Discovery:
The discovery of Harriman Fiord ranges among the most exciting and foolhardy events in the exploration of Alaska. Fortunately, two of the greatest naturalists of the era, John Muir and John Burroughs, were present at the time to record the event. In his tribute to Harriman, John Muir describes Barry Glacier and the discovery of Harriman Fiord.
As we approached the head of one of the Prince William Sound fiords [Barry Arm] it seemed to be completely blocked by the front of a large glacier and an outreaching headland. The local pilot, turning to our Captain Doran, said: "Here, take your ship. I am not going to be responsible for her if she is to be run into every unsounded, uncharted channel and frog marsh." The Captain slowed down, and in a few minutes stopped, after creeping forward to within half a mile or so of the front of the ice wall [Barry Glacier].
Then Mr. Harriman asked me if I was satisfied with what I had seen and was ready to turn back, to which I replied: "Judging from the trends of this fiord and glacier, there must be a corresponding fiord or glacier to the southward, and although the ship has probably gone as far as it is safe to go, I wish you would have a boat lowered and let me take a look around that headland into the hidden half of the landscape."
"We can perhaps run the ship there," he said, and immediately ordered the captain to "go ahead and try to pass between the ice wall and the headland [Pt. Doran]. The passage was dangerously narrow and threatening, but gradually opened into a magnificent icy fiord about twelve miles long, stretching away to the southward. The water continuing deep, as the soundline showed, Mr. Harriman quietly ordered the captain to go right ahead up the middle of the new fiord. "Full speed, sir?" inquired the captain. "Yes, full speed ahead." The sail up this majestic fiord in the evening sunshine, picturesquely varied glaciers coming successively to view, sweeping from high snowy foundations and discharging their thundering wave-raising icebergs, was, I think, the most existing experience of the whole trip. (John Muir 1911, pp. 4-5).
The return trip was even more exciting. John Burroughs records a few tense moments in his "Narrative of the expedition." "On coming out of the inlet and turning almost at right angles into Port Wells, the tide which was with us and which was running very strong, caught our vessel and for a moment held her in its grasp. She hesitated to respond to her helm, and was making direct for the face of the great glacier on our port; but presently she came about, as if aware of her danger, and went on her way in less agitated waters." (Burroughs 1902, p. 73).
The vast amount of calving activity reported earlier by Glenn probably signalled the beginning of Barry's retreat, since tidewater glaciers retreat rapidly once they abandon their moraines through increased calving. The Harriman Alaska Expedition arrived at a slack time in Barry's activity and made their dangerous, foolish and subsequently famous passage through the narrow gap. They could have easily grounded on the moraine. Had they grounded, their ship, the George W. Elder, could have been exposed to large waves generated by the calving that were capable of hurtling icebergs against the ship's unprotected hull. Obviously, if this had happened, rescue services would not have been available. As it was, they escaped with only a bent prop, necessitating a return to Orca [modern Cordova] for repairs; during the time taken for repairs, a scientific party including John Muir, Henry Gannet, and possibly E.S. Curtis had the opportunity to remain ashore in Harriman Fiord for several days.
The trip up Harriman Fiord itself was a highlight of the cruise. John Burroughs in his "Narrative of the Expedition," records the even and the naming of the glaciers:
We went on under a good head of steam down this new inlet where no ship had ever before passed. It was one of the most exciting moments of our voyage. We could see another huge glacier about ten miles ahead of us with its front on the water barring the way. Glaciers hung on the steep mountain sides all about us . . . The scene was wild and rugged in the extreme. One of the glaciers was self-named Serpentine by reason of its winding course down from its hidden sources in the mountains - a great white serpent with its jaws glittering fangs at the sea. Another was self-named Stairway, as it came down in regular terraces or benches. A Colossus of Rhodes with seven-league boots would have been an appropriate figure upon it [renamed Surprise Glacier]. As we neared the front of this last glacier the mountains to the left again parted and opened up another new arm of the sea, with more glaciers tumbling in mute sublimity from the heights, or rearing colossal palisades across our front. Another ten-mile course brought us to the head of this inlet, which was indeed the end of navigation in this direction. (Burroughs 1902, p. 72).
Harriman Fiord's Glaciers are discussed in the order in which they are seen as boats cruise up the fiord: Serpentine (west side), Toboggan (east side), Baker (west side), Surprise Inlet with Cataract (west), Detached (north) and Surprise Glaciers, and finally, upper Harriman Fiord with Roaring (west), Wedge (east), Dirty (east) and Harriman.
SERPENTINE GLACIER:
Location: Harriman Fiord
Distance from Whittier: 34 miles
Access: Boat
Type: Valley glacier descending from cirque basin and icefield
Area: 32 sq. mi (Post 1986, unpub. work)
AAR: 83% (Post 1986, unpub. work)
Aspect in accumulation area: SSW, at terminus: SSE
Status: Stable, building terminal moraine
Photos: Figs. 67-69
Maps: Figs. 41, 66
Most of Serpentine Glacier has its accumulation area in Mt. Gilbert's snowfields and cirques but a small portion originates from an icefield. The same icefield feeds Colony Glacier, which flows into Lake George on the western side of the Chugach Mountains in the vicinity of the Matanuska Valley. A tributary glacier flowing from Mt. Muir enters Serpentine about 1/2 mile from the western terminus. From the cove, one can see that at least one of Mt. Gilbert's tributaries no longer reaches Serpentine Glacier, while the very white tributary just to the SE now flows and melts on top of Serpentine without reaching its terminus. Much debris from medial and ablation moraines covers Serpentine's surface; this is more apparent from the air than from the cove. The two apron glaciers clinging to the side of Mt. Muir above Serpentine Cove are East and West Penniman Glaciers. They are slowly shrinking and often have ice avalanches.
The cove itself hangs hundreds of feet above Harriman Fiord's much deeper trough and is separated from it by its 1870s, lobate moraine. When Serpentine extended to this moraine, its ice-cliff was 2 1/2 miles wide.
Serpentine's tidal eastern side has made several short advances and retreats during the last 85 years, but it has never regained the advanced position it occupied on the terminal moraine abutting Harriman Fiord in the 18770s. The rock ledge near the eastern terminus was barely visible in 1910, covered sometime before 1938, and uncovered between 1961 and the early seventies. By 1984, there were small alders, lichens, annual plants on the ledge. Striation marks are still clearly visible on the rocks.
Serpentine's western margin formerly extended much farther south and was covered with a very heavy coat of ablation moraine. Tarr and Martin (1914) found the small flat in front of the glacier to be underlain with block of black ice - the first step towards the formation of kettles. They attributed the western side's more advanced terminus to the protection afforded by the ablation moraine and to shading by the mountain. Austin Post's aerial photo shows that the western margin is still more advanced than the tidal-washed eastern face. There is a brief barren area in front of it; a forest now covers all of the old 1870s outwash plain. Several small kettle-type lakes lie hidden in the forest.
The old eastern lateral moraine, dating from when Serpentine was a much larger glacier filling the cove and extending 2 1/2 miles along the edge of Harriman Fiord, is clearly visible on the hillside above the cove. Tarr and Martin described the lateral moraine on the eastern side as: ". . . one of the best developed deposits of this sort which we have seen in Alaska. It is a narrow-crested ridge 30 to 50 feet high and with so sharp a crest that it is difficult to walk upon it. On the western side of this ridge is a bare slope of ground moraine and bed rock extending to the shores of the cove, and to the present border of the glacier; on the eastern side it is bordered by dense mature forest. This lateral moraine is a conspicuous object in the region, curving northward along the margin of Serpentine Glacier for a distance of over a mile, beyond which it could not be seen from sea level (Tarr and Martin 1914, p. 329)." In 1985, we found this moraine to be still a dominant feature of the sky line, although now it supports a thick covering of alders and conifers. The area between the moraine, cove and glacier is densely vegetated. Another prominent lateral moraine runs along the western side above the glacier.
In 1964, the land subsided between 7.2 and 7.9 feet. Along the shoreline are many trees killed by saltwater intrusion. Field predicted that the increased exposure of the tidal ice-face to saltwater would augment the rate of ablation at the terminus causing the glacier to retreat. At present, the face is protected by a 5 ft. high push moraine atop its terminal moraine. It appears to be stable. (Chapter 10. pp. 86-90).