Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1876-01-22

Ascending TO fhe Ice- clad Craters OF
IIyanBa.

l NuDfF.Sff-
ttons Abort inaf AIsskians Nerer Tcr-
| ResraT ded
Iron the Sen Francisco CaronicEel
Inc eastern shore OF Cooks inlet is low
ara ieyel, the mountain chain which ex-
| lends from the head waters of the You hon 10
| bne Renal peninsula receding from thirty to
n,.y miles inland, the intervening space
| forming unnumbered "tundras- (swampy
pIairies,l divided by timber belts OF spruce
ana olrch OF stunted growth. The water of
ne n.uncras' nnds an outlet In hundreds of
1 Iteks ana rivulets which cut their way TO
| tne sea In deep ravines; the red color and
| suong metallic taste OF the water indicating
NEE eI , ofiron On The west side of the
| Inlet the mountains rise abruptly out of the
| water leaving only a small piece of sandy
| oeaeh ne and there. The highest peak OF
| lDls cDain, which forms the backbone of the
| peninsula OF Alaska, from which the terri.
Tory was named, is Mount Ilyamna, an ac-
i've volcano. FIom my house at ST. Nicho-
las, on the mouth Of the Kenai, this noun
tain lay due west, and the first rays of the
rising sun would strike Its snow covered
cone, making 1t fash forth from the misty
The distance from S. Nicholas ACROSS seg the
Iniet is ABOUT forty miles, but the restless
nature OF llyamna makes itself felt even
mere, though separated by a deep arm of the
| ocean. Whenever the smoke and steam
ceased U rise from the crater of the volcano,
me different people of the vicinity were
lnlo! med OF the fact by shocks of earthquake
more or less violent. An old chief tried TO
illustrate this phenomena To me by closing
the spout of boiling Kettle and bidding me
observe the lifting OF the lid by the steam-a
pretty good reasoning on cause aud effect
| for an Indian. The natives tell of a terrible
eruption in 1854, and point to huge blocks of
lava and long lOmOnite on the eastern shore
as having been thrown across on that occa-
sion, but l think they rolled down the steep
cilf1s In the winter on 10 the ice, and were
then ferried across by the current when the
nelds broke up in the spring.
III had been my wish to visit this volcano
from the first time beheld 1t, but opportu-
Iha
The captain of a trading sloop offered to take
me near enough TO the shore TO allow me to
land In bdarka, and to cruise off the place
again In week TO take me back. The ma
tives do not like TO visit this region, holding
IL In superstltious awe, and undertook the
Trip alone. After slOOp had crossed the inlet,
the prospect was uninviting enough. The
whole coast seemed one contin uous line of
unbroken breakers, the white foam leaping
walls of basalt and lava. At last we espied
little bay, where small stretch of beach
INDICATED the outlet of rivulet. No trail
or trace OF man was visible, but when l
emerged from the ravine was astonished to
find that what had seemed only q narrow
strp OF brush on the mountain side from
OF several miles width covered with timber
OF respectable size. sauntered along leisure
~ over the yielding carpet of moss
CAMPING OUT.
Some bear trails crossed my course, but
The only animals / encountered that day
were reindeer. They hardly noticed me- by
turning their great blue eyes in my direc-
ton Night was coming on, and though L
disliked TO break the peaceful silence about
me, had my supper to get; an unfortunate
grouse YentuIed into my Immediate neigh
borhood just then, and the report of my rifle
called laundering echoes from all the ravines
and crevices of old uyamna, for the first
Time, probably, for many year. After all
this noise had passed away / picked up
four pound bird, and camped on the first
creek that crossed my road. Fuel was plen-
ty. A few large strips of bark peeled off
frees I'm arf Vyn n
supplied couch and shelter. When my broiled
bird had grown beautifully less, and my APP
petite decreased In The same ratio, L took
snort survey OF my surroundings. 1t was
dark now, but the night was clear, and over
the tops of the trees could see Ilyamua
rising in one solid pyramid. The craters of
the volcano are not on the same side of the
mountain with my camping ground that
night, but was reminded of their vicinity
out OF my first SAUNDERS. L stirred up the
IRE, and sat up awaiting further develop
ments. Another gIOwl came in about half
an mo hour, and then silence Teigned supreme:
morning. A leg of last nights grouse, a bite
OF the biscuits / carried with me, a drink of
gradually ascending through the timber 1
came 10 place where, under the shadow OF
an oveIhang1ng rock, somebody had camp9d
long. long time ago. A portion of the rock
where show and rain could not reach IL, was
still blackened by the smoke, nd some char
red sticks lay in sheltered nooKs. While
foot. displayed thick covering of moss
mat had partially grown over them, AMI be-
meath IT lay tin match box, covered over
with leather. The spring was rusted away,
but with the help OF my knife broke in one
size; inside were some matches and piece
OF sperm candle, wrapped up in leaf of a
Rnssisn prayer book. The matches, how
ever, OF Russian make, proved that the place
had been visited since 1910. Soon after this
little incident got out OF the belt of timber,
ana climbing over some huge granite boul-
q Aal nf 40
extended upward on the side OF the noun
tain until 1t was lost in snow. concluded
TO follow1up this "lead" as most likely to
take me TO the crater.
THE LAVA
must have been several years old at least, for
It's surface was worn smooth by the action
or snow and ice upon it. This made the
walking rather tiresome, and with boots on
my feet could not have accomplished IL all,
put moccasins allow the feet to cling to the
evenness in the surface. At a place where
some block basalt had divided the lava cur
rent a spring was gushing forth, looking
and tasted strongly OF sulphur. After a
1atiguing ascent along the lava bed / reached
the snow line and shaped my course around
the mountain, just beyond the snow. The
view from here was not DISTRACTED, except
toward the east, by the mountain itself. To
the north and south stretched the long chain
OF snowy peaks the whole length OF the pen
insula, but in the west the horizon was
bounded by nothing but the meeting of sky
and broad Pacific. While was feasting nv
eyes another slight shock made itself felt,
and Insignificant as it was 1t sufficed to
loosen a mass OF snow above and start IL
down the lava track had just climbed. 1t
did not have the dimensions of an Alpine
avalanche, but had been where was half
an hour before, this present sketch would
nave been unwritten. at about noon i
turned the point of projecting Cliff aud
there lay before me the object of my search.
A mile or two beneath my standpoint was a
crater, an opening of oval shape, emitting
clouds of steam and coal black smoke. The
edges Of the black abyss were jagged and
uneven, except on two places where lava
had escaped very recently, as 1 found on
close examination. From where 1 stood
L could see nothing TO prevent q near
approach. started on the descent at once,
but when had reached point about 500
yards from the western extremity of the cra-
ter, found my further progress stopped by
bed OF ashes, the hard crust OF which would
not bear my weight, and as l was afraid OF
cutting the bucksktn OF my moccasns, there
was nothing left to me but to keep along the
edge of the impedimen1 until could find an
opportunity TO cross. This course led me
back in the direction had come for about
two miles, and then deep ravine became
visible, with stream In the bottom, and
thickly studded with magnificent trees. By
this time the sun was going down i'm the