Glacier Bay Timeline
1750 – The “Little Ice Age’ is ending and the glaciers of Glacier Bay National Park begin to retreat
1778 – Captain James Cook on the HMS Resolution names Mt. Fairweather, the tallest mountain in the park at 15,325ft (that’s 4671m!)
1794 – Captain George Vancouver and Lt Joseph Whidbey on the HMS Discovery visit Glacier Bay when just 5 miles of ice have retreated, describing the bay as “a compact sheet of ice as far as the eye could distinguish”
1879 – Famous naturalist and explorer John Muir visits the park guided by Tlingit Indians. At this time over 40 miles of the bay are now uncovered from the bay – that’s 35 miles of glacial retreat in nearly 80 years!
1890 – John Muir makes his third visit to Glacier Bay, building a cabin at the base of Mt Wright to use for studying the bays natural history.
1916 – Ecologist William Cooper visits Glacier Bay and begins a world-renowned study of plant succession lasting for 50 years. In 1922 Cooper suggests making the bay a National Monument to the Ecological Society of America
1925 – President Coolidge establishes Glacier Bay National Monument
1939 – President Franklin Roosevelt doubles the size of Glacier Bay National Monument
1953 – The first modern cruise ships visit the bay
1966 – Glacier Bay Lodge opens its doors
1980 – Glacier Bay National Monument gains further protection and becomes Glacier Bay National Park, preserving almost 3.3 million acres.
1986 – Glacier Bay National Park is designated as an International Biosphere Reserve
1992 – Glacier Bay National Park, along with three other parks in Alaska and Canada, becomes part of a 24 million acres World Heritage Site
1998-1999 – Commercial fishing in the park becomes managed
2009 – Around 420,000 people visited the park
