Norwich bulletin., 1913-03-12

R TNCLE SAM owns a volcano tha
 last June came near shaning
 Vesuvius at her best. It is Kat
 mai that Titan of the Alaskan
 coast, a mountain that rears its head among perpetual snows, and nurses on it's sides glaciers that never melt. yet carries in its vitals fiery demon that now and again cries defiance to the gods of the north and unleashes its furies upon them.
 A Three-Day De1uge.
 Such an occurrence took place last June, and for three days the pail of the great wrath of the volcano hung over half of the Alaskan coast. The moun- tain flung aIoft a pillar of ashes and sulphur smoke and dehed the winds to carry a snow cloud so high. For three days those ashes descended until they lay twenty feet deep at the mountains 8 base, and enshrouded the land a hun dred miles away to a depth Of a foot. The fTfexhausible resource of the great mountain may be somewhat appreciated tf one figures that an area containing 10000 square miles was buried on an average of three feet in depth.
 These ashes would have covered the state of Connecticut to a depth of twen- ty-four feet Under its influence Rhode Island would have become a Pompeii a hundred feet beneath the surface. It would have spread foot of ashes over the states of New York, New Jersey Delaware, Pennsylvania and Maryland, Had this ash been piled up on a base mile square it would have reached twenty-five miles into the air. Yet this quantity of matter was erupted by a single mountain cone in a period of three days.
 Katmai is on the mainland of Alaska, in its very elbow where starts that arm which terminates in the Aleutian separates the northernmost waters of the Pacific from those of the Boring sea In it's crook lie Kodiak and Woody islands.
 It was in haven at the town of Kodiak, on the island of the same name, aies SHg rom KatInai 1s5 Vo1cano the that cF4m the good ship Manning of the United States revenue cutter service lay peacefully at Capt K W. Perry was fishing off the wharf, the seamen were oVerhau1ing the vessel, and some of the junior officers were hunting mountain sheep in the nearby mountains.
 About nnidafternoon things began to sonfd himself 9eI eiate fe aory ana through him the detailed account of this great catac1ysm of the isolated north is now told for the first time.
 Like Cannonading.
 About 4 o'clock in the afternoon" said Capt. Perry, "a pecu1iar-loolking cloud appeared to the south. It rose like a gray wall to an incredible height. Com pared to the clouds that familiar it looked to me more like a snow cloud than any other, and remarked that we would probably have some raw weather. Pres | entIy similar cloud appeared to the 1 northward, and as the two approached each other all light seemed blocked out in those directions. But still no particu- 1 lar demonstration anticipated. At about the same time reports as of heavy l cannonading were to be heard from the | direction of the mainland l remarked that it sounded like either blasting or target practice in the navy
 "It was nearly o'clock when the man with whom l was conversing reached | over and attempted to brush something The appearance was as of damp ashes. | noticed the same powder on his coat 1 and we simultaneously came to the rea1i- | xation that ash dust was falling from Eve hurried to the ship, and, all being broom and began to sweep this ash to- zether on the smooth deck. We ex- r a bit of the ashes in an envelope as a souvenir. All the envelopes on the ship were soon used-an unnecessary sacri- r "Soon the two clouds merged into one and the deIuge of ashes was upon us It was but o'clock and the sun was yet n these attitudes until 10 in the sum ner. Yet almost instantly absolute dark ness set in- This QarKneSS was not Ilke hat of the ordinary lightless aiSht.- It an be appreciated when t is said that entirely invisible The falling ashes threw ID an impenetrable wall between it end he observer. On Woody Island, the wireless station, a structure as big as house was burned, yet the light of 1t was not visible to people living 'orty yards awayi Kodiak is a village of some 4o0 peo- ole, mostly A1eut natives. There are lew American traders residing there with heir families, some Russian priests. an American doctor and his wife and a. plucky United States marshal.
 Breathing in Flame. ii '"The revenue cutters are accustomed to iealing with the emergencies that arise among these isolated peoples Both America1is and natives have formed the labit of leaning upon these government ooats whasaAvNS ta~ss sEe naar and there