204 The Ohio Journal of Science [Vol. XIX, No. 3, 



ZONE OF INCINERATION. 



We come now to the consideration of the final zone. Curi- 

 ously enough, areas of complete sterilization in which all vestiges 

 of life were consumed by fire occur only at one side of the 

 volcano, being confined to the vicinity of the Valley of Ten 

 Thousand Smokes. On the other side of the range in Katmai 

 Valley there is, as already remarked, not the slightest evidence 

 of fire in connection with the eruption. Since the ashfall 

 is much greater on that side, one is bound to conclude that no 

 fires occured in connection with the eruption of Katmai proper, 

 but that the manifold evidences of intense heat to be found 

 in the area northwest of the volcano were not due to agencies 

 emanating from the crater of Katmai. As will be seen, this 

 conclusion is supported by so much local evidence of a posi- 

 tive character in the area burned over that there can be little 

 question of its correctness. 



Throughout the upper portion of the Valley of Ten Thousand 

 Smokes and its branches not a vestige of the vegetation which 

 must once have covered it is to be found. So complete has 

 been the destruction that no evidence of what happened to 

 the plants remains to tell the tale. As we explored this dis- 

 trict we were for a long time altogether at a loss to understand 

 what had happened. We could not reasonably Suppose that 

 the area had been devoid of all vegetation before the eruption. 

 Indeed, we knew that there were once good sized trees far up 

 toward Katmai Pass. On the other hand, in the light of our 

 acquaintance with conditions on the opposite side of the range, 

 we were hesitant in hypothecating destructive agencies so 

 intense as to eradicate the very evidence of their action. 

 Nevertheless we could see plainly that over a considerable 

 part of the area the gray-green sandstones had been burned 

 to a brick red by the heat of the eruption. 



It was not until we extended our explorations down to- 

 ward the foot of the great mud flow that fills the valleys through- 

 out this zone that we began to find evidence confirming the 

 suspicions aroused by the absence of plant remains around 

 its head. In its upper portion the mud flow is so thick that 

 we could nowhere find a stream-trench or fault line suffi- 

 ciently deep to expose the relations of the mud flow to the 

 underlying original soil. But at its lower end, where it is 



