[1][2] The most dramatic accounts came from a group of prospectors whose camp was close to a glacial stream about a mile SE of the ice cliff of Hubbard Glacier.

One can imagine the men running for their lives while not knowing which way to turn, but all escaped to the higher ground, though losing most of their provisions.

The next morning they found an empty damaged native canoe that they were able to repair, and with the two boats were able to make their way to the small settlement of Yakutat.

[3] Field investigations by members of the US Geological Survey in subsequent years found evidence of substantial changes in ground level in the affected areas, mostly uplift.

The evidence was of several types: physiographic, such as elevated sea-cliffs, sea-caves, and beaches as well as new reefs and islands; biologic, most conspicuously barnacles, whose shells were often found still attached to the rocks well above the highest tidal level, and the killing of trees by saltwater where depression had occurred; and human testimony, both comparison with reports of previous expeditions and the evidence of native american inhabitants who knew the coast well from their hunting activities.

This led to a release of many icebergs (which caused difficulties to the prospectors on their way to safety, and to ships arriving in the region in the days after the earthquake) and to the formation of deep crevasses, which made traverse of the ice impossible in areas that had been previously passable.