The Cordova daily times., 1923-01-30
FAMOUS VALLEY. TEN THOUSAND SMOKES 70 FORE

they nave never ueeu Nitiiih oiSh' or hearing of one, is told in a new volume just issued by the National Geographic Society. The publication is the first complete summary ot the findings of six expeditions sent to the region of Mt. Katmai and the Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes in Alaska, by the Washington society, and the results of several years careful study of observations made by the expedition.
 The book, "The Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes," written by Dr. Robert F. Griggs, of the Geographic Society,an contains a great fund of new information in this little de- veloped field of science Within re- cent years the fascination and TO- nance of science have begun to capture popular imagination and this book adds a chapter to the wonder story of modern explorations and scientific study.
 Volcanic Upheaval
 A tremendous volcanic upheaVal that could blow from the top of a great mountain 40 times the amount of earth and 1Wck dug out Of the Isthmus of Panama to build the Panama Canal, leaving a hole large enough to contain all the buildings in 15 cities the size of New York, is worth studying. Such a catacIysm occurred when the top of Mt. Kat mai was blown off in an eruption in 1912. Climatic effects circling the world resulted from the explosion, and the volume deals with these phenomena as well as those of the great seething steaning valley from which is derives it's title.
 h addition it describes the Alice in-Wonderland phenomena in the wake of the eruption-such as temporary gigantic river that crujsed along the top of a ridge; of streams that shifted their courses; ash show CTS that formed great thermal blank cts to preserve deep snow drifts and a flood that had a million times the destructive power of the JohnstOWn dam-burst.
 An amusing instance of the care ful checking up of facts is related by Dr. Griggs who tells how a Dllep- tical chemist, after learning of the proposed name for the valley, set out methodically to count the col umns of hissing steam, for fear the name was an eXaggeration. He re- turned to camp to report soberly that the name had really been in error-the name, he said should have been the Valley of Million Smokes.
 Not Technical Volume
 The volume is not a dry technical one, for thrills of personal advent ures fill the pages. The explorer author relates in matter of fact fash ion how members of the parties walked over acres where a misstep boiled death in the seething cauld rons of the valley, with the cver- present fear that chance gust of wind might snuff out their lives with some gas that was more deadly, if less odorous, than those among which they advanced. ,--.
 And yet, it is added, the region, now that it has been studied, would seem safer than a city street, for not @ single member of the several parties was lost Reports brought back so impressed the President of the United States that he immedi- ately set it aside as a National Monu- ment, some day to become a park comparably only by the Yellowstone, and like nothing else on the earth for it's amazing wonders.
 Not a Munchausen
 The writer, after apolOgizing for his necessary use of superlatives ad- mits the fear that he, like Jim Bridg- CT, who heralded the Yellowstone's marvels, might be set down as a Munchausen until future generations should vindicate him. He adds:
 Many times also have I been thankful for the tools which modern invention has placed in our hands. With kodaks and halftones and mo. tion pictures to record our discoveries our advantage over the old time ex- plorer, who could supplement his accounts with nothing better than sketches, was enormous"
 Many of Dr. Grigg's marvellous photographs are included to show the wonders of the region, and the text of the book forms a valuable con- tributions to the scientists store Of information about volcanoes and the