THE VALLEY OF TEN THOUSAND SMOKES 



such a desert country we were absolutely 

 dependent on our provisions, and if a 

 bear or wolverine should take it into his 

 head to wreck our camp in our absence 

 we should have been in a bad way. 



Three or four miles up the valley we 

 came out into the open, where we could 

 see the distant mountains of the main 

 range. Standing square across the head 

 of the valley stood Mount Mageik, its 

 magnificent three-peaked snow-cap bril- 

 liant in the sunshine. From a small 

 crater east of the central peak issued a 

 column of steam, which, although clearly 

 visible for 50 miles out to sea, appeared 

 diminutive in comparison with the bulk 

 of the mountain (see page 30). 



Mount Katmai itself was concealed be- 

 yond the bend of the valley, so that we 

 were to have no glimpse of it until we 

 encamped at its foot. 



A NEW VOLCANO NAMED FOR DR. MARTIN 



But to the west of Mageik, in a posi- 

 tion where no volcano is indicated on the 

 maps, was rising from a comparatively 

 low mountain a tremendous column of 

 steam a thousand feet in diameter and 

 more than a mile high. 



Comparison with Horner's picture 

 showed at once that this was the moun- 

 tain he photographed as "Mt. Katmai," 

 when he penetrated to the upper valley in 

 1 91 3. It was clear enough from its loca- 

 tion that it could not be the mountain 

 called Katmai on the maps, which is east 

 of Mageik. Even from our position it 

 was evident that this was at present the 

 most active volcano of the district. 



And it was not at all certain but that 

 this, rather than Katmai, had been the 

 seat of the great eruption whose effects 

 we were studying ; for, curiously enough, 

 there has never been any very positive 

 evidence, beyond the statements of a few 

 natives who saw the beginning of the 

 eruption, that it was Katmai, rather than 

 some other volcano in the vicinity, which 

 exploded. Indeed, there was one well- 

 informed man in Kodiak who assured us 

 that he had climbed the mountains back 

 of Amalik Bay and taken bearings which 

 fixed the location of the vent nearer the 

 coast, in a position which he indicated by 

 a cross on my chart (see map, page 23). 



Fortunately we were able later to ob- 

 tain evidence which fixed the seat of the 

 great eruption beyond question. In the 

 first place, we found that the deposits 

 became progressively deeper as we ap- 

 proached Mt. Katmai, while the volcano 

 of Hesse and Horner's photographs was 

 near the edge of the ash fall. Thus the 

 deposits on the lower slopes of Katmai 

 are 15 feet deep on the level ; but 10 miles 

 farther south, near the other volcano, 

 their depth is to be measured by as many 

 inches, and only a mile or two beyond the 

 country is covered with vegetation, so 

 rapidly do the deposits thin out in that 

 direction. 



Moreover, great as is the activity of 

 this volcano, its crater, in comparison 

 with the great caldera, which we later 

 found in Mount Katmai, is relatively di- 

 minutive and quite too small to have 

 thrown out such a tremendous quantity 

 of ash and pumice in so short a time. 

 Further, great as must have been the 

 changes wrought in the landscape in the 

 sudden opening of a vent a thousand feet 

 in diameter, they were relatively insig- 

 nificant beside the tremendous change we 

 found in Mount Katmai itself. There 

 can be no question therefore that the 

 eruption was from Mount Katmai and 

 not from any other vent. 



But if we were convinced that the vol- 

 cano of Hesse and Horner's photographs 

 was not Katmai, we were equally uncer- 

 tain of what it was, for none of the maps 

 show any volcano near its location nor 

 give any name to the mountain, and there 

 appears to be neither record nor tradition 

 of any volcano in that quarter. 



There is every reason to believe, there- 

 fore, that this new volcano sprung into 

 being at the time of the great explosion. 



But tremendous as is the phenomenon 

 of the opening of such a gigantic vent 

 through a mountain, we were to find later 

 other accompaniments of the great erup- 

 tion of even greater magnitude. 



In order to discuss the new volcano, it 

 is necessary to give it some designation. 

 It seemed to us as we watched the new 

 "steamer" that no name could be more 

 appropriate than one commemorating the 

 work of Dr. George C. Martin, whose 

 explorations and report for the National 



