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THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



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Photograph by L,. G. Folsom 

 PROOF THAT THE VAIXFY OF TFN THOUSAND SMOKES OPENED 

 BEFORE KATMAI BEEW UP 



Beneath the three layers of ash from Katmai is seen the massive 

 sand-flow, which must already have run its course before the ash 

 began to fall. This picture was taken close to the terminus of the 

 sand-flow. The charcoal log, a foot in diameter, is striking evidence 

 of the heat still retained by the sand 16 miles from the head of the 

 flow at Novarupta (see page 229). 



become evident that the source of the 

 cloud was the mass of incandescent ma- 

 terial around the vents. It was in fact 

 produced by the gases that boiled out of 

 the mushy semi-molten lava. The quan- 

 tity of gas given off was so great that the 

 whole mass of lava was puffed up into 

 frothy pumice and entirely disrupted into 

 small fragments by the expansive force 

 of the escaping gas. 



If any other of a score of valleys in 

 the vicinity had been the seat of the dis- 



turbance, it 

 probably be 

 ble to gain any infor- 

 mation of its charac- 

 ter before the erup- 

 tion, for the whole 

 country roundabout 

 w a s an unexplored 

 wilderness ; but, as it 

 happened, the erup- 

 tion occurred in the 

 one valley of the dis- 

 trict about w h i c h 

 s o m e t h i n g w a s 

 known ; for this par- 

 ticular valley was the 

 route by which a well- 

 known trail crossed 

 the Alaska Peninsula 

 from the Pacific to 

 the Bering Sea. 



For ages past this 

 trail had been an in- 

 ter-tribal highway be- 

 tween Katmai Vil- 

 lage, on the Pacific, 

 and Sabanoski, at the 

 head of Naknek 

 Lake, whence passage 

 downstream to the 

 Bering Sea was an 

 easy matter. More 

 recently it was much 

 used by both Rus- 

 sians and Americans, 

 so that there are many 

 men still alive who 

 traversed the valley 

 and camped within its 

 confines before the 

 eruption (see p. 220). 

 It is certain that 

 none of these travel- 

 ers, among whom was 

 at least one able geologist, ever suspected 

 that this peaceful valley might become 

 the theater of such an eruption. 



There was no indication of volcanism 

 outside the chain of old volcanoes form- 

 ing the axis of the peninsula, and these 

 had not been active for ages past, except 

 for occasional smoking. 



The valley was overgrown, up to an 

 altitude of nearly 1,500 feet, by a dense 

 forest of spruce, poplar, and birch, 

 broken only by ponds and tundras in the 



