MOUNTAINS ON UNIMAK ISLAND, ALASKA* 



By Ferdinand Westdahl 

 Assistant, U. S. Coast and Geodetic Survey 



SHISHALDIN volcano is the high- 

 est mountain on the island, f and it 

 vies with Mt St Helens, in Wash- 

 ington, in being in outline the most 

 regular cone I know of on the Pacific 

 coast of the United States. It is an 

 active volcano, and the discharges from 

 its crater come, in puffs like steam at 

 first and rising probably ioo feet or 

 more above its summit, then turn darker 

 in color and stream off horizontally with 

 the direction of the wind. In calm 

 weather the continuous discharges are 

 seen to rise in a column more than i ,000 

 feet above it and gradually spread out 

 in a dark cloud. When the wind blows 



hard over the summit the smoke is 

 beaten down and follows the slope on 

 the lee side of the peak. The snowy 

 mantle of the mountain becomes dark 

 after several days of calm weather, then 

 clouds envelop it, snow falls and the 

 mountain again emerges, clad in pure 

 white. % The snow line reached on 

 September 21, 1901, down to an esti- 

 mated height of 2,800 feet above the 

 sea. At about 3,000 feet below the sum- 

 mit the regular cone begins to spread 

 out, and at 4, 000 feet there is a projecting 

 spur to the westward. Glacier-carved 

 canyons begin at about 4,000 feet or 

 more below the summit, and from them 



* This article consists of extracts from a report made in February, 1902, by Assistant Westdahl, 

 commanding the Coast Survey Steamer McArthur, while engaged in a survey of that region. 

 The extracts refer to certain interesting geographical features of Unimak Island, Alaska, and 

 are published here, together with the accompanying photographs, by permission of the Superin- 

 tendent of the Coast Survey. Unimak is one of the Aleutian Islands, about which very little is 

 known, and therefore the description of the mountains as seen by the writer and recorded by 

 the camera is especially interesting. Excerpts are also given from Mr Westdahl's description 

 of the south shore of the island. 



f ' ' The island is uninhabited , and has been in that condition for the greater part of the present 

 century, though it is richer than many other islands of the Aleutian chain in natural means of 

 sustaining life. 



" Foxes are quite plentiful here and sea otters frequent the reefs and points, but ever since — 

 nearly 100 years ago — almost all the inhabitants of four or five populous villages were massacred 

 by the Russian promyshleneks, a superstitious dread seems to prevent the Aleutian from making 

 a permanent home at Oonimak (Unimak)." Ivan Petroff, p. 77, in "Narratives of Military Ex- 

 plorations in Alaska," compiled under the direction of "The Committee on Military Affairs " 

 of the Senate. Government Printing Office, Washington, 1900. 



% Miners bound for Cape Nome and whalers or sealers on their way to Bering Sea as they 

 sail through Unimak Pass can see Shishaldin in the distance. When the air is clear the moun- 

 tain presents a majestic spectacle, which is described by John Burroughs in the following words : 



' ' Before nightfall we passed two more notable volcanic peaks, Isanotski and Shishaldin , both 

 of which penetrate the clouds at an altitude of nearly 9,000 feet. These are on Unimak Island 

 at the end of the peninsula. Our first glimpse was of a black cone ending in a point far above 

 a heavy mass of cloud. It seemed buoyed up there by the clouds. There was nothing visible 

 beneath it to indicate the presence of a mountain. Then the clouds blotted it out ; but presently 

 the veil was brushed aside again, and before long we saw both mountains from base to summit 

 and noted the vast concave lines of Shishaldin that swept down to the sea, and that mark the 

 typical volcanic form. 



" The long, graceful curves, so attractive to the eye, repeat on this far-off island the profile of 

 Fuji-Yama, the sacred peak of Japan. Those of our party who had seen Shishaldin in previous 

 years described it as snow white from base to summit. But when we saw it the upper part, for 

 several thousand feet, was dark — doubtless the result of heat, for it is smoking this year " (1S99). 

 From "Alaska," vol. I, p. 90. "Alaska," the report of the Harriman Alaska Expedition. 

 Fdited by Dr C. Hart Merriam. New York : Doubleday, Page & Co., 1901. 



