Evening Republican, Volume 16, Number 168, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 15 July 1912 — REJECT REID ICE [ARTICLE]

REJECT REID ICE

People Object to Old Glaciers Refrigerating. Crop of Freshly Made Being Short, Alaskans Use “Uve Bergs” Leaving Ancient Bear Carcasses to Drift. Seattle, Wash.—-Because of the vagaries of the Japan current, which last winter took a sheer toward the coast of Alaska and remained there ail winter residents of towns on the interior coastal belt of the district find themselves with a shortage of their summer crop of ice from their local streams, rivers and lakes, but they have the glaciers to draw upon. The Copper river and Northwestern railroad has been hauling some loads of the latter to Chitina and the new town of McCarthy, near the head of the line. . : . . The railroad passes between Miles and Childs glaciers, one of which is about 100 miles long and has'a face three miles in width. It protrudes above Copper river about 400 feet, and occasionally throws off a chunk about ten times the size of a 400-loot ocean liner. There also is the Malas Pina glacier, which is several hundred feet thick, 170 miles long and of unknown width. The ice is being taken from Miles glacier for the reason that it is known as a 'live glacier—that is, it is constantly in motion. There are a number of “dead” or motionless glaciers along the route, but as they have been dead for millions of years, the refrigerated water of which they are composed is not considered “quite so good.” Besides In places they, are covered with centuries old debris infested with glacial hears. _ The Japan has had a peculiar effect on the marine transportation business this year. For the first time in many years only five per cent of the Bering sea passengers were shipped to St. MlchaeL Last year the aggregate was more than 60 per cent. All the passengers for the Yukon country last spring were via St Michael. but the fact that the ioe left Lake La Berg six weeks earlier made the interior route available for rapid transit last spring.