here are toward the northeast
and therefore the shadiest and coolest, here also the glaciers
have had the greatest vitality and lived the longest, and
have, therefore, left the plainest records. Doubtless, careful
examination would discover the pathways of glaciers running
into the Lake from the eastern summit also; but I failed to
detect any very clear traces of such, either on the eastern or
on the northern portion of the western side of the Lake; while
between the southwestern end and Sugar Pine Point, a distance
of only eight or ten miles, I saw distinctly the pathways of
five or six. North of Sugar Pine Point there are also several.
_They are all marked by moraine ridges running down from
the summits and projecting as points into the Lake_.
The pathways of three of these glaciers I studied somewhat
carefully, and after a few preliminary remarks, will describe
in some detail.

Mountains are the culminating points of the scenic grandeur
and beauty of the earth. They are so, because they are also
the culminating points of all geological agencies--igneous
agencies in mountain _formation_, aqueous agencies in
mountain _sculpture_. Now, I have already said that the
mountain peaks which stand above the Lake on
every side are highest at the southwestern end, where they
rise to the altitude of 3000 feet above the lake surface, or
between 9000 and 10,000 feet above the sea. Here, therefore,
ran in the greatest glaciers; here we find the profoundest
glacial sculpturings; and here also are clustered all the
finest beauties of this the most beautiful of mountain lakes.
I need only name Mount Tallac, Fallen Leaf Lake, Cascade Lake,
and Emerald Bay, all within three or four miles of each other
and of the Tallac House. These three exquisite little lakes
(for Emerald Bay is also almost a lake), nestled closely
against the loftiest peaks of the western summit ridge, are
all perfect examples of glacial lakes.

South of Lake Tahoe, Lake Valley extends for fifteen miles as
a plain, gently rising southward. At its lower end it is but
a few feet above the lake surface, covered with glacial drift
modified by water, and diversified, especially on its western
side, by debris ridges, the moraines of glaciers which
continued to flow into the valley or into the Lake long after
the