228 



THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



Photograph by P. R. Ilagelbarger 



the: edge: of the: eiot sand-flow 



The lower ground, exposed in the drainage gulley, was originally covered with forest 

 like the bank on the left. Here and there a burned stump remains to show what happened 

 when it was overflowed by the hot sand. The destruction shown in the right half of the 

 picture is complete and total (see page 229). 



he could not have escaped if he had been 

 a little later. 



Ordinarily stories of "fire'' in connec- 

 tion with eruptions are to be discounted, 

 for it is generally the flow of molten lava 

 rather than the flame of combustion that 

 has been seen. But in this case Pete's 

 statement that "fire come down trail 

 from Katmai" is literally true ; for the 

 red-hot ash and pumice thrown out on 

 the ground started fires of such intensity 

 that they swept over the adjoining moun- 

 tain sides, consuming every vestige of 

 vegetation throughout the area surround- 

 ing the upper valley. 



So completely were the plants de- 

 stroyed in this area that there remains 

 today not a scrap of charred wood or 

 other evidence to indicate their former 

 presence. Around the head of the valley 

 all plants were completely consumed and 

 their ashes long since scattered. 



Along the far side of the valley, where 

 the fires were somewhat less intense, the 

 roots of the former abundant vegetation 

 remain in the soil, but the fire made a 

 clean sweep of everything above ground. 



On account of the complete destruc- 

 tion of everything combustible, whatever 



we needed at our camps had to be carried 

 in on man-back from outside the burned 

 zone, a dozen miles away. 



The ordinary outdoors man can hardly 

 realize the barrenness of the valley as to 

 everything which he expects to find any- 

 where. Every tent-pole and every walk- 

 ing-stick had to be lugged in from a dis- 

 tance, with the expenditure of no little 

 time and energy. So simple a thing as 

 providing stakes to mark the fumaroles 

 under special observation required a very 

 considerable amount of forethought and 

 labor (see page 221). 



If it had not been for Nature's fires, it 

 would have been impossible for us to 

 cook. It was, of course, out of the ques- 

 tion to carry in fuel for any sort of a fire. 



Long before the fires that consumed 

 the surrounding vegetation had time to 

 run their course, the masses of incandes- 

 cent fragments accumulating round the 

 separate vents coalesced until they cov- 

 ered the whole area of the valley, con- 

 verting it into a single fiery torrent of 

 seething, swirling masses of red-hot sand 

 and rock, which soon began to roll down 

 the valley under gravity. 



Before it finally came to rest, this fiery 



