If this is Thursday it must be postcards, 684

 

 

 

 

 

Saint Mary Lake, Glacier National Park, Montana, ca 1998

[photo by Diana Stratton]

 

This used postcard features a photograph by Diana Stratton of Saint Mary Lake and Goose Island located in Glacier National Park, Montana.  Goose Island is the small island in the center.  The card was produced by Billings News, Inc., Billings, Montana.  At the upper left corner on the reverse is #10822 and a blurb:  “St. Mary Lake and Goose Island one of the most photogenic views in beautiful Glacier National Park.”  Some damage on the card from the postal machine has been photo-shopped out.

 

Saint Mary Lake is the second largest lake in Glacier National Park.  It is located on the east side of the park along the north shore.  The lake is 9.9 miles or 15 km long, 300 ft or 91 m deep.  Because the lake is at an altitude of 4,484 ft or 1,367 m the waters stay cold and rarely rise above 50 degrees F (10 degrees C).  Wild Goose island’s high point is only 14 ft or 4.3 m above the lake.  The lake freezes over in the winter with ice sometimes up to 4 ft or 1.2 m thick. 

 

There are 130 names lakes in the park, 1000s different species of plants and hundreds of species of animals including grizzly bears, moose, mountain goats, wolverines, Canadian lynxes birds, and fish.  The mountain goat is the park symbol. 

 

Glacier National Park in northwestern Montana on the U.S. Canada border was established in 1910.  This park borders the Canadian Waterton Lakes National Park.  In 1932 these two parks became the first park designated as an International Peace Park and the joint parks with the name the Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park.  Both parks are United Nations Biosphere Reserves (1976) and World Heritage Sites (1995).  Additionally in 2017 “the joint park received a provisional Gold Tier designation as Waterton-Glacier International Dark Sky Park through the International Dark Sky Association.” [from Wikipedia.org].  It is the first trans-boundary dark sky park.

 

For additional information, see:

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glacier_National_Park_(U.S.)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Mary_Lake