The daily star-mirror. (Moscow, Idaho) 1911-1939, 1922-03-15

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Stretch Along AIeutian Islands for
1900 Miles and Which Have Been
Spouting Fire at Intervals for Hun
dreds of Thousands of Years
| Chance to Solve Stubborn Problems.
"The 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 it al
most to Asia, they possess one of the
most extensive and most active vol
canic regions on the face of the earth"
says 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 a companion peak,
Hanna, are conspicuous landmarks
for ships which steam up Cook Inlet
They are almost perfect cones, ard
with their snow-covered caps serve
very well as American versions of the
famous Fujiyama Of Japan. Redoubt
FORMS so far as is now known, the
landward end of the long chain of vol
oon M rrbj <5h tp tbn byppSt-
ward along the AleutiAn islands for
more than 1,200 miles, and which have
been spouting fire at intervals for hun
dreds of thousands of years.
Mountains That slow Their Heads Off
although Redoubt passive for near
ly 20 years, is showing only clouds OF I
steam, those who have observed the
volcanoes of the Alaskan chain are not
treasured, for these volcanoes have
disconcerting 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. 1t
was while making a study of Katmai
that the society's expedition found
hat unique natural phenomenon, The
Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes
Augustine mountain in Cook inlet, less
han 100 miles from Redoubt and long
loted for its perfect cone, blew its top
IF suddenly in 1883 leaving only a jag
red stump. The whole Alaskan vol
'anic chain Is a unit of volcanic action,
md 1t is always problematical where
he next outburst will occur.
chance to Solve Stubborn Problems. {
ITO scientists one Of the significant t
eatures in connection with the exist s
nee Of the extensive volcanic region
n Alaska Is the fact that it Is situ- s
ted where In the future at least it {
ill be easily accessible for study. And
here is much room for the study Of :
olcanoes. Although volcanism was
one Of the first of natures
presents one of the few obvious
roblems about which science has no
satisfactory hypothesis. Just where
he heat comes from which melts
tone, why it is concentrated within
efinite areas, from what depths the
lolten material rises and why it rises
these are some Of the problems
bout which there has been much spec
lation, but in regard to which few
satisfactory theories exist.
''Tel-tale fossils and types Of rock
low that the mountains of the Alas
an peninsula and the Aleutian islands
re older than either the Hfmalayas or
le Alps, systems which are practically
ithout volcanoes. 1t does not follow,
owever, that volcanic activity accom-
anies age, for the Appalachians,
mong the oldest mountains Of the
nth, have no volcanoes