THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



147 



rupta and down beside the plug of lava 

 is the most fearsome adventure afforded 

 to the explorer of the valley, for here 

 there is so much steam that he is more 

 than likely to be surrounded in a hot 

 cloud, blown by the fickle wind. Two of 

 the party so surrounded in this vicinity 

 once became completely confused, dis- 

 agreeing as to the way home, and finally 

 taking the wrong course until they were 

 set right by crossing the trail made by a 

 previous party. 



VALLEY OF TEN THOUSAND SMOKES 

 WITHOUT A RIVAL 



In order that the reader may justly es- 

 timate the status of this valley among the 

 wonders of the world, we ought to make 

 some comparisons with other similar re- 

 gions, but in truth there is no other region 

 with which the Valley of Ten Thousand 

 Smokes can be compared, Niagara finds 

 a rival in Victoria Falls. The Rotorua 

 district of New Zealand is a competitor 

 of the Yellowstone. The Crater of Kat- 

 mai must stand comparison with Kilauea 

 and Crater Lake. 



Not so with the Valley of Ten Thou- 

 sand Smokes. It is unique. Nothing ap- 

 proaching it has ever been seen by the eye 

 of man. To find a parallel we must 

 search the records of geology, for here 

 we have such a volcanic outburst as the 

 geologist finds recorded in the rocks of 

 the past, but never before has had an op- 

 portunity to observe in the world of the 

 present. 



In the size of the vents and the quan- 

 tity of smoke given off the valley is so 

 far beyond other volcanic districts that no 

 other place can for a moment be com- 

 pared with it. Quite well within the 

 truth, we might say that the sum total of 

 the emanations from all the other volca- 

 noes of the American continent, from the 

 Aleutians to Patagonia, except during 

 rare periods of a dangerous eruption, is 

 much less than is given off within the 

 radius of one's vision from the Valley of 

 Ten Thousand Smokes. 



Indeed, if one could pick up all the 

 other volcanoes in the whole world and 

 set them down together, side by side as 

 close as they could stand, they would pre- 

 sent much less of a spectacle, always ex- 

 cepting a period of dangerous eruption, 



than does the Valley of Ten Thousand 

 Smokes every day in the year. 



THE LAST DAY IN THL VALLEY 



I can never forget my last day in the 

 valley. We had been lying in our sop- 

 ping tents for two days, unable to stir 

 outside in the blinding storms. The rest 

 of the work was pressing, for I had al- 

 ready overstayed the time allotted for the 

 valley. In the morning I had announced 

 that we would move out that night, re- 

 gardless of the weather, and had given 

 orders for the equipment to go down. 

 We started out for some last pictures in 

 rain and mist which made it impossible 

 to find our way around through the 

 steam, but after a couple of hours there 

 came a break. 



The atmosphere cleared and disclosed 

 the sun shining out of a blue sky, spotted 

 with big cumulus clouds, with a light that 

 was dazzlingly bright. I never saw the 

 valley half so wonderful. We exposed 

 our films as fast as we could wind them 

 up, getting within a few hours many of 

 our best pictures. There were a dozen 

 showers during the day, soaking rains, 

 too, but we utilized such intervals to 

 travel from one group of vents to an- 

 other. We came in at 6 o'clock tired out, 

 but bent on taking out the big photo- 

 graphic outfit for the one grandest pano- 

 rama of all. But it was too late ; because 

 of my own orders we found the camp 

 stripped of everything we needed. 



There was nothing to do but follow, so 

 we made up our packs and reluctantly 

 trudged out through the pass and down 

 the other side. I almost wept as I turned 

 for one last look at the marvelous valley, 

 showing off now as never before, for as 

 we came up to the divide, which we were 

 perhaps never to cross again, a magical 

 curtain was unrolled, as a background for 

 the scene, in the most gorgeous sunset I 

 ever saw. The wonderful colors held us 

 almost spellbound for hours, until they 

 slowly faded into twilight, as we rounded 

 the shoulder of Observation Mountain 

 into Katmai Valley. 



TESTIMONY OF MY ASSOCIATES 



At my request various members of my 

 party have written a brief summary of 

 their impressions, as follows : 



