Robinson

Wimmer Collection

Unknown

Image is of the face of Knik Glacier viewed from below at the bottom of the gorge after waters of Lake George had drained out. For many years the glacier would annually advance to abut the mountain viewed at left in the photo, forming a dam on a large side valley. With spring and summer melting, the valley would fill with water (Lake George) until the water spilled over the ice and eroded a channel to escape. This erosion of the glacier face and release of the lake water became a dramatic event of calving ice and violent water flowing through the gorge in which this photo was taken. Until 1966, when the glacier stopped advancing to form the dam, his dramatic discharge annually flooded the river valley below, including riverside homes and the community of Matanuska.

Knik River Valley, Alaska

Digital File, Black & white

Knik Glacier@1x-Wim