Perth Amboy evening news., 1922-12-15
Geographic News
Bulletins By the
National Geographic Society
AMERICAS NEW WONDERLAND

AMERICAS NEW WONDERLAND
How much volcanoes mean in the
lives Of all human beings even f
they never have been within sight
or sound of an eruption. is told
graphically in q new volume just
issued by the National Geographic
Society.
A wealth of new information IN
this little developed field OF science
IL contained in this first complete
summary Of the findings of six ex-
petitions sent to the region of Mt.
Katmai and the Valley of Ten
Thousand Smokes in Alaska ard
Of the results Of several years care
full compilation of observations made
by the expeditions.
The book, "The Valley of Ten
Thousand Smokes" is written by
DR.. Robert F. Griggs, and has a fore
word by DIR. Gilbert Grosvenor,
| president of National Geographic
| Society which sent out the expedi-
l LlOQS. WlLllln ItCSDk yCaAb Tic al
| cination and of science
have begun to capture popular imag
nation and this book adds a chap
| ter to the wonder story of modern
exploration and scientific study with
! many new facts about phenomena
/ which hitherto have largely eluded
careful observation.
River That Flowed on a Ridge
Not only does the book reveal
| the tremendous upheaval by which
| Katmai blew from its top 40 times
| the amount of earth and rock dug
| up to build the Panama canal, leav-
ing a hole big enough to contain all
| the buildings in fifteen cities of New
York's SIZE but it also deals with the
| world encircling climatic effects of
volcanic eruptions and with that
vast, ~fermenting Inferno from which
| it takes its title. In addition it de-
| scribes the Alicein-Wonderland phe-
nomena in the wake of the eruption
such phenomena as a temporary
| giant river thai cruised along on top
of q ridge, of streams that shifted
their courses, ash showers that
| formed great thermal blankets to
preserve permanent" snow drifts,
and q flood which had one million
times the destructive power of the
Johnstown dam burst.
Thrills of personal adventure, told
in m~atterof-fact fashion by the ex-
plorer author, relate how members
of the party walked over acres
where a misstep would have plung-
ed them to a parboiled death in
seething cauldrons of the Valley,
with the e~ver-present fear that a
chance gust might snuff out their
lives with some raj that was moro
poisonous, If less odorous than those
among which they advanced.
Set Aside by President
Yet this region, now that It has
been studied, would seem safer than
Broadway or Michigan avenue. since
not a life was lost during the
plorations, and reports and pictures
| brought from an early trip were 60
impressive that the President of the
United States Immediately set It
aside as a National Monument, some
day to become a park for the Amer
lean people comparable only to Yell
lowstone in its natural beauty, and
like nothing else on earth in its
amazing wonders.
The writer, after apologizing for
his necessary use of superlatives, ad
mits the fear that he, like Jim Brid-
marvels, might be set down as q
Munchausen until future generations
should vindicate him, as they did
Bridger. He says:
MANY times also have 1 been
thankful for the tools which mod
ern invention had placed in our
hands. With kodaks and halftones
and motion pictures to record our
discoveries, our advantage over the
old time explorer, who could SUP
plement his accounts with nothing
better than sketches, was enor-
NOUS"
The 262 h%alftones and color plates
in the book tell the scenic story of
this new American wonder of the
world better than verbal description.
Chemist Counts the "Smokes"
The text of the book forms a
valuable contribution to the scien-
lists store of information about
volcanism, mountain slides, floods,
/ and kindred phenomena, and is 10
less accurate for being written so
that the lay reader will be fasci-
mated by its word pictures. An
amusing instance of this careful
checking Of all fact is related by d.
Griggs who tells how a skeptical
chemist, after learning of the pro-
posed NAME, the Valley of Ten
Thousand Smokes, set out methodi-
cally to count columns of kissing
steam over the panoramic %cauldron.
for fear the name was an exagger-
alton. He returned to camp to So
berly report that the name had been
an error-it ought to have been
called the Valley of a Million
Smokes.