Jackson County sentinel. (Gainesboro, Tenn.) 1914-current, 1922-06-22
j, !, HAS GARDEN
Of FIREWORKS
Worlds Most Active Volcanic
Region Is in Alaska.
MOUNT REDOUDT BREAKS OUT

II Forms, So Far as Known, Landward
End Of Chain Of Volcanoes Which
Stretch Along AIeutlan Islands for
1900 Miles and Which Have Been
spoutng Fire at Intervals for Hun
dreds Of Thousands Of Years
Chance to Solve Stubborn Problems.
"Jhe waking into activity of Mount
RedOubt In Alaska just reported by
wireless and cable serves to remind
the people of the United States that
In the Alaska peninsula and the Aleu-
tian islands, which sweep from 1t al
most TO Asia, they possess one of the
most extensive and most active vol
canlc regions on the face of the earth"
says a bulletin issued from the Wash
ington, d. c., headquarters of the Ma
tiOnal Geographic society.
"Redoubt is not remote from the set
tied portions of Alaska" continues the
bulletin but rises close to the west
ern shore of Cook inlet, at the head of
which is Anchorage, an important port
on the Alaska railroad recently con-
structed by the federal government.
This mountain and companion peak,
Hanna, are conspicuous landmarks
for ships which steam up Cook Inlet
They are almost perfect cones, ard
with their snOw-coyered caps serve
very well as American versions of the
famous Fujlyama Of Japan. Redoubt
forms, so far as Is now known, the
landward END Of the long chain of vol
canoes which stretCh TO the southwest
ward along the Aleut,an islands for
more than 1920 miles, and which have
been spoutlng fire at intervals for hun
drcds Of thousands Of years.
Mountains That Blow Their Heads Off,
although Rcdoubt, passive for near
ly 20 years, is showing only clouds Of
steam, those who have observed the
volcanoes of the Alaskan chain are not
treasured, for these volcanoes have
disconcertlng way Of blowing their
heads Off with little warning. katmai,
200 miles to the south, which is one Of
the chain that had long been dormant,
exploded suddenly IN 1912, constituting
one of the dozen greatest eruptions Of
historic times. A scientific expedition
sent to the crater by the National Geo
graphic society found that two cubic
miles Of material had been blown from
this previously passive mountain. II
was while making a study of Katmai
that the society'S expedition found
that unique natural phenomenon The
Valley Of Ten Thousand Smokes
Augustine mountain IN Cook inlet, less
than 100 miles from Redoubt, and long
noted for its perfect cone, blew its top
or suddenly In 1883 leaving only a jag
ged stump The whole Alaskan vol
canic chain Is unit Of volcanic action,
md 1t is always prohlematical where
the next outburSt will occur
Chance to Solve Stubborn Problems.
10 scientists one Of the significant
cutures in connection with the exist
ynce Of the extensive volcanic region
in Alaska Is the fact that II is situ-
ated where In the future at least 1t
win be easily accessible for study. And
there is much room for the study OF
yocanOes Although volcanism was
probably one of the first of natures
spectacular phenomena to thrill man
It presents one of the few obvious
problems about which science has no
hypothesis. Just where
the heat comes from which melts
stone, why 1t Is concentrated within
definite arens, from what depths the
molten material rises and why II rises
these are some Of the problems
about which there has been much spec
hut in regard 70 which few
theories exist.
"Tell-taIe fossils and types of rock
show that the mountains of the Alas
kan peninsula and the Aleutlan islands
are older than either the Himalayas or
the Alps, systems which are practically
without volcanoes. II does not follow,
however, that volcanic activity accom-
panies age, for the Appalachians,
among the oldest mountains of the
earth. have no volcanoes"