THE VALLEY OF TEN THOUSAND SMOKES 



67 



was covered in most fantastic fashion 

 with sharp irregular cinders, the result 

 of the too sudden cooling of the molten 

 magma, much in the same way that a 

 piece of melted glass fragments if sud- 

 denly plunged into cold water. 



Farther on up the valley, on the back 

 side of the isthmus between Katmai and 

 Trident, was another volcano, with a 

 crescent-shaped summit, the side of the 

 crater toward us being open. From this 

 also a considerable body of steam was 

 rising, evidently furnishing part, at least, 

 of the clouds which had excited our sus- 

 picions from the other side of the range. 

 Beyond this there may have been yet an- 

 other volcano, but the rising column of 

 steam from the lava near us obscured the 

 view to such an extent that we could not 

 see clearly. 



AN INTERPRETATION OF THE VALLEY OE 

 THE TEN THOUSAND SMOKES 



Even the hurried observations we had 

 been able to make were sufficient to bring 

 out distinctly, in its larger outlines, the 

 significance of the phenomenon. It was 

 evident that the valley of the ten thousand 

 smokes is underlain by a great fissure 

 extending northwest from Katmai Pass 

 along the line of the old trail toward 

 Naknek Lake. This might be appropri- 

 ately denominated the "Naknek Fissure." 

 It is evident that the steam issuing from 

 this fissure and seeping through the mass 

 of accumulations from recent eruptions 

 finds its vent in the myriad fumaroles in 

 a similar fashion to the many small leaks 

 one finds on the surface of an old bicycle 

 tire when there is a single puncture of 

 the inner layer of rubber. 



While the main line of this fissure ex- 

 tends up to Mageik, the lateral fissures 

 branch off toward Martin and Katmai. 

 Katmai stands, therefore, like Krakatoa, 

 at the junction of two lines of fissures : 

 one, the Aleutian fissure, which finds its 

 vent in the long line of volcanoes reach- 

 ing down the Alaska Peninsula and out 

 into the Aleutian Islands, has been long 

 known as one of the greatest lines of 

 volcanic activity on the globe ; the other, 

 this newly discovered Naknek fissure, has 

 never been previously recognized and 



perhaps did not exist before the great 

 eruption of 1912. 



That there were no signs of volcanic 

 activity in this direction as recently as 

 1898 is evident from Spurr's narrative 

 of his journey across the Alaska Pen- 

 insula from Naknek to Katmai, which is 

 the only description of the country ever 

 published. 



This remarkable valley, like the other 

 volcanic activities of the district, there- 

 fore, probably burst forth at the time of 

 the great eruption. 



THE RETURN JOURNEY 



We had now seen as much as could be 

 observed without extended exploration, 

 so we turned our steps homeward and 

 hurried to rejoin Church, who had shiv- 

 ered for five hours, even with the extra 

 clothes of all three of us. Once across 

 the gullies, which were more than ever a 

 terror to us, now that we were nearly 

 exhausted, we made good speed back to 

 camp, which we reached a little after 10 

 o'clock. 



Here we found that the river, showing 

 the effects of the warm weather on the 

 snow-fields, was beginning to rise so rap- 

 idly that we were afraid of being caught 

 miserably on the wrong side. How we 

 wished we could have returned and ex- 

 plored the wonderful valley we had dis- 

 covered ! But we were not equipped f or 

 such an undertaking and it was better to 

 get back with what we had than to risk 

 it all for the sake of more. So, hoping 

 that we might be permitted to return and 

 finish the job, we decided on a move, and 

 before 5 the next morning we were up 

 and breaking camp. The event proved 

 that we had lost nothing, for, although 

 the boat to take us back to Kodiak did 

 not come for ten days, only once in that 

 time did the clouds break away again. 



Looking back at the work after one 

 has had time to forget the excitement 

 and labor of the daily routine and take 

 a calmer survey of results, the one thing 

 which stands out is the great magnitude 

 of the eruption. Evident from the first 

 reports, this has grown with increasing 

 knowledge. No one, not even those of 

 us who have lived in the desolation of 



