THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



161 



I had actually stood on the rim of that 

 tremendous pit and looked down into the 

 caldron below. 



The first camp established up the valley 

 was at the mouth of Martin Creek. From 

 this base a party was sent to explore Mar- 

 tin Valley and Martin Volcano. [This 

 interesting volcano was discovered by the 

 191 5 expedition of the National Geo- 

 graphic Society, see pages 33 and 34, 

 National Geographic Magazine:, Jan- 

 uary, 191 7.] 



We were disappointed in our expecta- 

 tion of examining the crater of Mt. Mar- 

 tin because of the weather. We waited 

 for several days, both on the way up the 

 valley and on the return trip, but with- 

 out success. At the beginning of the 

 season it was left till later, and on the 

 way out a week was reserved for ex- 

 ploration ; but this proved insufficient, for 

 the clouds never lifted until several days 

 after we had had to pack up and come 

 away without having so much as at- 

 tempted the climb, because of the ap- 

 proach of the time for the boat to come 

 and take us back to civilization. As the 

 event proved, we would have had to wait 

 fully ten days before the climb would 

 have been possible. Only once while we 

 waited did we have so much as a sight 

 of Mt. Martin. One morning the clouds 

 lifted for about an hour, so that we were 

 able to secure some long-range pictures, 

 but before we were ready to try the as- 

 cent they had closed down again and we 

 had to abandon the attempt. 



But, though disappointed in our hopes 

 of exploring this volcano, we found in 

 another feature abundant reward for the 

 time spent in the vicinity. 



ANOTHER CONVULSION OF NATURE 



For at the head of Martin Creek is 

 one of the most interesting phenomena of 

 the whole volcanic district — what, for 

 want of a better term, I have called the 

 "Great Mageik Boulder Flow" — a third 

 wonder, almost worthy to be ranked along 

 with the crater of Katmai and the Valley 

 of Ten Thousand Smokes. When I say 

 that a mass of rock and soil containing 

 boulders as big as a house flowed like 

 water down a valley, I shall probably be 

 classed with Munchausen, the prince of 

 liars ; but, fortunately, these are the days 



of the camera and I can prove my asser- 

 tion. 



During the eruption, quite possibly co- 

 incident with the bursting forth of Mar- 

 tin and Mageik volcanoes, the whole face 

 of a mountain let go and flowed down 

 into the valley, carrying destruction to 

 everything within its reach. It was a real 

 example of one of those great and sudden 

 "convulsions of nature" of which one 

 reads so much in the older literature, but 

 of which he sees so little evidence in the 

 world about him ; for even in a volcanic 

 district most phenomena clearly belong to 

 the regular order of nature. 



But here, for once, is a formation so 

 remarkable as to make it appear at first 

 sight that the ordinary laws of nature 

 were suspended during its formation. 



Rocks, exceeding ten feet in diameter, 

 are abundant in the flow, which in some 

 places is made up almost entirely of such 

 big boulders without any mixture of finer 

 materials. Much larger rocks are by no 

 means uncommon. We found many 

 reaching 30 or 40 feet in length. The 

 largest single stone we observed was 

 about 50 feet long, 20 feet wide, and 20 

 feet high, lying largely concealed in the 

 mass of detritus (see page 159). 



It seems incredible that a body com- 

 posed so largely of angular rocks could 

 by any means have acquired such a high 

 degree of fluidity as is shown by this 

 mass, but in view of the fact that it turned 

 a corner in the valley and adjusted itself 

 to the irregularities of its bed, one is com- 

 pelled, in justice to the facts, to recognize 

 that its motion was more of a flow than 

 a slide. 



Nowhere can one form a reliable esti- 

 mate of its thickness, but over much of 

 the ground it must exceed 100 feet. The 

 total mass of materials moved was there- 

 fore stupendous. 



At the extremity it is composed mostly 

 of chunks of the old peat soil, which 

 originally covered the mountain side with 

 only small quantities of rock fragments. 

 Boulders are more numerous a little back 

 from the tip, and in places the terrain is 

 composed exclusively of broken stone 

 over considerable areas. 



One of the most curious features is 

 the character of the surface, which lacks 

 entirely the hummocky appearance typ- 



