Photograph by R. F. Griggs 



THE GREAT ASH SLIDE OF SLIDE MOUNTAIN 



Our experience in taking this picture furnished an amusing example of our inability, 

 even accustomed to stupendous dimensions as we were, to form any real conception of the 

 size of the wonders by which we were surrounded. Desiring to have a scale by which the 

 size of the slide could be gauged, I sent one of the men up on it for that purpose; but, to 

 my astonishment, when he emerged from the forest and began to climb up the slope I could 

 barely make him out, much less find him in the resulting picture. Our triangulation gave it 

 a height of nearly 1,900 feet (see text, page 34). 



hind a foothill, which, from its position, 

 we named Observation Mountain. Next 

 were the three peaks of Mount Mageik 

 (see page 32), covered with newly fallen 

 snow. Across its northwestern slopes 

 formerly ran the trail to Bering Sea, 

 across Katmai Pass, which, though re- 

 puted difficult and dangerous, looked very 

 easy from our position. 



On the northeast side the pass is 

 flanked by a lofty three-peaked volcano, 

 which we called The Trident (see page 

 65). Its three peaks are arranged in 

 semicircular fashion, leaving between 

 them an amphitheater open toward Kat- 

 mai Valley, which looks somewhat like 

 an ancient crater breached on one side. 

 The highest peak appears from the valley 

 like an almost perfect cone, truncated at 

 the top as though by a crater. Its height 

 as given by the chart is 6.790 feet. 



The present crater is a fissure at the 



base of this peak (altitude about 3,500 

 feet), from which issued, somewhat in- 

 termittently, a column of steam. Al- 

 though the volume of this steam was 

 quite small in comparison with that of 

 Mageik and Martin, it sometimes as- 

 sumed quite respectable proportions, ris- 

 ing 3,000 feet or more. There is good 

 reason to believe that this vent also ap- 

 peared in connection with the great 

 eruption. 



OUR FIRST SIGHT OF MOUNT KATMAI 



Xext in line beyond a wide pass stood 

 Mount Katmai itself. This was quiescent 

 during our visit and at first sight pre- 

 sented a rather disappointing appearance, 

 for its glaciers and snowfields were so 

 covered with ash as to make it suffer 

 from comparison with Mount Mageik. 

 As we studied it, however, we saw that 

 its great bulk reduced its apparent height. 



42 



