often reflected in its waters.
The mountains of this Park are broken and have towering walls. On the
east they rise abruptly from the peaceful plains. Nowhere in the
country can be found such an array of high and nearly vertical walls.
Many of these mountains and peaks are enlivened with color. Yellow,
red, and green are distributed on a magnificent scale.
The very name "Two-Ocean Pass," in the Yellowstone Park, led me
through the pathless forest for days in search of it. There was a
fairyland novelty in the lure of the name. As soon as I heard of a
glacier in the Glacier National Park whose waters were divided between
the Arctic and the Pacific Oceans, I wanted to see it. A part of the
water of a glacier on Vulture Peak goes to the Pacific through Logging
Creek and the Columbia River. The remainder goes to Hudson Bay through
the Little Kootenai Creek. Some one has wisely proposed the name
"Two-Ocean Glacier" for this ice-field.
Triple Divide Peak is another place that has a peculiarly wild,
romantic appeal. This sharp-pointed peak is 8001 feet above the sea.
Close together in its summit slopes, surrounded by a maze of alpine
mountains, three streams start almost from a common source, each to go
on its separate, scenic way to the ocean.
The Red Eagle travels towards the North Pole through the north country
and empties into that vast ice-formed basin, Hudson Bay. The waters of
the Cut Bank choose the channel of the Missouri in which to travel the
long journey to the inland sea, the Gulf of Mexico, and perhaps from
this to flow north into the Gulf Stream. The Nyack goes to the
Pacific through the crooked international channel of the scenic
Columbia River.