Self-Dumping Lake
Vents Wrath
On Glacier
By Tom Saville, Vice Pres.,
McKinley Foundation, Inc.
Residents of Anchorage, Pal
mer. and the surrounding villag
es. those within driving or fly
ing range, who elect to go to
Lake George sometime this sum
mer will be treated to a spec
tacle so wonderful yet so awe
some that it will stagger their
senses and leave them discuss
ing what they saw; namely, the
annual break-up or dumping of
Lake George.
An old gold prospector is be
lieved to be the first to have
stumbled across the lake's out
pouring while back in the moun
tains searching for the yellow
metal. Since then thousands of
people have made the trip to
Knik Bridge to see the final act
of this self-dumping lake. The
episode begins in Alaska's re
jnote Chugach Mountains, where
an irresistible force meets an
immovable object.
The irresistible force is the
slowly advancing face of Knik
Glacier, and the immovable ob
ject is an unyielding corrugated
cliff in the Chugach Mountains.
Each year a seven-mile-wide
• river" of glacial ice, more than
300 feet high, flows along the
lower lip of Lake George until
it reaches the face of the moun
tain. This ice advance gradually
Plugs up the outlet of 10 mile
long Lake George.
When the outlet is dammed
by this ice barrier the lake be
gins to back up and deepen,
as millions of gallons of water
are impounded.
By late summer tremendous
pressures have been built up
behind the ice barrier. In early
August when temperatures are
relatively high these intense
pressures applied against the
lower surfaces of the ice begin
to melt an escape channel for
the lake waters.
By degrees the Knik Glacier
ice is undermined. Finally the
full length of the glacier is pene
trated by the water. Then the
pent-up waters roar out of this
new outlet, bringing their full
fury and weight to bear against
the glacier along its entire
width.
Savage pressures of weight
and water begin to rip building
size slabs of ice from the glacier
wall. Sections of glacier ice 700
feet wide and approximately :i00
feet thick have been seen (by
cameramen recording the ice
break-up for the McKinley Foun
dation) hurled into the river
with thunderous force.
These massive chunks of ice
are carried downstream by tor
rents ot water, traveling at ex
press train speed. Geysers of
spray hundreds of feet high
blossom upward as section after
section of the glacier collapses.
With each passing hour the
fury of the rushing waters widen
the channel until after six or
sex en days the ice barrier bot
tling up Lake George is com
pletely swept away.
At this point the Lake empties
itself at the rate of approxi
mately a foot an hour for sever
al days before reaching rock
bottom.
Now. with the rushing waters
subsided, the glacier with its
e\\ r forward movement, once
again commences to bottle up
Lake George in its never ending
cycle.
This battle of legendary gi
ants, witnessed by relatively few
people, has great impact on the
human mind, and prompts the
writer to reiterate his afore
mentioned statement relative to
this "spectacle staggering the
senses of human beings.”
A number of prominent Al
askans are at present interested
in a proposal that this area be
declared a nationl monument,
and that an overland feasible
a u t o m o b i 1 e route could be
mapped out.
As a tourist attraction, no
where in the world would Lake
George be unsurpassed, for it is
here that Mother Nature has
created one of her truly great
phenomena that will hold the
interest of people for all time.
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GEORGE EVERITT
JEFFERSON 64
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there is much in common between the Ocean of Water_and
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KATHRYN GALEN
Special Ageni
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ILuIy Vacation Bible School
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June 27. Children of all ages
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Mrs. Ilerm Hanson will super
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Mrs. Mary Gilbert. Mrs. Cha^
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JESSE LEE HOME WINDS UP
SUMMER BIBLE SCHOOL
Tiie summer Bible School held
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ended May 30 after a two-weeks
session.
Miss Bertha McGee, supervis
or of the session, was aided by
members of the Jesse Lee staff,
Mrs. Charles Malin and Mrs!
Parker. Ninety-nine children at
tended the school, which was
divided into four departments,
the children ageing from 4 years
thru the ninth grade. Each de
partment took part in the clos
ing day program.
Towm children were taken to
Bible School in cars provided
by members of the Methodist
Church.
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