El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1918-04-29
COOKING ON AN
alaska VOLCANO
Scientist Tells of His Visit
to One of the Worlds
Wonders.

/
the greatest wonders Of the world. If
not indeed the very greatest Of all the
wonders on the face Of the earth, de-
clares Robert f. Griggs. leader Of the
National Geographic society's 1915
1915 and 1917 ut. Katmai expeditions,
in his report TO the society on the
result Of his Investigations
The valley cannot be described"
continues the Griggs report, a part Of
which is issued by the society as a
bulletin released to the press today.
"Only after one has spent many days
within its confines does one begin to
grasp the proportions.
las we explored the margin Of the
valley Cthe worst place, as we after
ward found) we could plainly hear
the ground ring hollow beneath the
turks Of our stats, and more than
once we felt It shake beneath our
blows. What II the ground should
suddenly give way beneath our feet
and precipitate US into a steaming
caldron2
a breath Of the steam from a vent
blown around US for a moment by a
chance breeze. gave an uncomfortable
burn. We knew that If once man
fell into such a place he would be.
instantly parboiled-
AT first we roped up as for noun
tain climbing and spread out so that
if ore man went through, the others
could pull him out But when we
came better 10 realize the conditions,
IL for " n
that if a man once got in II would pc
more merciful to leave him than 70
attempt TO pull him out
Testing the Fumes.
I'VE had been assured by the best
authority that there could pc no
danger from the fumes, but mac
brought along a chemist parity toI
the express purpose Of warning US as
to what was not safe. I knew this
valley TO be different from every
other place in the world, and reasoned
that there could be no real basis Tor
the assurances given US what
feared was carbon monoXlde. tnal
colorless. odorless. tasteless gas,
deadly even in concentrations as small
as five parts in 10000 II IS usually
present in the emanations from VOL
canoes. There is. moreover no simple
chemical test by which It's presence
NAV be detected
.sBut. like practically all the buga-
boos which one meets in this world
these were proved by experience 20 oe
much more dangerous than our mag
nations had pictured Experience
showed that there was always plenty
Of air to breathe and we Iound no
insfdious gases likely to strike one
down without warning for our noses
gave US abundant notice or dang erOus
places. so that we suffered no injury
beyond slight headaches and tempo
rary Inconvenience
Learning 10 Travel Safely.
$50 also with the caveins- As we
grew familiar with the conditions we
built up a basis Of experience tnat
soon enabled us TO pick our way with
some degree Of safety The deposits
brought up by the fumaroles theIl-
selves so encrust their threats ana
the ground round about that thin
roof over q cavern viii support a man
with safety
saThe worst places were those where
fissures had been bridged over by ash
and mud. so as to leave nothing TO
indicate their presence After we had
been in the valley several Gays. We
I had some experiences with such places
that probably would have turned Us
back had they occurred when we Irst
arrived.
several times, when we accidentally
put a foot through a thin place IN the
crust. steam came spouting out OF tne
hole. forming new 1umarole- but
il was always one loot only ana tne
cwner did not take long 70 get out
"Once. while walking across a place
that looked perfectly solid. 1 notceu
a new hole midway between ola Ms
sures and on investigating FOUND tnat
a steaming fissure two feet wide and
ten feet deep was rOfed over Tor %
| feet by a layer Of mud so thin that
I could perforate it anywhere by
I slight thrust with my ice ak
But such experiences rapidly LED
US 10 perfect a sort Of technique Ike
that OF the mountain climber, which
enabled us to choose the safest paths.
Z Moreover, the first trip over the
ground was the most dangerous After
/ one man had explored any area IN
safety. there was no probability OF
] accident TO those who followed.
Cooking at a Fumnrole.
IN many places the valley round
about the vents is covered with a Pc
! culiar blue mud, thinly coated with a
chestnut brown crust. which some
times gives way suddenly, letting one
down 70 his shoe tops in the soft,
/ sCalding mud beneath. At such times
| one is apt to feel that his feet are
Z taking hold on hell in verify, par
ticularly If the place happens 10 look
! 'ticklish' otherwise. We we're sur
prised TO find that continued INNER
sion of our feet in such places did
our shoes no perceptible injury for
we had expected that they would be
rapidly eaten away.
We chose our camp well up on the
noun tain side overlooking the valley,
close beside a melting snow drift
Here, although we were denied the
pleasure Of a camp fire, for not
stick of wood remains anywhere in
the valley, we had all the comforts
OF home Fifty yards behind US was
our refrigerator. where we could keep
anything freezing cold until needed
Just in front Of US was our cook
stOve-a mild hammered fumarole-
into which we hung our pots TO cook
our food We were somewhat dubious
beforehand as to the feasibility Of
this method Of cooking, because Of the
noxious gases that came off along
with the steam; but the results were
more than satisfactory We never de-
tected the faintest faint in any Of our
food. Everything was always done
exactly right. Since the pots were
surrounded by an atmosphere of live
steam, just at the point OF condeusing,
nothing ever boiled away. cooked TO
pieces or burned, no matter how long
neglected or forgotten.
Steam Heated Tent.
when we turned in the first night
we were astonished to find that the
ground under our tent was decidedly
warm. on examination we found that
a thermometer thrust six inches into
the ground promptly rose TO boiling
for the place only recently had been
vacated by the retreating snow bank
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