THE FOX GLACIER

Hokitika Guardian, 14 December 1929, Page 3

THE FOX GLACIER

EXTRACTS FROM LANDS AND SURVEY REPORT .FOR THE YEAR 1895-96. (Reports by AY. Wilson, surveyor and C. E. Douglas, explorer). As part of my section work lor tlie year lay within a. few miles of the ter-minal-face. of the Fox Glacier, the opportunity- was taken of doing some work on the glacier, in accordance with instructions received from the SurveyorGeneral in Circular No. 245, dated 7th. April 1894. 1 lie first work done was to fix the points of Air Douglas's magnetic survey, and to connect his stations at the terminal-face and along the sides of the glacier with the trigonometrical stations in Cook’s River Valley. Owing to the short time at my disposal , 11 " as not possible to take this work more than three, miles from the ter- , minal-face of the glacier; but by carrying a chained traverse up the Fox River and around the terminal-face, and running a small ray-trace up the trunk of the glacier, enough observations were made to enable any surveyor working in the vicinity in after years to note any change that may take place. Permanent cairns were fixed at prominent points, principally on the south side of the glacier, and as the.se are not likely to be disturbed in any "ay, they, will always serve for future reference. The rate of the ice-flow for a. period of twenty-eight days was then determined, at a point one mile and a-half from the terminal-face, and the results are shown on the attached schedule. Owing to the absence of large stones on the ice at the place fixed upon, flags had to be used; a base-line with three stations, was fixed on the south side, and careful obsei vations were taken to each flag from the side stations. After an interval of twenty-eight days the flags were again observed to. Each position is a. mean of three results, and the motion at the six flags varies from 3ins. to 13.4 ins. per day, the lesser rate being at flag KG, close to. the south side of the glacier, and the greatest movement at flag Ko on the undulating ice towards the centre. The position of the flags and direction of movement are shown on the plan of the terminal-face of the glacier. The results can be taken as an accurate indication of the winter rate of movement, the time being from the 6th. July, to the 3rd. August. The weather during the interval was cold and frosty, with one week of rain, end ng with a heavy fall of snow. 1 visited the glacier again in the summer time, but, owing to the incessant bad weather and the short time at my disposal, I regret very much that I was unable to take further observations of the rate of flow. One of the stones marked with paint at flag K 6 was • found cast up amongst the debris on the south side, but no sign was found of any of the other marks. The glacier, with the exception of some half mile or so at the terminalface was remarkably free from debris lit both visits, although the scarred faces on the hill sides show that large slips had occurred in former years. The Victoria Glacier, on the other hand, was entirely covered with debris, some of the stones being of immense size.

On my first visit in 1894, the trunk o. the glavier was very largely orevassed; but, in the summer of 1895, after an exceptionally severe winter, the ‘crevasses were all closed, except *ai the edge of the glacier. On the whole, very few changes were noticed during the eighteen months’ interval. Tn July 1894, the whole of the river rose in one stream from the southern side of the terminal-face, falling in a beautiful cascade over a ledge of ice; but in 1895 the ledge had disappeard, and the stream boiled up from more than one opening- close to the 1894 aperture. The ice had fallen a wav in a : hollow from the south side of the terminal-face towards the centre of the glacier at a point some twenty chains back from the extreme face, and indications pointed to the formation of an ice-arch at the outlet in the near future. Tire Fox Gacier has a large advantage over the Franz Josef, in the natural facilities afforded to tourists for the ascent on to the clear ice, there being no difficulty, as the track up the creek-bed on the south side of The .Cone lands the traveller on the smooth ice, some two miles from the terminal face, and from there, with the exception of a little difficulty at an ice-fall some half-mile in length, where the ice has to be left and the moraine at the side. clambered over, travelling is easy to the foot of the The north side of the glacier is main ice-fall, which runs along the greater part of the Chancellor Ridge, an immense rocky ridge dividing the Fox and Victoria Glaciers, much steeper than the south side, and the old ice lines extending in almost unbroken lines from the terminal face to nearly the top of the main ic-e- - can he easily traced with the eye. On the south side the country is more broken by creeks and slips, and the marks can only be noticed at intervals along the side However, on tne south side, between the top end o the conical ridge at cairn K arid the outlet of Boyd’s Creek, the more recent morainic accumulations are very plainly marked, consisting of a series o. flat ledges; first come the heapedup boulders, which are continually in motion, and are piled up on each other in an almost incomprehensible fashion; then, a ledge of settled-down ground, with little or po vegetation;

then another covered with broom, akeake and small scrub, gradually extending back to a line of large, birch and rata trees. The top of the cone-ridge is covered with numerous boulders and the roots o. the large ratas on the summit spread over these rocks. The side of toe cone facing the glacier is a perpendicular face of rock, worn smooth by ice action and extending nearly to the top of the ridge, while the Mills Creek side is more sloping, and the hush extends down nearly to tile creek Led. One of the most interesting features of the Fox Glacier is the presence of a belt of koromiko scrub at the foot of the terminal-face. This patch is completely isolated from the other vegetation on either side, and is growing on an irregular mass of piled-up debris. The belt is gradually getting smaller year by year, as the boulders fall into it from the terminal-face at tho back, and the river flowing past in front carries away a small portion occasionally. The presence of the hrubs prove that the ice does not extend any distance under the boulders of the river bed, as the enforced continual motion would prevent any vegetation thriving oil the surface Patches o. similar characters are found growing on the islands further down the Fox River. The water from the Victoria Glaeiei runs into the Fox Glacier on the north side, just below the foot of the main ice-fall. There are two small streams which run around a. large rocky knob, heaped up with old debris from the Victoria, and join again just before running under the ice of the Fox. The trunk of this glacier is very flat, arid almost entirely covered with masses >f moraine. The terminal-face of the Victoria is over 9Ooft. higher than the ice of the Fox at the Victoria outlet, and from the level appearance of the valley the ice travels at a much slower rate. Other features of interest are entirely covered by Mr Douglas’s report. —Wm. Wilson, Assistant Surveyor. Schedule showing Direction and Rate of Movement of Fox Glacier for ■>B days, 6th. July to 3rd. August, 1894.

Cook’s River as it is called by the settlers, or, to give its official name, the Wehaka, enters the sea about lifteen miles south of the Wailio, and drains the snowfields of Mounts Tasman, Dampier, Stokes and Haidinger. As might he expected, it is a snow river, and runs white water nearly all the year round; even in the severest frost the river is comparatively white for a long distance below the terminus of the various glaciers which feed it. The river-bed from the ranges to the sea is a wide unsightly stretch of shingle flats covered with large masses of drift timber, and through which the water meanders in mumberless channels. At the forks of the Fox branch, and Cook’s River proper, these flats are nearly ' two miles wide ; but for three miles from the sea they narrow considerably, in some places being not more than 20 chains wide. They are bounded on the south bank by a nar’•ow morainic ridge, which ends in the high bluff called Malcoln’s Knob, dividing Cook’s River from Saltwater Creek and on the north bank, from Clearwater to the sea, the open find white-pine swamps extend to the foot of the drift hills, a distance of over a mile. Those hills are the commencement of the immense drift deposits which extend from Cook’s River to the Waiho, rising in places to an elevation of 1500 ft. i (To be cont-iipied.) j

B N o of Flag Direction of Total Move ment Average rate Set of Flag Set of Flag Rise or fall Remarks o H M ° §g Movement in True Bearings ■ feet per day, ins Gtli. July Watson’s Mean Sea Level 3ru Aug. in inches. 28 days k.l 297 22 23.1 9.9 1465.0 1464.6 4.8 Fall on lr edgeof flat ice in centre. 2 o o pi ' K.2 290 17 25.9 10.8 1519.3 1527.5 21.6 Fall on lr. edge of undulating ice. !"= cc K.3 292 09 21.8 9.4 1506.0 1595.8 2.4 Fall on lr on smooth ice. w K.4 . 287 57 22.0 9.5 1515.7 1516.8 6.0 Rise. On smooth ice of north side. K.5 v 286 36 31.5 13.4 1549.0 1547.1 .- 12.8 Fall on undulating ice towards south side W W K.6 281 38 6.9 3.0 146-5.0 1466.0 13.2 Rise close to south side of glacier. *