Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1918-04-30
WONDERFUL MT. KATMAI
Strange Valley Of Ten Thousand
Smokes.
VISITORS Are LOST IN MYSTERY
Party Of Explorers Get Into Country
The Like Of Which None OF Them
Had Ever Seen Before, And Find
Worm Fires In The Midst Of A
Freezing Latitude.

Freezing Latitude.
The Valley OF Ten Thousand
Smokes" the great safety valve OF
Alaska's wonderful volcanic, Mt. Kat
mai, Is one Of the greatest wonders OF
the world. If not indeed the very great
estof all the wonders on the face Of the
earth, declared X. r. Griggs. leader. OF
the National Geographic Society's 1915,
1916 and 1917 Mt. Katmai expeditions,
in his report TO the society on the re-
suit OF his Investigations.
The valley cannot be described"
continues the Griggs' report, q part Of
which is issued by the society as
bulletin released to the press recently.
only after one has spent many days
within Its confines does one begin to
grasp the proportions.
THE sensation Of wonder and ad-
miration, which came first to all our
party. soon gave way to one Of
stupefaction. The magnitude Of the
phenomena simply overcame us. AS
we moved to any corner Of the val
ley, what we had supposed from
distance to be little fumaroles turned
out monster vents, each group more
wonderful a spectacle than the whole,
seen in panorama, so inconceivably
vast is the volcanic region.
mo amount of experience seemed
sufficient to enable US to grasp pro-
portions OF this enormous safety
valve.
For the first few days We were
over-awed. For 4 while we simply
could not think or act in the ordinary
way. At night l would curse myself.
us lay in my blankets, and make
list of the things | wanted to do the
next day: but when the morning came
| could not move myself to action. !
could only look and cape.
"As we explored the margin OF
the valley (the worst place, as we
aftcrward found), we could plainly
hear the ground ring hollow beneath
the turks Of our staffs, 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 streaming
caldron?
"A breath of the stream from a vent
blown around us for moment by
chance breeze gave an uncomfortable
burn. We knew that II once q man
fell into such n place he would be
instantly parboiled.
AT first we roped up as for noun
tain climbing and spread out, so
that IL one man went through, the
others could pull him out. But when
we came better to realize the condi-
dion. we discarded the ropes, for
we decided that If a man once got in
it would be moro merciful to leave
him than to attempt to pull him out.
I'VE had been assured by the best
authority that there could be no dan
ger from the fumes, but I had brought
along a chemist partly for the ex-
press purpose Of warning US as to
whar -wag not safe. I knew thfB vafs
ley to be different from every other
place in the world, and reasoned that
there could be no real basis for
the assurances given me. What i
feared WAS carbon monoxide, that COL
orless, odorless. tasteless gas, deadly
even in concentrations as small as
five parts in 10000. 1t is usually pre-
sent in the emanations from volca-
noes. There is, moreover, no simple
chemical test by which its presence
may be detached. What IL we should
get u dose Of that before we were
aware of the danger?
But, like practically all the buga-
boos which one meets In this world,
these were proved by experience to-
be much less dangerous than our
imaginations had pictured. Expert
ence showed that there was always
plenty of air to breathe, and we found
no insidious gases likely to strike
one down without warning, for our
noses gave US abundant notice OF
dangerous places. so that we suffer-
ed no injury beyond slight headaches
and temporary inconvenience.
80 also with the cave-ins. AS We
grew familiar with the conditions we
built up a basis Of experience that
soon enabled US to pick our way
with some degree OF safety. The de-
posts brought up by the fumaroles
themselves so encrust their throats
and the ground round about that
thin roof over O cavern will support
a man with safety.
The worst places were those where
fissures had been bridged over by
ash and mud, 80 as to leave nothing
to indicate their presence. After we
had been in the valley several days
we had some experiences with such
places that probably would have turn
cd us back had they occurred when
we first arrived.
Several times. when we accident
ally put a foot through a thin place
in the crust, steam came spouting out
Of the hole. forming a new fumarole.
But 1t was always one foot only and
the owner did not take long to get
out.
Once. while walking across a place
that looked perfectly solid, noticed
new hole midway between the old
flssures and on investigating found
that steaming fissure two feet wide
and ten feet deep was rooted over for
fifty feet by a layer OF mud so thin
that could perforate it anywhere by
slight thrust with my ice-ax.
But such experiences rapidly led
US to perfect sort of technique like
that OF the mountain climber, which
enabled US to choose the safest
paths. Moreover, the first trip over
the ground was the most danger
GUS. After one man had explored
49,, oraa In ao Safv fbara uaa n0