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Show Another Mountain Joins Alaska's "Jack-in-Boxes"' Islands Play ''Now You See Me, Now You Don't" Washington. Another mountain has Joined the "Jack-in-the-boxes" off Alaska. Augustine Island In Kaml-shak Kaml-shak bay, an Indentation of Cook inlet. in-let. Is reported to have been the most recent Island to present an act after the old stage formula, "now you see me, now you don't" "When an Alaskan Island seven miles In diameter and nearly 4,000 feet high erases Itself from the map. It Is front-page news everywhere except ex-cept In Alaska," says a bulletin from the National Geographic society. "Alaskan residents know that the volcanoes along a part of the territory's terri-tory's seacoast have done strange things In the past They can easily believe that a beautiful, eone-shaped mountain of today may be Jagged peak tomorrow, or that an island of this month may be beneath the waves when the next moon shines. Plays Hide and Seek. "Bogoslof of the Aleutian Islands, which belong to the same chain of volcanoes as Augustine, Is famous for Its jack-ln-the-box activities. The Island Is-land was discovered In 1790 but Its strange habits were not known until nearly a century later. At first Bogoslof was a single Island. Then suddenly appeared a companion Island Is-land which its discoverers caller Fire Island. They were Joined by a narrow nar-row strip of land. "In 1900 the American navy reported re-ported that the 'hyphen' had disappeared disap-peared and two unattached Islands appeared above the water. In 1905 a new peak appeared at Bogoslof, thus adding another bit of land to Alaska, to which Bogoslof belongs. Two years later, however, Alaska's territory was diminished when McCullock peak of Bogoslof disappeared, leaving a splendid harbor. Since, another peak has also disappeared In the sea. "A nearer neighbor of Augustine than Bogoslof, however. Is Mount Katmal, on the Alaska peninsula, whose explosion In 1912 was one of the most tremendous In history. Instead In-stead of sinking. It 'blew Its head off.' Two cubic miles of mountain top were blown away. Some of the debris was scattered over hundreds of square miles of nearby land and sea; but a large portion disappeared. being blown to dust and ash which was hurled Into the upper air and then whisked away by winds even to the far side of the earth. "Though the Inhabitants of the Cnited States were unaware of the great explosion of Mount Katmal, they felt Its effects, one of which was the cold, damp summer of 1912, caused by the Interception of sunlight by dust from the eruption. Even the clear, cloudless sky of the Sahara desert region was overcast "Fortunately Katmal was remote from congested population centers. If the explosion had occurred In New York city, the sulphurous fumes would have polluted the air as far west as the Rockies and the noise would have reverberated like an artillery ar-tillery duel across the central states. "An area around Mount KatmaL half again larger than Delaware, was-covered was-covered with a foot or more of ash enough to destroy all but the most hardy plants. "Garden of Fireworks." "America's Garden of Firework,' as Alaska's volcanic region hag been, called, also Includes the famous Valley Val-ley of Ten Thousand Smokes, a volcanic vol-canic phenomenon which has beea carefully explored by expedition-of expedition-of the National Geographic society. The valley lies near Mount KatmaL For a number of years after the Katmal Kat-mal explosion millions of columns of steam ascended from the valley floor The steam Jets are fewer now. Th fumaroles, or vents, through whlci. the steam escaped, disclosed encrustations encrusta-tions of great beauty, variety, and color. col-or. There were masses of bright yellow yel-low sulphur, chunks of ash tnrred: red and bine, and pure white encrustations encrus-tations of siliclous materlaL "Explorers of the valley cooked meals over the hissing Jets, holding their long-handled frying pans down by main force against the nprushlng-steam. nprushlng-steam. They found a natural bathing bath-ing pool, one end cold and the other hot President Wilson turned aside from the stress of war time to make this region a national monument" |
