The Alaska citizen., 1912-08-26
KATNA| ERUPT|O
 AS SEEN BY R|ER

Among those who departed on the steamer Panama on Tuesday was Fred Rier the man who brought the sheep across the trail for the White Market At the time of the eruption of the volcano. Mount Kat mai, MT. Rier was the nearest white man to the scene of the activity. Asked to explain what occurred at the time of the eruption and the effect of the same on the life of the island, Mir. Rier said:
 About o'clock on the evening of the sixth of June I was herding the sheep in the valley on Raspberry Island where my ranch is located when l noticed what I thought was an approaching thunder storm. Black clouds were coming up the valley. and the thunder and lightning lead me to believe that We were in for a good storm. he cloud sort of thinned out as it neared me. and spread over vast territory, and as it had not rained yet. thought that the storm would likely blow over. In n little while. however. ashes began to fall. At first. in fact for the first day. the ashes seemed like fine sand. We had about three inches of the coarse ash and about nine inches of the clay ash at my place; but at the base of katmai the ash was six feet deep All the time we were in absolute darkness. l have never seen it so dark You couldn't see two inches ahead of you. There were two hun dred and fifty sheep out grazing at the time the ash started to fall and lost one hundred and twenty of them in an ash slide.
 While the ash was falling we had 10 keep the doors shut tight. and We could not go outside without some protection from inhaling the ashes. Fortunately there was no odor of sulphur at the time of active eruption, and the ashes when they reached my place. which is about forty miles from the foot of the mountain were cool We had to do all We could to keep the ashes off the roofs of the buildings. so that our houses would not col lapse from the weight of the ash My home is set in the timber. and all around us big limbs were being broken down under the weight they were carrying We had to use Ian terms while we worked on the buildings, for you couldn't see q thing without them.
 The earth roared constantly from about 6 o'clock on the evening of the first day, until within an hour of the time the ashes ceased to fall The air was still. not partical of wind was blowing, and there were no sulpher fumes whatsoever
 About week after the eruption we thought our time had come though, for the atmosphere became sulpher ridden. and breathing was almost impossible. Aside from the forty natives that the revenue cut ter Manning picked up, do not think there was any great suffering among the inhabitants of the sec tiOn affected by the eruption. Of course all vegetation was covered over with the ash, and the animals suffered greatly on that account. A few days after the volcano stopped throwing ashes we had a little rain. and we then got little brush. That was all the stock had to eat for two or three weeks. In many cases the streams were dried up completely, and the only water at all fit to drink was we'll water The first and sec Ond day we felt light earthquake shocks and on the third day the earth actually shook almost so vio- lently that you would imagine you were on the ocean.
 Kodiak will be no good for graz ing purposes for three years at least. Vegetation is completely gone, and the water is still unfit for use. I brought my stock to Valdez, and drove it over the trail from there"
 At the time of the disaster MT, Rier had his wife and two children. as well as two hired men, on his ranch with him. He says that no one was greatly frightened until the fumes of sulphur began to stifle them. and that then a fortunate wind sprang up, and they felt se- cure once again. Mir. Rier has gone to Seattle to join his wife and children. He does not know wheth- CT he will take up ranching in Alas ka again or whether he will remain on the Outside