Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1925-10-28
Or. Byron Cummings With Fir. God From Mexico.

NOAbuAlcS UcLOTe 1uIdnkudIueQ was
buried beside the Nile.
The explorers already have found
skeletal remains of Americans who are
believed to have lived 1000 or more
years ago, specimens Of their idols and
emblems, and pieces of their earthen-
ware.
The expedition which unearthed the
key city to the all-but-forgotten Inca
civilization of Peru went out in 1912,
led by DR.. Hiram Bingham, now Unit
ed States Senator from Connecticut.
Intent on a general exploration OF the
old Inca region, this expedition had the
good fortune to discover a city whose
existence had not been suspected
Machu Picchu, great mountain fast
ness of hanging gardens that outnum-
bered the terraces of Babylon. This
is the most extensive and most import
ant ruined city discovered in South
America since the days Of the Spanish
Conquest.
Work Of Thirty-Five Years.
The National Geographic society has
been sending out its expeditions to get
better acquainted with our earth, for
80 years. They first explored the re-
gion of Mount st. Elias in Alaska. Lit
tie attention had been paid to Alaska.
Only a. handful of white men lived
there, and its purchase from Russia
was looked upon by the general public
back home as Stewards Folly" The
expedition of 1890 helped to put Alaska
In new light. The explorers found
valleys that to their surprise were
veritable paradises of flowers, noble
trees, and rank vegetation. The mem
bers Of this first expedition, however,
were engaged primarily in other than
botanical researches. They studied
there the north glaciers such as those
that had plowed our continent in ages
past.
When Mount Pelee IN the island of
Martinique blew off its top, snuffing
out the lives Of 10000 people in st.
Pierre, the society sent an expedition
with the first American relief ship in
the hope that studies Of the volcanism
Of the region might make it possible
ultimately to predict impending catas-
trophies. DR.. Thomas A. Jaeger one of
the members of the expedition, has pur-
sued the studies then initiated. and in
a communication to the society in
1924 described in detail how Japan's
greatest volcanic eduption, that OF
Sakurajima, was definitely predicted
and its ravages minimized.
The climax of the society's volcanic
studies was reached in expeditions to
Mount Katmai, in the Alaska PENN
sula. which made the most thorough
survey ever accomplished of the effects
of an eruption, and discovered the now
famous valley of Ten Thousand
Smokes" one of the foremost wonders
of the world.
Story of Mt. Katmai Eruption.
The society expeditions spent FIVE
seasons studying the effects Of the
eruption and recording what happened
when the vast ash-blanketed area a
newborn bit of Mother Earth's sur
face, gradually formed drainage sys-
tenn, revegetated, and conformed to
environing physical conditions Here
was the geography Of action indeed
an unfolding picture Of geography in
the making. Over the Valley Of Ten
Thousand Smokes was a panorama of
physics and chemistry-rolling clouds
of vapor arose in never-ending streams
and went billowing down the valley
with mile-long trails behind them.
on closer inspection this vapor was
seen to pour from vents, sometimes 1t
was six times as hot as ordinary steam,
and over some of the vents the explor-
ers cooked their bacon and eggs. They
came upon a falling mountain that
was rafting and rumbling as 1t disin-
tegrated, a lake where one could regu-
late his bath. hot, cold or medium, by
swimming a few strokes, and streams
of trout that would bite at almost
any bait.
One Of the most interesting Of the
society's recent explorations was near
Carlsbad, N. NJ. where a cavern of ex-
quisite beauty and vast proportions
was added to the known natural won
ders Of our continent. Upon receiving
the expeditions report President Cool
idge promptly set aside the cavern area
az a national monument
These are only a few of the high
lights Of the notable exploration work
of the society during The last third
OF q century.