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Show STUDY IN CONTRASTS Lush Tropics, Frozen Mlk . Embraced in Overseas Parks WiW Features. Two of the great national parks, which belong to the people of the United States, lie in our territories overseas Hawaii National park on the islands of Hawaii and Maui in the Hawaiian Hawai-ian archipelago and Mount McKinley National park m Alaska. These two parks present a study in contrasts. Hawaii, within the tropics, basks in perpetual spring. Its forests with lush ferns 40 feet high are gay with birds of brilliant plumage. McKinley Mc-Kinley on the other hand, enjoys a brief summer season of Within these gorgeously colored col-ored walls lies a superb volcanic vol-canic spectacle. Covering the floor are giant red, black and orange cinder cones which, although al-though hundreds of feet higb, are dwarfed by the immensity of their surroundings. The crater has a circumference of 21 miles and an area of 19 square miles, Both sections of the park are reached from Honolulu by island boat or airplane. From Hilo, port ot Hawaii island, one may rent an automobile au-tomobile for the trip to Kilauea or take a regular bus. MOUNT McKINLEY National park, situated in south-central Alas-ka, Alas-ka, was created by act of congress in 1917. It contains an area of a little more than 3,000 square miles. Principal scenic feature of the park is mighty Mount McKinley, highest peak on the North American continent. con-tinent. This majestic mountain rears its snow-covered head high into the clouds, reaching an altitude of 20,300 feet above sea level, and rises 17,000 above the timber line. On its north and west sides McKin-. ley springs abruptly from a plateau only 2,500 to 3,000 feet high. For two-thirds of the way down from its summit Mount McKinley is enveloped in snow throughout the year. Denali, "home of the sun," was the name given to this impressive mountain moun-tain by the early Indians. Near Mount McKinley are Mount Foraker, with an elevation of 17,000 feet; Mount Hunter, 14,960 feet, and Mount Russell, 11,500 feet. Great glaciers fed by the high snow fields of this mountain range flow many miles both to the north and to the south. During the park season, which extends ex-tends from June 10 to September 10, with more than 18 hours of daylight each day, there is a wealth of flowering flow-ering plants. The park is also the . home of many interesting animals and birds. f Prospective visitors to Mount McKinley National park probably will make the trip to Alaska by steamer from Seattle. To use the war constructed Alaska highway through Canada requires a special permit from the Canadian government, govern-ment, and permits are not yet granted to motor tourists. Business men, settlers and bus passengers may apply for permits to L. E. Drummond, Traffic Control Division, Divi-sion, Alaska Highway, Edmonton, Alberta. warmth, and during most of the .year sleeps in Arctic silence. Here in winter some of the birds and small animals even don white habits to travel like spectres over the -snowy landscape. Hawaii National park was established estab-lished by act of congress on August 1, 1916. and was placed National Parks under ad- ... ministration Hinin of National In a Series Park service which also was created in the same month. Main features in the park are two spectacular volcanoes, vol-canoes, frequently active, Kilauea and Mauna Loa on the island of Hawaii, and one of the world's largest larg-est dormant volcanoes, Haleakala on the island of Maui. The total area within the two sections of the park is about 275 square miles. Kilauea, probably older than its neighbor, towering Mauna Loa, creates cre-ates the impression of being a crater in the side of the higher mountain, although it is itself a mountain with an altitude of 4,090 feet. This illusion is the result of a broad depression at its top and of its gentle slopes, caused by lava flows from many lateral vents. Within the depression is a vast pit, Halemaumau or "House of Fire," which often contains a boiling, bubbling bub-bling mass of molten lava whose surface fluctuates from bottom to rim. Until 1924 molten lava was usually visible at any time in Halemaumau, but activity since then has been spasmodic. Its risings are accompanied by brilliant fountains and inflows of liquid lava, and its Iowerings by tremendous avalanches which send up enormous dust clouds. To the west of Kilauea rises the vast dome of Mauna Loa whose summit crater, Mokuaweoweo, is included in the national park.' Included In-cluded also is a broad connecting belt between the two volcanoes. Mauna Loa thrusts it great bulk 13,680 feet above the surrounding Pacific. By eruptions in its summit crater and by flank outbreaks it is constantly adding to its mass. In action Mauna Loa is even more spectacular than Kilauea, and steam vents continually send feathery feath-ery clouds into the air. Extending northeast and southwest from the summit are volcanic rifts with many deep rents formed by earthquake earth-quake and eruption as well as many brilliantly colored spatter cones some 200 feet in height. Twice since 1880 the City of Hilo at the base of the volcano has been threatened by great rivers of lava which have I flowed down the sides of the mountain. l TV? f . t S - : ' HALEAKALA SECTION of Hawaii Ha-waii National park is on the island of Maui. This volcano derives its name, which means "House of .the Sun, from a legend about the Polynesian Poly-nesian demigod Maui, who climbed to the top of Haleakala, ensnared the rays of the sun, and forced it to travel more slowly in its course so that his mother might have suffi. cient time to complete her day's work. Haleakala, now rising more than 10,000 feet above sea level was once a much higher mountain A collapse of the dome, many years ago, formed a great crater 7 miles long and 3 miles wide with walls over 1,000 feet high. VAST PIT . . . Halemaumau or "House of Fire" is a vast pit in the crater of Kilauea (Volcano, Hawaii National park. |