April 29, 1905.] 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
S S 3 
Report on the Natural History of 
Kiska Island.* 
BY DR. J. HOBART EGBERT, SURGEON U. S. COAST AND GEO- 
DETIC SURVEY. 
Extending westward from the Alaska Peninsula for 
somewhat more than a thousand miles and dividing the 
Pacific Ocean from Bering Sea, is the archipelago of 
the Aleutian Islands — formerly belonging to Russia, 
but under the stars and stripes since its purchase, to- 
gether with the territory of Alaska, by the United 
States, May, 1867. This American archipelago, be- 
ginning in about 163 degrees west longitude, at 
Isanotski Strait — which separates Unimak Island_ from 
the Alaska Peninsula — and terminating with the island 
of Attu, in about 172 degrees east longitude, extends 
quite three-fourths the distance from the Alaska 
Peninsula to the mainland of Russia. The last link in 
this chain which quite connects two continents, viz., 
the Comandorski Islands, is still Russian territory, but 
between Cape Wrangle (the most westerly point of 
Attu Island) and South East Cape of Copper Island 
.(the most eiasterly point of the Comandorski Islands) 
is an ocean expanse of 200 miles, with an average depth 
of nearly 1,900 fathoms, or somewhat more than 2 miles. 
These islands of the north — situated between the 51st 
and S5th parallels of latitude — are rough, rocky and 
treeless, some scarcely more than mountain peaks 
rising abruptly from the sea, and all evincing the 
violent action which evidently gave them birth; yet 
they are far less uninteresting than might at first 
glance be supposed. Cold and barren as these islands 
at first appear and wrapped, as they are in winter, in 
snow, they are, during the summer, verdant with many 
grasses, mosses and ferns, and perfumed and beauti- 
fied by myriads of flowers — representatives of many 
families, genera and species. Nor are the winters 
particularly severe, for the Japan current, sweeping 
northward through Bering Sea, tempers the cold winds 
of the north. Here is the home of the eider, the teal, 
the ptarmigan, and, on one island at least, the caribou; 
here the habitat of the trout, the resort of the salmon, 
the cod, the halibut, and the plaice. Here, too, is seen 
the seal, the sea lion, and, occasionally, the rare and 
vakiable sea otter. The Aleut is the native human 
soecies, but on some of the eastern islands the Cau- 
casian is now found. Many of the islands are entirely un- 
inhabited, while others are frequented by small colonies 
of Indians during only the hunting and fishing season. 
Concerning the geological history of this region 
some difference of opinion exists. Some observers 
assert that each island, or group of islands, of the 
Aleutian chain is a- distinct volcanic upheaval, but little 
changed since the period of emergence from the sea-;- 
a conclusion not unnatural, considering the volcanic 
character of most of the rocks, ancient and recent, of 
which most of these islands appear to be composed, 
and by the many extinct or feebly active volcanoes 
occurring here and there throughout the chain. But it 
is asserted on equally good authority that, though 
often blurred and obscured, there are throughout the 
Aleutian Islands, unmistakable evidences of glacial 
action — moraines, roches moutonnees, alternating ridges 
and valleys, erosions, etc. The rather limited obser- 
vations of the writer in this field have led to no hard 
and fast conclusions, for, while the evidences of volcanic 
influence on the modeling of the islands are far too 
apparent to admit denial, monuments of glaciation are 
also to be found. 
On the 52d parallel of north latitude and about 2% 
degrees of longitude west of the i8oth meridian — or, 
in other words, about 100 statute miles over the line 
into the Eastern Hemisphere — is Kiska Island, one of 
the Aleutian chain. This island, which is about twenty- 
five miles long and with an average width of about 
five miles, does not difl^er essentially from the other 
components of the Aleutian chain. It is a rocky, 
treeless island of mountain ridges interspersed with 
valleys and gorges, with an irregular coast line, and an 
excellent harbor on its eastern side. On the northern 
end, a conical peak rises rather abruptly from the sea 
to a height of 4,000 feet (vid. seq.), and is almost 
separated from the main portion of the island by a 
large lake, or lagoon, which extends along the base 
of the mountain quite three-fourths the distance across 
the island. 
This mountain at the northern extremity of Kiska 
Island is, by a wide margin, the highest mountain on 
the island. It was ascended by the writer on two sepa- 
rate occasions. It is a volcano, pure and simple, and 
still active — rthough at present feebly so. The eleva- 
tion of the highest point on the crest of the crater 
is, as already mentioned, about 4,000 feet, as determined 
by barometer. A different barometer was carried on 
each of the occasions of ascent. On the first oc- 
casion, the barometer recorded an elevation of 3,900 
feet, and on the second, 4,150 feet. The correction to 
be applid to the first reading, for change in atmos- 
pheric pressure at sea-level, is not definitely known, 
as sea-level was not reached until the following day— 
about twenty hours after the reading at the summit 
was taken; but on the second occasion of ascent less 
than twelve hours elapsed between the readings of 
the barometer at sea-level before and after the ascent 
of the mountain. On this latter occasion, a subtrac- 
tive correction of 25 feet (one-half the total change) 
was determined. 
The ascent of this volcano is. comparatively easy 
along either its eastern, northeastern or southeastern 
slopes, though the western and southwestern exposures 
are steep and abrupt. Although some snow remains 
on the higher portions throughout the entire sum- 
mer, it is evidently .sufficiently dispersed by the month 
of August to interfere in no way with the ascent_ of 
the mountain. Arriving at the summit, one finds him- 
self standing on the crest of a perfect crater, the floor 
of which is about 300 feet below him. At the rim, the 
crater has a diameter of about 600 feet (estimated) and 
its steep and quite regular walls are well preserved on 
all sides, except to the northwest, where the crest is 
wanting, and a portion of the side has been thrown 
down. Through this gap, which does not, however, 
extend to the floor of the crater, a large amount of 
rock, lava, sulphur, etc., has escaped — apparently at no 
remote time — down the side of the mountain, on which 
a considerable portion of it still remains. 
On the first ascent of the mountain the writer did 
not go down into the crater, owing, in part, to the 
lateness of the hour when the summit was reached, but 
more particularly to the fact that a dense fog shut in 
the landscape, making it impossible to see more than 
a few yards in advance, filling the crater, and render- 
ing travel along the declivities and among the rocks 
extremely dangerous. The strong wind that was 
blowing across the- crater from the westward, was 
heavily freighted with sulphur fumes, affording the 
only clue to volcanic activity obtained on this oc- 
casion. The second ascent of the mountain was made 
under much more favorable weather conditions, and 
this time the crater was quite thoroughly explored and 
photographs made of different portions of it. 
Inside the crater and on the western slope of the 
mountain near it were found numerous sulphur beds — 
some, apparently, very recent deposits — and all sur- 
rounding openings into the belly of the mountain, from 
whence they have apparently been cast up. Much of 
this sulphur is in the form of pure crystals (brim- 
stone), and occurs both as separate bright yellow nug-^ 
gets and in cakes and masses. One large heap of a 
finely granular sort, of decidedly greenish color, was 
observed. There are also within the crater huge clusters 
of rock that have evidently been subjected, quite re- 
cently, to intense heat, and a few isolated granite boul- 
ders that have been cracked by the heat, but which 
still retain their original shapes and structure. Large 
patches of congealed snow existed on both the north- 
eastern and the southwestern walls of the crater, while 
on the floor under the northeastern slope was a large 
pool of greenish water. In the western aspect of the 
floor of the main crater is a sort of secondary crater 
— a rounded depression with central bonnet of fused 
rocks. 
But while the several openings, about which the 
sulphur deposits occurred, and various general ap- 
pearances spoke of the quite recent escape of ma- 
terial from within, it . was , not irjside the main orifice 
of the crater that the manifestations of immediate ac- 
tivity were found, but ; on the northwestern slope of 
the mountain below the crater, and on the steep, rocky 
side of the gap in the northwestern aspect of the crater, 
about midway from floor to crest. In both these 
places steam was found escaping in considerable 
quantity from holes ainoflg the heated rocks, and, in one 
locality at least, carrying with it a rnoderate quantity 
of fine ashes. 
Along the mountainous - sides of the volcano, and 
particularly on the northern and western slopes, are 
collections of lava and rocksj which have been baked 
and burned. But on this ruountain are' also massive 
lejlges of fine granitic rock, and isolated boulders of 
the same, exhibiting fine, cleavage and clean edges, and 
suggesting desirable material for walls, buttresses, and 
buildings. 
♦Published by permission ol the Superintendent U. S. Coast 
and Geodetic Survey. 
At the foot of the mountain, from the point where 
its Southern slope runs sharply down to the water of 
the large lake (which, as already noted, extends along 
the base of its entire southwestern aspect), and stretch- 
ing from this point to the sea shore at "Kelp Cove," 
\% a close series of ridges, more or less flattened on 
top, and composed entirely of huge boulders — mainly 
granite. Most of the component rocks are massive 
and are piled well upon each other, in such manner that 
the exposed portions, or tops of the ridges, are high 
above accumulated silt, gravel and smaller rocks. A 
thick layer of "tundra" covers, for the most part, the 
exposed portions of the rocks and hides caverns dark 
and deep; and while this layer of vegetation assists one 
in maintaining a foot-hold when standing on or step- 
ping to and from the individual rocks, is also frequently 
forms a treacherous covering or bridge, extending from 
rock to rock, which is not strong enough to sustain 
the weight of the body, and demanding that one direct 
his footsteps with extreme caution. In fact, travel 
over these boulders is both difficult and dangerous, and 
the appellation of "The Devil's Cobblestones" is now 
commonly applied to the locality by those who have a 
personal acquaintance with it— the term having first 
been employed by the writer, who, on his first trip to 
the summit of the mountain, was overtaken by dark- 
ness while crossing this area and compelled to spend 
the night there, in the rain and with only the weit 
"tundra" that covers the boulders for a blanket — al- 
though within a few hundred feet of the border of the 
ridge and of safe going when darkness settled down 
and made further attempt to advance among the boul- 
ders almost suicidal. What natural forces of con- 
ditions have heaped together these boulders in this 
particular place, over such an extensive area, and 
whence they have come, are not clear to the writer. 
They do not appear to have been thrown up from be- 
low, or to be the superficial out-crop of an under- 
lying stratum. That they have been hurled down from 
the volcanic peak which towers above them, seems not 
unlikely, since bold out-crops of massive granite are 
still to be seen, well up the steep sides of the rnoun- 
tain, and detached fragments — many of large dimen- 
sions — are everywhere strewn about its base; and yet 
the vast numbers and the segregation of the boulders, 
the isolation and rather regular arrangement of the 
ridges, and their uninterrupted extension from the 
base of the mountain toward the sea for a distance of 
nearly a mile, are peculiar, and would scarcely result 
alone from the gravitation of the rocks from former 
elevated positions on the mountain, or from a down- 
pour of material hurled into space by volcanic activity. 
The arrangement of these boulders and the dearth 
among them, at least in the superior portions, of sand, 
gravel and small stones, etc., are suggestive of a 
special segregating and enniassing force, such, for ex- 
ample, as might be exerted by glaciers. Indeed, were 
it not for the general absence — or, perhaps, oblitera- 
tion — of the monuments of glaciation throughout the 
island, these "Devil's Cobblestones" might, not un- 
reasonably, be regarded as moraines. 
It should be mentioned, en passant, that the term 
"granite" is here used in its broadest sense — i. e., as 
including the holocrystalline igneous rocks of granitic 
structure generally without special distinction between 
true granite, eurite, syenite, diorite, etc., all of which 
doubtless occur. In certain parts of both Kiska and 
Little Kiska Islands basaltic formations are observed 
— as on the face of the cliff at the North Head of Little 
Kiska Island. General out-crops of trap rock occur 
almost everywhere throughout the island, and evidently 
contribute mainly to the "flooring" of "shingle" so 
common on areas which are bare of mosses and 
grasses: In most places exfoliation appears to have 
been augmented by the rocks having been subjected 
to a high degree of heat. , 
Conglomerates — usually appearing as fresh from an 
oven—are encountered almost everywhere; sometimes 
as sniall turrets or buttes, and sometimes in more ex- 
tensive mounds or layers. Grits and sandstones — oftrn 
coarse and appearing of recent formation — are con- 
spicuous in certain parts of the island. The extreme 
western portion of the ridge that rises abruptly from 
the head of Kiska Harbor appears to be composed 
largely of a coarse yellowish sandstone, and a broad 
flooring of similar material is traversed in crossing 
from the main ridge to the somewhat disconnected 
western extremity. The bluff along the northern aspect 
of Kiska Harbor is composed almost entirely of a 
brownish sandstone. Scattered fragments of quartz 
and £;gate occur on portions of the island, though no 
e.vttnsive veins or accumulations were encountered. A 
few small geodes were found. No fossils were dis- 
covered. 
Iron occurs throughout the island — in the rocks, the. 
sand, and even the water of some of the streams. Be- 
sides magnetite, haematite, and limonite, pyrite occurs 
in moderate quantity in certain clays and shales. 
Kiska Island has an abundant supply of fresh water. 
All over the island small to moderate size streams 
course through valleys and gorges to the sea. Even 
near the summit of the big mountain there is, in 
summer, no dearth of fresh water, for here accumu- 
lations of ice and snow continue throughout the 
warmer weather as fountain-heads of streams that 
pour down the rocky slopes of the mountain to the 
valleys below. The water of the streams is soft and 
sweet and excellent for drinking and culinary purposes. 
Only where a stream drains a considerable marsh is 
the water likely to be contaminated to any extent by 
organic material. In specimens of such water ex- 
amined by the writer, the microscope revealed the low 
forms of life — both animal and vegetable — common to 
pond and ditch water. 
In addition to the streams, there are, scattered over 
the island, hundreds of fresh-water ponds — most of 
them small, yet some of fair magnitude. There are 
also a number of large lakes, or lagoons, along the 
seashore which are not elevated above sea-level and 
which, even though opening by only a narrow stream 
or brook to the ocean, or even apparently cut off from 
the sea, are brackish. The large lake at the base o£ 
the big mountain belongs to this class. 
The existence of a hot spring on the north end of 
the island has been reported, and its occurrence is not 
unlikely, as the writer has personally inspected a stream 
which flows down the northeastern slope of the big 
mountain, the water of which is freighted with sulphur 
and iron. 
[to be CONCLUDED.] 
The Attdtibon Birthday Anniversary. 
Mention has already been made of the service to be 
held next week in commemoration of the birthday of 
Audubon, the naturalist. The meeting will take place at 
the Church of the Intercession, 157th street and Broad- 
way, New York, at 8 o'clock of the evening of Thursday,, 
May 4. The exercises will open by a brief address by 
the Rev. M. H. Gates, the rector of the church, who will 
introduce the Hon. Alton B. Parker, who will deliver the 
oration. This will be followed by the singing of an 
anthem, and then by brief addresses by Mr. F. M. Chap- 
man, Richard Watson Gilder, Ernest Thompson- Seton, 
Bishop Greer, and Hon. George F. Parker. While the 
meeting will not be a very long one, it will be of exceeding 
interest throughout, and will be largely attended by the 
scientific people of New York, and many others interested. 
The Church of the Intercession is most easily reached 
by taking the Broadway Subway to iS7th street. The 
ciiurch is distant only a block from the station. 
