Riggs Glacier is located in Glacier Bay National Monument, heads on S slope of Takhinsha Mts., 4 mi. SE of Mount Harris, trends SSE to head of Muir Inlet, 43 mi. SW of Skagway, St. Elias Mts.
Named by the American Geographical Society in 1947 for Thomas Riggs, Jr., 1873-1945; Engineer of the Alaskan Boundary Survey, 1906-13; Governor of Alaska, 1918-21; and United States Commissioner of the International Boundary Commission (IBC) about 1936-45. He was born in Maryland and educated at Princeton University He was in the lumber business in Alaska 1897-1901 and was with the Boundary Survey from 1903-05 before becoming engineer in 1906. He was in charge of the Fairbanks Division of location and construction of government railroads in Alaska before becoming Governor of Alaska in 1918.