338 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 19 60 



been caused by an opening of a cavernous crack in the sea floor, 

 sucking in the water only to close again with a violent squirt up over 

 the hillsides. This, however, seemed improbable. 



From later study of Natto's aerial photographs and survey records 

 it is clear that many gi-eat landslides occurred, falling down the moun- 

 tainsides from heights as great as 3,000 feet, and that tremendous 

 masses of ice fell from the tow^ering face of Lituya Glacier. Whether 

 triggered by an earthquake as on July 9, or by other causes, such 

 great volumes of material suddenly dumped in the confined waters 

 of a bay can apparently raise the water level enough to generate a 

 wave. On July 9, 1958, there was caused such a wave which may 

 have been 50 or 100 feet or more in height — a wave that sloshed back 

 and forth in a maelstrom with energy enough to send its waters high 

 on the banks, take down trees and earth, and to make Miller's trim 

 lines understandable after all. It ended by sweeping down the bay, 

 leaving a trim line of varying height according to the configuration 

 of the hills, but apparently as high in places as 500 feet. On the way 

 it scoured the slopes of Cenotaph Island up to 165 feet, and flowed 

 through a low point on its ridge, incidentally removing every recog- 

 nizable object at the site of Huscroft's old cabin. Even at the bay 

 entrance, after a 6-mile trip, it still had force enough to break loose 

 the two anchored boats and lift them over the spit and completely 

 out of the bay. 



The wave heights of July 9 were immediately seen to dwarf those 

 that had left Miller's old trim lines. All the viewers in the days 

 following the wave exclaimed in amazement at the appearance of the 

 western mountain at the corner of Gilbert Inlet. A\niere it had for- 

 merly been tree clad all the way down to the shore, its steep bulwark 

 now stood starkly bare to a height of more than 1,600 feet. The 

 rocks seemed to be washed clean — did this mean that the wave had 

 climbed to the incredible height of 10 Niagaras? There were those, 

 including the authorities Miller and Tocher, who thought so from the 

 first, but mass skepticism met their claim, and the controversy is not 

 yet stilled. There was most certainly a landslide on the western 

 mountain, and it is easy to point out that it alone could have denuded 

 the mountain, but this easy explanation falls before the opinion of 

 the Survey photogrammetrists, experts at photointerpretation and the 

 appraisal of land detail revealed by stereographic plotting instru- 

 ments. Concluding the compilation of a new topogi'aphic map from 

 Natto's photographs, they expressed their unanimous conviction that 

 the water did reach a height somewhere between 1,200 feet and the 

 top of the bared mountainside area. It was apparent to them that 

 notliing but an actual flood could possibly have scoured the folded 

 and creviced rocks so thoroughly clean of every bit of dirt and 



