Over 200 years ago, Captain George Vancouver sailed searching for the Northwest Passage. While Vancouver remained behind, ill in his cabin, First Officer Joseph Whidbey set out to survey the area. Pushing through masses of floating ice, they made their way into a large open bay, blocked at its northern end by a great ice wall, as the massive glacier that filled what we know as Glacier Bay had retreated 50 miles, opening up a brand new waterway. Few visitors other than than native seal-hunting Tlingit people had glimpsed this New World. The first to bring it to the attention of the outside world was John Muir, who rode the steamer from Seattle to Wrangell and hired native paddlers to take him north. Along with missionary Hall Young, the party set out in mid-October and despite fierce winds, rain and sleet, the open boat reached Glacier Bay, which is formed by rain-shrouded rivers of ice. Muir's exciting articles brought the first shipload of tourists in 1883 and since then thousands of people have flocked to Glacier Bay. The bay is 65 miles long and filled with fjords and inlets. It is noted for its grand glaciers, jagged icebergs, tremendous mountain scenery, and its plant and wildlife communities. Glacier Bay and its surrounding are were set aside as a National Monument in 1925 and made into a National Park and Preserve in 1980.