Random picture thread for Friday

So this guy walks into 'a coin shop', with this tattoo on his arm.
I said, "let me guess: you're a coin geek ". He said " Actually , I am the coin nerd ! ". I said " Ohhhh".
Who was I to argue ?

So here is a random Saint under the arm of a random coin nerd.


Happy Friday.

@1northcoin said:

I found a 1905 photo of the glacier visible in my photo. Now named Bartlett Glacier it then extended all the way to the base of the centered tall mountain in my photo. I will try to post it.

OK, here is the 1905 photo of Bartlett Glacier. Compare it to the Bartlett Glacier as seen in another of the photos I took of it this past weekend. Note the extent of the receding ice field.

The other large glacier located in Placer Valley is Spencer Glacier. It is fronted by Spencer Lake in which large icebergs which have calved off the glacier can be seen flowing. Spencer Glacier's ice field and a portion of one of the floating icebergs as seen from the train are pictured below. In 2007 the Park Service in cooperation with the Alaska Railroad completed the Spencer Whistlestop that allows one to hike in to an overlook for even closer views of the lake and glacier. The bridge to the overlook can be seen in the below photo as well.

The naming of Bartlett Glacier and Spencer Glacier is also of note. Most assume that Bartlett Glacier was named afterBob Bartlett the Senator from Alaska who was the first Alaska hero to be honored in the U.S. Capital's Statutory Hall for having been the "Architect of Alaska Statehood," or as Senator Magnason described him, "The Founding Father" of the State of Alaska. It was actually in 1907 that the glacier was named for Frank Bartlett, an Alaska Central Railroad Engineer who was responsible for the design of the "Loop District" that included a tunnel that turned 100 degrees before the loop itself continued to curve an additional 135 degrees over trestles ranging from 40 to 90 feet in height. The government ended up buying Alaska Central Railroad and later, as the U.S. Government owned Alaska Railroad, completed the route from Seward to Anchorage.

Ironically the receding of Bartlett Glacier by 1951 allowed a rerouting that avoided the need for the difficult to maintain tunnel and trestles that Bartlett himself had engineered (at least in part) to avoid the glacier that was named for him.

The story behind the 1909 naming of Spencer Glacier is equally noteworthy. Edward A. Spencer was a time keeper for the Railroad who lost his life in 1905 by falling into a crevice of the glacier that was named in his honor. The historical accounts reference him leaving camp "without a lantern," a reference that is an anomaly to us in the day of "flashlights."

FWIW here is a July 13, 1966 photo of myself standing next to Alaska's first Senator, Bob Bartlett, for whom most assume Bartlett Glacier was named. It is followed by photos I took, close to if not the same day, of President Johnson and Lady Bird as she christened a ship.

The granddaughter:

@1northcoin said:

@1northcoin said:

The other large glacier located in Placer Valley is Spencer Glacier. It is fronted by Spencer Lake in which large icebergs which have calved off the glacier can be seen flowing. Spencer Glacier's ice field and a portion of one of the floating icebergs as seen from the train are pictured below. In 2007 the Park Service in cooperation with the Alaska Railroad completed the Spencer Whistlestop that allows one to hike in to an overlook for even closer views of the lake and glacier. The bridge to the overlook can be seen in the below photo as well.

Subsequent to the prior posting I came across a view of the above referenced floating icebergs that I was able to capture while standing on the outside rear platform of the Denali Car last weekend. Here it is:

Speaking of Railroad Cars with outside rear viewing platforms, to my knowledge the Denali Car and one Princess Car are the only two cars that currently ride on the Alaska Railroad which have outside rear viewing platforms. Here is a photo I took of the Princess Car's outside viewing platform:

For comparison here is the current Denali Car's rear viewing platform as well as the one that was on the original Denali Car ridden by President Harding when he came to Alaska in 1923 to drive the Golden Spike that heralded the completion of the Railroad:

And again, this is the view of the current Denali Car's rear viewing platform as seen looking out from inside the Denali Car:

Black balsam NC hike.