The comparatively shallow glacier that at this time filled the
Illilouette Basin, though once far from shallow, more resembled a lake
than a river of ice, being nearly half as wide as it was long. Its
greatest length was about ten miles, and its depth perhaps nowhere much
exceeded 1000 feet. Its chief fountains, ranged along the west side of
the Merced group, at an elevation of about 10,000 feet, gave birth to
fine tributaries that flowed in a westerly direction, and united in the
center of the basin. The broad trunk at first poured northwestward, then
curved to the northward, deflected by the lofty wall forming its western
bank, and finally united with the grand Yosemite trunk, opposite Glacier
Point.
All the phenomena relating to glacial action in this basin are
remarkably simple and orderly, on account of the sheltered positions
occupied by its ice-fountains, with reference to the disturbing effects
of larger glaciers from the axis of the main Range earlier in the
period. From the eastern base of the Starr King cone you may obtain
a fine view of the principal moraines sweeping grandly out into the
middle of the basin from the shoulders of the peaks, between which the
ice-fountains lay. The right lateral of the tributary, which took its
rise between Red and Merced Mountains, measures two hundred and fifty
feet in height at its upper extremity, and displays three well-defined
terraces, similar to those of the south Lyell Glacier.
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