1951 Map of Bering Glacier A-2

About this map

Guyot Glacier dominates this mid-century Alaskan landscape, its massive expanse flowing through the Robinson Mountains toward the coast. The mapping, based on aerial photography taken in late 1948, captures a wild glacial system before the rapid environmental shifts of the later twentieth century. Along the southern margin, a network of drainage systems including Big River, Priest River, and Independence Creek snake toward the waters of Icy Bay. This transition from high ice fields to the tidal influences of the bay creates a complex terrain of unnamed peaks and precisely surveyed glacial contours. The proximity of Bear Glacier to the coastal flats near Big Sandy Creek illustrates the direct connection between the high mountain ice and the coastal hydrology of the Yakutat region during this era of early post-war topographical study.