Perth Amboy evening news., 1922-06-28
Geographic News
Bulletins by the
National Geographic Society
TO HEAR ABOUT VOLCANOES

III hEltfN " tOLCGA&NO1S
Mankind's debt to the volcano
has been more fully recognized by
results of recent researches. Con-
trary to the popular belief that the
| volcano Is an enemy it is n Of
mankind's best friends. Without
| volcanoes 1t now is believed there
would be no ocean,; and to them we
are indebted for carbon dioxide,
without which human life would
not be possible.
one Of the most tremendous vol
canic explosions in history. that OF
Mt. Katmai. in Alaska, will be de-
scribed and its effects shown in mo-
ton pictures before the Conference
Of Geography of the National Edu-
| cation Association, to be held In
Boston July 3.
expenditions to study Katmai and
discoverer of its neighbor natural
wonder, the Valley of Ten Thousand
Smokes, will tell of the findings OF
the expeditions.
Though unaware of the mighty
upheaval, every inhabitant of the
| United States felt its effects; n of
| which was the cold, damp summer
of 1912 caused by the i~nterception
OF so much sunlight by the dust
from the eruption which quickly
| was carried around the world. Even
| in cloudless Sahara the sky was
| overcast; and 1t Is believed that a
succession of such eruptions could
| plunge the earth into another ice
age.
unnoticed because 1t was so remote.
| HoI thn YnhoouoI nCNrrrod in Nov
| York City the sulphurous fumes
would have polluted the air every
where east of the Rocky Mountains:
| the noise would have reverberated
| like an artillery duel across the cen
| trail states; and the lower Hudson
itself would have been a giant tomb
| with few ruins even to tell the story
Fortunately Katmai's eruption
provided geographers one OF their
| greatest opportunities for studying
volcanic phenomena without any
frightful toll of human misery
Katmai Village, twenty miles from
the crater. was deserted because al
| the natives had gone fishing, accord
ing to their summer custom.
Kodiak, nearest settlement oi
tant town in an area larger than
Ohio, is a sleepy village of 400 peo-
pie, where a m~osque-like Russia I
church is a relic of the one-tine
Russian America.
An area around Katmai. half
again bigger than Delaware, was
covered with a foot or more of ash,
which was enough to destroy all but
the hardest herbaceous plants. Be-
tore the explosion a suffocatins
blanket OF incandescent sand burst
through o~riices in the floor of the
valley. When the explosion occurred
two cubic miles of material was
blown off the top of the volcanic
mountain and its present where
abouts. as the police bulletins would
say. still is a mystery to scientists.
The aftermath of this eruption
promises to be one OF our most pro-
cious national h~eritages. Beyond
Katmai lies a great valley from
whose floor constantly ascends mil
lions Of columns OF steam. These
great rolling clouds of vapor which
go billowing down the valley, some
times trailing out before the wind a
mile or more. exert an -uncanny fas-
cination.
The fumaroles, or vents. through
which the steam escapes. disclose
organisations of greatest beauty,
variety and color. There are mass
es of bright yellow sulphur. chunks
of ash turned red and blue, and
pure white masses of silicious ma
terial.
You can cook your dinner over
these jets of kissing steam. though
you have to hold the frying pan
down against the up%rushing stream.
There is a natural bathing pool, n
anI cnld ond onnthar hnt Not IN p
away is a lake with trout of thirty
inches or more that bite at almost
anything; and there also is Brooks
Falls with its leaping salmon which
may be speared when a trout diet
pals.
President Wilson turned aside
from the stress of war time to make
this region a national monument.
Some day it will be a national park
second in area only to Yellow
stone. Many lesser phenomena
mark the vicinity. There Is falling
mountain, for example, which needs
not a motion-picture camera, but a
photograph or a radio to record its
thunderous subsistence. Magnificent
forests will provide a game pre-
serve. Novarupta, a nearby volca-
no, now wells her crater in rolling
clouds of steam.
So remote are these phenomena
that members of the National Geo
graphic Society's expeditions are the
only white men who have yet ex-
plored them; but they are not mac
cessible. A broad, deep harbor rem
ders a landing easy, and fifty miles
Of roadway will place this natural
wonderland within the compass of
a days automobile trip from the
harbor. named Geographic Harbor,
in honor OF the National Geographic
Society which discovered and ex-
plored the region.