Evening Republican, Volume 19, Number 207, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 1 September 1915 — PRESERVED IN GLACIER [ARTICLE]

PRESERVED IN GLACIER

GRASBHOPPERB ENTOMBED Ifc MOUNTAINB OF MONTANA. Story Which Has Long Been Coneld •red to Be a Myth Found Correct, and Explanation Is Made by Scientists. Grasahoppere on ice, In ice and ot lee le the phenomenon to be found in Grasshopper glacier, once considered a myth, but the existence of which as one of the wonders of the West has been confirmed by geologists, natural forest officials and prospectors who have reached the upper headwaters of the Bast and West Rosebud rivers in the Beartooth mountains of Montana. Investigation has shown that the "myth" of Grasshopper glacier is a fact. The grasshoppers, myriads of them, are frozen in a solid mass of ice. Many of the specimens are as perfect as if preserved in alcohol for exhibition. In the opinion of scientists who recently made a first-hand study of the fabled glacier the insects were caught in a periodic southward flight and succumbed to the cold in their attempt to cross the mountain range. The huge ice mass, under whose crust the grasshoppers are burled, is virtually under the shadow of Granite peak, 12,842 feet high, the highest in Montana. Only recently has its existence as a perpetual glacier been verified, though as long as 40 yean ago it was traditionally known in early Montana mining camps and mountain towns. It was considered then merely a fanciful tale of pioneer prospectors and fur trappers who had penetrated to the upper reaches of this branch of the rugged Rockies. J. C. Witham, deputy supervisor of the Beartooth national forest, one of the few men who have seen the Grasshopper glacier, brought back to civilization a small vial containing the nearly perfect remains of several grasshoppers found embalmed in the ice. These were forwarded to the Smithsonian institution, Washington, but unfortunately were badly broken in transit The Granites of Caribou county afford perhaps the most picturesque alpine scenery to be found in accessible parts of the United States. The Grasshopper glacier, which is one of a number discovered by the James P. Kimball survey, is thus described by Doctor Kimball: “Prom observations made the survey it was determined that grasshoppers brought to life on the prairie, when- in periodic southerly flight in a direction toward the mountains, are compelled by successive stages to rise and surmount the massive barrier of the mountain range. On the summits they are combated by head winds and frequent violent high mountain air currents, the occasional terrific force of which to be thoroughly appreciated must be encountered on the summits of the range. “Such portions of the grasshopper flights as are so unfortunate as to be compelled to settle on the glaciers in order to seek shelter from the oppbffing Insurmountable winds become chilled by contact with the snow and ice surface of the glacier and are overcome, remaining unable to rise for newly attempted flight The glacier then becomes their sepulcher."