An Expedition to Mount St. Elias, Alaska

In the summer of 1890 a small team set out from Seattle, hauling their gear across the wild stretches of Southeast Alaska to the sheltered haven of Yakutat Bay. From a modest shore camp they launched canoes into the icy waters, paddling past rugged headlands and into the remote inlet known as Disenchantment Bay. The early days of the trek are a vivid tableau of dense spruce forests, towering cliffs, and the first tentative steps onto the snow‑line that guards Mount St. Elias.

As the party pressed inland, they negotiated steep glacier passes, set up temporary camps on the edge of the Newton and Agassiz icefields, and surveyed the towering peaks that loom above the frozen valleys. Along the way, geologists logged the region’s curious schist formations while glaciologists sketched the patterns of crevasses and ice‑tunnels that carve the landscape. The narrative captures the awe of the first full view of the mountain and the quiet determination of explorers who, even before reaching the summit, had already uncovered a wealth of scientific insight and a deep respect for this formidable Alaskan wilderness.