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Show 164. Men lived closer to the dawn of creation than they knew, and were linked to an earth which had been reborn during its glacial age. Even as they walked the earth, it continued toward its destined shape, an unfinished sculpture in the midst of one of its many lives. THE LIVES OF GLACIERS When Muir thought about the glacial history of the Sierra, he did not imagine a universal ice sheet, but a system of individual glaciers. He called them by their names because he thought of them as distinct personalities. The glaciers excavated mountain mansions and lake basins which would later become meadows; they prepared places for life. They turned rock to soil and distributed this sustaining "mountain meal" high and low. They carved paths which were followed by rivers, winds, plants, animals, and men. They also sculpted monuments, a task they continued even during the Sierra's present. They were the first writers in the newest guest book of Nature. As Muir wrote the life history of Yosemite glaciers, he caught them in action. He described the Tenaya Glacier, for instance, "setting out in its life-work," and "spending its strength." In its final descent, "crushing heavily against the ridge of Clouds Rest, [it] curved toward the west, quickened its pace, focalized its wavering currents, and bore down upon Yosemite with its whole concentrated energy." As its body withered at once along its whole length, it |
