THE ERUPTION OF MOUNT KAT.MAI 



147 



KVK-WITNESSES OF THt) KRUPTIOX 



The only people who witnessed the 

 explosion from near at hand were na- 

 tives. Two families, who stayed at Kat- 

 mai after the other people of that town 

 went away to work in a fishing camp, 

 left Katmai for Cold Bay on June 4, 

 and were in camp on the shore between 

 Kamvik and Alinchak bays at the time 

 of the eruption. 



C. L. Boudry, who was at Cold Bay 

 when these people reached there wrote 

 in his diary : "They report the Katmy 

 hill blew up and threw rock out to sea, 

 but could not tel mor as they whare on 

 the road to Cold Bay — an that pommey 

 stone in fire whas falling 20 miles an 

 that the watter was hot in the Katmy 

 bay — after examining ther boat ther i 

 found pummice stone the sise of com- 

 mon rice." 



jack Lee, who also interviewed them 

 on their arrival at Cold Bay wrote : 

 *'They report the top of Katma Moun- 

 tain blun of. There was a lot of 

 I'ummy stone in their dory when they 

 t^ot here and the say Hot Rock was fly- 

 ing all eraund them." 



These last two statements of the in- 

 terviews with the natives are quoted ver- 

 batim because each contains an assertion 

 that the explosion wrecked the moun- 

 tain. In this connection it is important 

 to note the statement made by William 

 Neilson, of Iliamna, as quoted in a letter 

 from Thomas W. Hanmore. Mr. Han- 

 more says : "While Mr. Neilson was in 

 Naknek" (he went there June 7, and was 

 there at least until June 9) "the natives 

 from the Indian village of Savanoski, at 

 the head of Naknek Lake, came to Nak- 

 nek very much excited. They reported 

 the upper half of Katmai ^lountain gone 

 and the mountain burning up." 



These people, together with those 

 from Katmai, were the nearest persons 

 to the volcano at the time of the erup- 

 tion, and were in an excellent position 

 to observe what happened. Proper al- 

 lowance must, of course, 1)e made for the 

 natural but unintentional exaggeration 

 due to the excitement of the moment ; 

 but the close similarity of these entirely 

 inde]iendent accounts, their source from 

 people who. though familiar with dor- 



mant volcanoes, certainly never before 

 witnessed a violent eruption, and their 

 agreement with what we would expect 

 to happen in an eruption of this charac- 

 ter, all confirm them as being probably 

 reliable and accurate descriptions of 

 what occurred at 3 p. m., June 6, as seen 

 by the only eye-witnesses. 



THE SECOND EXPLOSION 



The activity of the volcano probably 

 slackened somewhat after the severe out- 

 break at 3 p. m. The next violent explo- 

 sion was probably at about 11 p. m. that 

 night, at which time a hard earthquake 

 was noted at Cold Bay and at about 

 which time a strong glare of light was 

 observed at Kanatak (see page 148). 



It is believed to be the ash of this 

 eruption which began falling at Kodiak 

 about noon of June 7. at Afognak at 

 4 p. m. of the same day. and at the west 

 end of the Kenai Peninsula early the 

 morning of the 8th. This shower con- 

 tinued without interruption at Kodiak 

 for 26 hours, or until 2.30 p. m., June 8. 

 The ash which fell during this shower is 

 the second stratum of fine brown mate- 

 rial 41^4 inches thick at Kodiak after 

 being packed down. 



The people at Cold Bay apparently 

 first realized that a volcano was in vio- 

 lent eruption on the morning of June 7. 

 The westerly wind on the 6th kept any 

 ash from reaching Cold Bay, and appar- 

 ently neither the earthquakes nor the 

 black cloud in the northern sky had been 

 considered as having any connection 

 with the long dormant volcanoes. By 

 the morning of the 7th the continued 

 and increasing noise of thunder and ex- 

 plosions, together with the growing vio- 

 lence of the earthquakes, called closer 

 attention to the appearance of the cloud, 

 which had then risen to a great altitude 

 and assumed a well-marked form and 

 other characteristics which made it im- 

 possible to confuse it with an ordinary 

 storm-cloud. 



Father Patelin, who was at Kanatak, 

 noted that the smoke came and dust fell 

 there the morning of June 7. though the 

 wind continued to be from the west. 

 There were earthquakes nearly all day, 

 with short intervals between. Many of 



