150 



THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



**' - :; 



'?'&■ Sjjfe:*^ > 



Photograph by Robert F. Griggs 

 OUR WARMING OVEN IN THE VALLEY 



We could keep our dinner hot by setting the 

 pot in a hole, scooped out anywhere in the 

 ground. 



Smokes is a stretch of country that offers 

 all the usual difficulties of topographic 

 surveying in Alaska, with a few rather 

 unusual ones thrown in for good meas- 

 ure. It is hardly a country to make the 

 heart of a topographer glad. 



"The smokes did not impress me with 

 their grandeur or with their wonder as a 

 natural phenomenon. Their ability to 

 make surveying next to impossible did, 

 however, make a very decided impression 

 on me. On the occasional clear days 

 when the sun was shining down the valley 

 they seemed to be always at their best, as 

 Griggs would put it, but to my mind at 

 their worst. On these, the few rare days 

 when it was not raining and the wind was 

 not doing its best to move our camp 

 (rather good judgment on the part of the 

 wind, I should say) they would shoot 

 forth jets of steam which soon took the 



form of clouds and obscured the country 

 we were trying to work. 



"I finally began to believe that the 

 smokes were out to buck me, and became 

 convinced of it when, on one of the rare 

 line days, I ascended to a peak which im- 

 mediately became enveloped in fog. This 

 was not unusual, but I was impressed on 

 returning to camp to hear from the more 

 fortunate members of the party that the 

 whole valley had been clear with the ex- 

 ception of the peak I occupied. 



"I am not a vegetarian; furthermore, 

 tea cooked in a steam pit is not tea. A 

 tent that never sheds a drop of water is 

 not a tent. A wool comfort placed on the 

 ground which was no° Fahrenheit in the 

 above tent will steam beautifully. It is a 

 natural phenomenon, but it is not a good 

 bed. I believe I mentioned that I am not 

 a vegetarian. I like bacon in the morn- 

 ing; I like it fried. A steam jet, in spite 

 of its being glorious and a natural phe- 

 nomenon, will not do this. I am from 

 New England and have decided ideas on 

 baked beans. Again the steam jet fell 

 down. It needs New England training. 

 Steamed beans are beyond the limit of its 

 capabilities. 



"I should say the coming of the smokes 

 ruined what might otherwise have been a 

 perfectly good country. My opinion, 

 however, is probably valueless, as being 

 out of tobacco always colors my views." 



THE MODERN INEERNO 



James S. Hine, Zoologist. — "A hike of 

 miles over devastation wrought by nat- 

 ural disturbances in the Katmai country 

 naturally puts one into a peculiar state of 

 mind. He is deeply impressed with the 

 enormity of the whole affair and every- 

 thing seems beyond comprehension. The 

 unusual circumstance of summer with no 

 plant life and no animal life surely is a 

 strange realization. 



"Having reached the summit of Kat- 

 mai Pass, the Valley of Ten Thousand 

 Smokes spreads out before one with no 

 part of the view obstructed. My first 

 thought was : we have reached the mod- 

 ern inferno. I was horrified, and yet 

 curiosity to see all at close range capti- 

 vated me. Sure that I would sink be- 

 neath the earth's crust at almost every 



