THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC SOCIETY'S 

 NOTABLE YEAR 



NOTABLE advance in usefulness 

 and growth in membership have 

 marked the history of the Na- 

 tional Geographic Society during the 

 past year. Its accomplishments in the 

 increase and diffusion of geographic 

 knowledge are the occasion for cordial 

 congratulation of the more than 750,000 

 individual members; it is their faith and 

 their support of the organization's aims 

 that have heartened and encouraged those 

 to whom has been entrusted the direction 

 of The Society's activities. 



In recognition of The Society's service 

 to geography, and particularly in appre- 

 ciation of its grant of funds which saved 

 some of the Big Trees of the Sequoia 

 National Park, California, from destruc- 

 tion at the hands of commercial interests, 

 James C. Horgan, of Los Angeles, made 

 a bequest during the year of $8,000, the 

 income from which is to be used for The 

 Society's work. 



THE SOCIETY ADDS TO THE WORLD'S 

 KNOWLEDGE OF VOLCANIC ACTION 



Foremost among the achievements of 

 The Society during the past few months 

 was the splendid success of the sixth 

 expedition dispatched to the region of 

 Mount Katmai, the world's largest active 

 volcano. There an exhaustive study was 

 made of the now famous "Valley of Ten 

 Thousand Smokes," discovered by an 

 earlier Geographic expedition and recog- 

 nized today as perhaps the most remark- 

 able natural phenomenon on the face 

 of the globe — an area where chemists, 

 physicists, geologists, and petrographers 

 may actually study the processes by 

 which the earth has evolved through the 

 ages from a seething mass of matter 

 into a habitable planet. 



A SPLENDID HARBOR DISCOVERED 



The 1919 expedition, which sailed from 

 Seattle eleven months ago and which 

 completed its work late in the autumn, 

 was equipped at a cost of more than 

 $30,000. but the treasure of knowledge 

 which it brought back to The Society's 

 members and which is to be given to 

 the scientific world represents inestimable 

 dividends in the form of facts. 



One of the most significant accomplish- 

 ments of this expedition was the dis- 

 covery of a magnificent harbor, christ- 

 ened Geographic Harbor in honor of 

 The Society, near the entrance to the 

 valley. This find will result inevitably 

 in the opening of this region to tourist 

 travel, and it requires no prophetic vision 

 to see Mount Katmai and its surround- 

 ing wonderland, already a national monu- 

 ment by presidential proclamation, ele- 

 vated in the near future to the impor- 

 tance of a national park, in which all 

 America may enjoy the marvels of its 

 awesome majesty, the beauty of its fairy 

 flowerland in summer, the charm of its 

 woodlands, and the fascination of its 

 wild life. 



The findings of the sixth expedition 

 were recorded by both motion picture, 

 and color photography. The films of 

 the former have been shown to the mem- 

 bers in the National Capital, and it is 

 hoped that arrangements can be made to 

 exhibit them to Geographic members 

 throughout the United States. The offi- 

 cial report of the leader of the expedi- 

 tion, Prof. R. F. Griggs, will, as in the 

 case of all previous expeditions organized 

 by The Society, be told, with a wealth of 

 illustrations, in an early number of the 

 National Geographic Magazine. 



hubbard medal awarded to 

 stefan sson 



Supplementing its own achievements 

 in the world of exploration, the National 

 Geographic Society saw fit to pay tribute 

 tu the services of a distinguished ex- 

 plorer who has added more than 100,000 

 square miles to the mapped area of the 

 Western Hemisphere. This explorer, 

 Vilhjalmur Stefansson, was awarded the 

 Hubbard Gold Medal of The Society, 

 and upon that occasion the recipient of 

 the honor was introduced to the members 

 present by two of the foremost figures 

 in the history of Polar exploration — 

 Rear Admiral Robert E. Peary, dis- 

 coverer of the North Pole, and Major- 

 General A. W. Greely, leader of the 

 Greely International Polar Expedition of 

 i88i-'84, and for 14 years holder of the 

 record for the Farthest North. 



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