Evening star., 1925-12-13
ALASKAN WINTER
| M|LDEST IN YEARS
Unusual Weather Follows
activity Of Volcano on Uni
max Island, in Aleutians.

SIs'eJ VI sOlOoiiO Ol Olu
max Island, in Aleutians.
While America faces a coal short
age this Winter, proSpectors in the
interior of Alaska are anxiously await
ing the end of Summerlike weather. so
the rivers may freeze and they can
make their way out. Unusually high
temperatures for November have fol-
lowed the reported activity Of Mount
Shishaldin, a volcano on Unimak
Isalnd
''Unimak Island, the largest of the
Aleutian stepping stones is a focus
or volcanic activity second only to the
katmaI district, scene, in 1912, of one
OF the greatest volcanic eruptions the
world has known" says a bulletin
from the Washington headquarters of
the National Geographic Society. "Al-
though it has an area only a little
larger than Rhode Island, so many
craterS occur on Unimak Island that
there is often a great deal Of confu-
sion as to the location Of the various
eruptions reported.
Fuiiyama's Double
Mount Shishaldin, the peak recent
~ reported active, IS the most striking
and beautiful of the eleven major
the most nearly perfect cones in the
world, seeming TO float suspended in
the air above its cloud-girt base. Be
cause of its white symmetry II has
been called the most formidable rival
of the celebrated Fujiyama. Fortu
nate, however. is the visitor who has
seen this Alaskan queen in all her
beauty, for most Of the year Unimak
and the rest of the Alcutians, are en-
veloped in a heavy blanket of fog and
low-lying clouds.
DeSpite Untmak'S size and its sep
aration from the mainland panhandle
Of Alaska by only a narrow strip of
water, 1t is Of little Importance. There
are no good harbors and only one
settlement, Cape Alsit Village, IS
listed.
God fishing on the great banks to
the south of the island, which are
similar to those of Newfoundland, and
the mining of small quantities OF sui
phur and pumice stone are the princi
pal industries. The inhabitants are
mostly the remnants of the original
native tribes found here by the Rus
SLAMS in the 18th century.
Tourists Pass it BY.
There is no tourist trade. partly
because there are no accommodations
for them, but mainly because the
beauties of the island can be seen to
advantage with binoculars on ship
board. West coast steamers bound
for Nome and other places on the
Bering Sea, or for the Arctic Ocean,
pass almost around the island, for the
narrow strait separating it from the
mainland is not as safe as Unimak
Pass, the strait between it and the
rest of the Fox group.
Like its sister islands Unimak is
IN general desolate and scraggy along
its rocky. grass-covered lower slopes.
1t is treeless, and. except for its heavy
rainfall and fogs, has a delightful
climate. Summers in Unimak are
cooler than places farther north, while
In winter the weather is milder than
that of Tennessee or Kentucky. The
warm Japan current, which sweeps
up the coast of Asia and around the
Aleutlans, gives it January average
of 30 degrees above zero.
Grasses of all kinds grow in abun
dance on the loWlands all year around
but the climate is too damp to mature
grain. Although the soil is rich, being
composed of a vegetable mold mixed
with volcanic ash, the land is rugged
and there are no places where farms
OF any size can be made. Small
though the island is, the interior has
never been thoroughly explored, and
reports of a lake of sulphur in solu
ton there have never been confirmed
On Direct Route to Japan.
"Unimak and other islands Of the
Aleutian chain, believed to be the
route by which man first migrated to
the western hemisphere. should be
better known to the world at large,
for they are on the shortest route be-
tween our northwestern States and
Japan. The great eXpanse of the
Pacific and the curvature of the earth
places Yokohama almost due north
west of Seattle, if one follows the most
direct path.
"The American world flyers re-
member Unimak as part of one of
the most difficult stages In their globe.
cfrcling trip. Port Moller. the COM
munity to which Maj. Martin made
his way on foot after his plane
crashed, is about $50 miles farther
east The district presented the same
pitfalls for aviators as Unimak, conf
cal peaks and sharp ridges rising sud.
denly out of dreary fog hidden tun-
dras and marshes. Portage Bay, where
forced landing was made, is on the
mainland opposite Kodiak Island, but
IS similar to the few indentations of
Unlmak's shore line. with rocky cliffs
and treacherous sand shoals.
The AleutianS, however have an
huOeu HdIlulCdp IN the 'WllI16-WaWS'
cycionic winds peculiar to the region
and probably attributable to the meet
ing of the cold winds from the north
and the warm breezes from the Japan
current.
I'm addition to Mount Shishaldin
Untmak has several other exceptional
peaks. Pogromni Volcano, the mile
high sentinel of Unimak Pass, in the
western part of the island, today is but
the broken shell of a vast crater which
is said to have burst in 1875. Other
violent eruptions are reported between
1897 and 1880. Lately it has been
very well behaved volcano. A thin.
slow wisp Of smoke is a constant re-
mfnder, however, of its lurid mast
The Isanotsky Peaks are credited with
violent eruption within the last cen.
tury, but. as is the case with so much
of the rest of the history of the island.
there Is no confirmation. Their ap
pearance suggests long period Of
erosion rather than frequent activity"