Evening Republican, Volume 17, Number 206, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 29 August 1913 — RUNS OVER ICE FIELD [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

RUNS OVER ICE FIELD

ROADBED OF ALASKAN RAILROAD RESTS ON GLACIER. Builders Admit Situation Has Its Perils, Though rfiere Is Little Danger of Sudden. Catastrophe— Minor Accidents Frequent. An Alaskan railroad, the Copper River & Northwestern, runs for nearly

seven miles over the lower end of the Allen partly covered in this part with moraines and vegetation, although at points the Ice is visible. In an article contributed to La Nature, says the Literary

Digest, Prof. Laurence Martin, chief of the National Geographical Alaskan expedition, describes this part of the road and recounts the dangers that is running in its risky location. Fortunately, glaciers move slowly, and there is little- peril in Any sudden catastrophe. Writes Professor Martin: / “During our visit In 1909 the ice was visible on six of the railroad cuts on the terminal glacier; it was no longer seen a year later, although It could be brought to light by digging Blightly. In 1909 the railroad had been built on a sort of a shield of morainic ballast encased In* the ice, which had been opened up with dynamite. It was found to be seriously changed In 1910, the sinking dqp to the melting of the ice varying from two to three feet in one place and to six or even eight feet in others. . . . The railroad men had endeavored to repair the damage by filling in. . . . “Nowhere else in the world —at least to our knowledge—has a railroad line been constructed for nearly seven miles on the edge of a still active glacier. Here the layer of ballast which supports the ties and rails lies directly on the ice, and not, as at the Heney glacier, several miles to the north, on a solid moraine. “This perilbus situation gives rise to continual accidents; sometimes the meltihg of the ice displaces the profile of the road; sometimes there are formed new streams, which involve a

readjustment of the whole system of support ; ,onpe even the* abutment of a bridge sliud 16 inches toward the river, and h new one had to be built As these difficulties are renewed every summer, it is very expensive to maintain the way, and the speed of the trains must be kept very low, although the passengers are never in danger, as a very close watch is necessarily kept of the road. “What makes the upkeep of the road still more risky is the possibility of a .forward movement of the glacier. The road would be destroyed and all traffic Btopped, for there would be no possible way of getting out. After the period of Immunity of 67 years, which is attested by the vegetation, a movement of this kind may take place any day.”

Railway Over the Moraine, Showing the Ice on the Left.