Reid Glacier flows north for 11 miles (18 km) from the Brady Icefield to Reid Inlet in Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve, about 113 miles (182 km) southeast of Yakutat and 50 miles (81 km) northwest of Gustavus, Alaska. The glacier was named in 1899 by members of the Harriman Expedition for geologist and professor Harry Fielding Reid, who taught at the Case School of Applied Sciences and Johns Hopkins University and visited Glacier Bay in 1890 and 1892 to study the local glaciers. At the time of the expedition, the name ‘Reid Inlet’ referred to the head of Glacier Bay, where the Grand Pacific and Johns Hopkins Glaciers merged. As these glaciers subsequently retreated, the Grand Pacific Glacier exposed Tarr Inlet to the north and the Johns Hopkins Glacier exposed Johns Hopkins Inlet to the west. Reid Glacier also retreated from its former valley, forming another inlet; the name ‘Reid Inlet’ now refers to this much smaller feature. In 1899 the glacier filled Reid Inlet; since then, it has retreated about 2 miles (3.2 km). Today, Reid Glacier is about 0.75 miles (1.2 km) wide and 150 feet (46 m) high at its terminus, with both its eastern and western thirds grounded. Sediment from streams draining the glacier along its margins is deposited in the inlet and exposed at low tide. In the central section, high tides continue to influence the glacier; icebergs occasionally calve into the inlet. The glacier’s center recedes slowly—about 30 to 50 feet (9–15 m) per year—while the remainder of its margin retreats at about 30 feet (9 m) per year or less and progressively thins. Crevasses at the terminus are closing gradually as the rate of ice flow decreases and the terminus becomes fully terrestrial.

Gold-bearing rocks were discovered at Reid Inlet in 1924 by Joseph Ibach, a homesteader on Lemesuriur Island in Icy Strait. The General Mining Act of 1872 had opened most public lands to mineral entry, allowing individuals to stake claims that granted exclusive rights to the minerals and the surface within each boundary. Ibach landed near Ptarmigan Creek and prospected southeast toward Reid Inlet, where Reid Glacier extended nearly to the mouth and no protected harbor existed. He found gold veins high on what is now Mount Parker and staked claims he named Monarch and Incas. A year later, prospecting and mining were banned throughout Glacier Bay. Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve now covers 3.28 million acres. Originally, President Calvin Coolidge designated 1.16 million acres as a national monument in 1925, a status that barred most commercial and extractive activities. Although President Franklin Roosevelt authorized mining in 1936, claim owners did not receive title to the sites they worked. Ibach promptly staked 45 claims on both sides of Reid Inlet. In 1937, the Newmont Mining Company leased the most promising claims and spent several months sampling the veins before abandoning the lease due to inaccessibility. In 1940, Ibach improved access to his claims by building a transportation network. The glacial debris–covered slopes around Reid Inlet were passable on foot but unsuitable for wheeled machinery. Ibach brought in a caterpillar tractor via the beach at Ptarmigan Creek and built a road to the divide at 3,000 feet between Ptarmigan Creek and Reid Inlet. From the divide the road continued southeast to the Incas claim. He also constructed a 1‑mile aerial tramway from the Reid Inlet beach to the Incas claim and on to the Rainbow claim. During summer, supplies and equipment were delivered and some ore was removed via the tramway.

In 1938, Abraham Parker staked the Leroy claim. He designed and built a stamp mill at his home in Gustavus, then towed it by raft to the mouth of Ptarmigan Creek and moved it up the creek to a site below the claim. Parker died in 1941, and the claim was leased to the Leroy Mining Company, which built an aerial tramway and worked the mine during the summers of 1941, 1942, 1944, and 1945. By 1945, most of the ore had been removed, and the company had leased the Rainbow and Incas claims from Ibach. At about the same time, the Mount Fairweather Mining Company leased the Monarch claims from Ibach. In the summer of 1941, they built an aerial tramway from the Reid Inlet beach to the Monarch vein. Ore was mined, but the operation proved unprofitable. Sporadic gold mining continued until the passage of the Mining in the Parks Act in 1976, with only the Leroy and Rainbow claims yielding significant gold. The ore body was a quartz vein averaging 2 to 3 feet (0.6–0.9 m) wide and about 60 feet (18 m) long, from which several hundred tons of ore were mined and milled. Sluicing of surface outcroppings recovered less than 100 ounces (2.8 kg) of gold. From 1938 to 1950, at least 2,500 tons (2,267,962 kg) of high-grade ore, valued at about $100 per ton, were extracted from Reid Inlet. Ibach also built a cabin and two outbuildings at the mouth of Reid Inlet, which he used seasonally until the mid-1950s. He landscaped the area with rock terraces and imported soil from Lemesurier Island for a vegetable garden that included strawberries and flowers. He further imported three small spruce trees to add greenery to the barren landscape. Today, these trees measure 10 to 12 inches (0.2–0.3 m) in diameter and have sprouted several small seedlings. Read more here and here. Explore more of Reid Glacier and Glacier Bay here: