Soundings showed seven fathoms where before the eruption there were thirty-six fathoms of water.
Vancouver refused to credit the news; yet there was the ship's log; there were the details--landmarks, soundings, anchorages for twenty miles up the Columbia from its mouth.
With a northerly blow she might turn rather close to the shore, where the soundings run to 3 fathoms, but behind such a stretch of ice she could scarcely get a sea or swell without warning.
I went to see the crack at which soundings were taken a week ago--then it was several feet open with thin ice between--now it is pressed up into a sharp ridge 3 to 4 feet high: the edge pressed up shows an 18 inch thickness--this is of course an effect of the warm weather.