20 



THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



the ash and spread out on the surface, 

 forming in many places a beautiful 

 greensward, where hardly anything else 

 can come through. 



Its present abundance contrasts so 

 greatly with its former state that, accord- 

 ing to Mr. Snodgrass of the Experiment 

 Station, some of the natives thought that 

 it must have "come with the ash," and 

 could only be convinced of the contrary 

 when he dug out the rootstocks and 

 showed that they originated in the old 

 soil beneath the ash. While a deposit of 

 10 or 12 inches would have been fatal to 

 most plants, the horsetail in many places 

 came through from 30 to 36 inches of ash. 



.CONTRAST BETWEEN KODIAK AND THE 

 MAINLAND 



Nothing could offer greater contrast to 

 the rehabilitation of Kodiak than the con- 

 dition of the country on the mainland 

 near the volcano. The village of Katmai, 

 which was the nearest settlement affected, 

 is in an altogether different state from 

 Kodiak. While Kodiak is rejoicing in 

 the prospect of a prosperity beyond that 

 of former days, Katmai is sinking deeper 

 into desolation. 



In fear of their lives, the people of 

 Kodiak deserted their town for a few 

 days ; but the natives of Katmai, who. 

 fortunately, were away fishing at the 

 time of the eruption, were never allowed 

 to return to their homes, but were re- 

 moved in a body and settled in a new 

 town built for them by the government. 

 The grass has returned to cover the hill- 

 sides of Kodiak as richly as ever before, 

 but the former luxuriance of Katmai 

 Valley is replaced by a barren waste, 

 whose few spots of green serve only to 

 heighten the weird effect. 



OUR TRIP TO THE MAINLAND 



It is not to be supposed that Katmai 

 village was at all near the crater, how- 

 ever. Situated at a distance of 25 miles, 

 it was five times as far from the volcano 

 as was Pompeii from Vesuvius or St. 

 Pierre from Mt. Pelee. More important 

 still. Katmai village was not in the main 

 track of destruction, but lay at one side, 

 near the edge of the ash fall. 



To make the trip to Katmai, we se- 

 cured the services of Mr. Albert Johnson, 



of Uyak, who undertook to land us at 

 Katmai and come and take us off again 

 when we had finished our exploration. 

 Mr. Johnson proved himself not only 

 trustworthy, but a first-class seaman and 

 a man of very good judgment as well, all 

 of which qualities are essential in one 

 who would successfully navigate the dan- 

 gerous waters of Shelikof Strait, which 

 lies between Kodiak Island and the main- 

 land, for it has justly acquired the repu- 

 tation of being one of the most treacher- 

 ous pieces of water in the world. There 

 were three of us in the party : Mr. B. B. 

 Fulton, Entomologist of the New York 

 Experiment Station, who accompanied 

 me throughout the summer, a most effi- 

 cient and loyal assistant, and Mr. Lucius 

 G. Folsom, manual-training teacher of 

 Wood Island, near Kodiak, who by his 

 resourcefulness and never-failing "opti- 

 mism helped to carry the expedition by 

 many an obstacle which might otherwise 

 have turned us back. 



A WEIRD, FANTASTIC SCENE 



The scene which met our eyes as we 

 entered Katmai Bay was fantastic and 

 weird in the extreme. Quantities of fresh 

 pumice were floating about as though 

 thrown out by a recent eruption. The 

 sun was shining brightly, but the sky was 

 filled with haze from the volcanic dust in 

 the air, which increased the ghastly and 

 mysterious appearance of the desert land- 

 scape and veiled the upper reaches of the 

 valley and the volcanoes we hoped to 

 visit. 



As soon as we landed, we began to see 

 evidences of the great flood, which was 

 to be the source of much concern to us. 

 The flats were everywhere covered ankle 

 deep with soft, sticky mud. We were 

 unable to find any place to pitch our camp 

 between the precipitous mountain sides 

 and the flooded flats, except a mound of 

 avalanche detritus, which we felt was too 

 dangerous, for boulders and small ava- 

 lanches were rolling down the mountain 

 sides all around us every few minutes. 

 We finally reached a bed of pumice which 

 had been floated into place in a grove of 

 poplars. Although there was very wet 

 mud only a few inches below it, the sur- 

 face was fairly dry. We were in con- 



