Show F Alaska 8 4 4 it at Y 1 harbor on southern coast of alaska peninsula pre prepared pared hy by the llie national r society So cley washington Washl neton D C ANS of colonel and mrs airs lind P croli to ali ly to the orient and their firby reported intention to fly westward focuses attention on tile the air route to asia along alanskas southeast panhandle the great A alaska as peninsula and the aleutian islands all under american jurisdiction a part of tile the soviet union and the aurile islands northern norl hern extension of japan the route Is an ideal one as for as landing places are concerned for planes fitted with pontoons pon for while arnot of tile ground Is rough there are innumerable coves and harbors among the islands and in their in dented coastlines coast lines the route was first shown to be practicable by the group of united states army fliers who flew around the world in 1924 the first leg of the route after the united states proper Is left leads oer the straits along the west coast of british columbia then over the island studded inland Ilas passage sage of southeast alaska beyond the northern end of the inland passage comes the open water of the gulf of alaska until kodiak island Is 19 reached south of the alaska peninsula tl Is from the tip of this peninsula that the 1500 mile crescent of the aleutian Ale ution island chain sweeps off toward asia the aleutians Aleut lans ians are volcanic a fact made plain by the first and largest of the stepping stones although it has an area only it a little larger than rhode island so many craters occur on island that there Is often a great deal of confusion as to the location of the various eruptions reported mount ShI din often reported active Is the most striking and beautiful of the eleven major craters of the island it lias has one of the most nearly perfect cones in the world seeming scorning to float suspended in the air aboe its cloud girt base what Is like despite Uni maks size and its separation from the mainland of alaska by only a narrow strip of water it Is of little importance there are no good harbors arbors li around its shores and only one settlement cape village Is listed cod 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 sulphur and pumice stone are the principal industries dus tries the inhabitants tire are mostly the remnants of the original native tribes found here by the russians in the eighteenth EIghteen tb century like its sister islands Is in general desolate tind and scraggy gy along its grass covered lower slopes it Is 19 treeless and except for its heavy rainfall tind and fogs has a delightful climate summers in are cooler than places farther north while in winter tile llie weather Is milder than that of tennessee or kentucky twenty degrees of latitude farther south the warm japan current which creeps up tip the coast of asia tind and around tile the aleutians Aleut ians gives it a january everag agi of thirty d degrees grees above ahova yoro vero crappes of all kinds kind grow in ili abend ance on the lou lowlands lands all year benr round hut but the climate Is too limp 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 whore where firms farms of any size can lie made small though the island Is the interior has neier neer been thoroughly explored and other islands of the aleutian chain believed to be the route by which man first migrated to the western hemisphere should he better known to the world at large for they adeon the shortest route ile be tween our northwestern states and japan the great expanse of tile the ila ia and the curvature of tile the earth places yokohama i almost due no northwest rth of seattle if one follows the most direct path the american world flyers remember as part of one of the he most difficult stages in their globe el circling trip port moller tile community to which major martin made liis ills wily way on foot after ills his plane crashed Is about miles farther cast the district presented the same pitfalls for avla aviators tors as conical conica peaks and sharp ridges rising suddenly out of dreary tog fog hidden bidden ras and marihus marih ps portage bay where a forced landing was made Is on the mainland opposite kodiak island but bui Is similar to the few indentations of maks shoreline with rocky dins cliffs and treacherous sand shoals the aleutians Aleut ians however have an added handicap in the wiilie ll 11 cyclonic winds peculiar to the region and probably attributable to the meet in lug of the cold winds from the north and the warm breezes from the japan current In Un alaska alasha a bundred miles farther east la Is the beconi largest larg cst of tile the on oil it Is situated dutch bor port of if cull call for vessels plying between seattle find nome this barbor lins has deep def water nt its iN harlett and i a protected anchorage that could he ac the largest battle fleet I 1 1 it lip shortest sea route between seattle and Yol yokohama ohania the ho great circle route lies iles practically through dutch harbor and it may some time become an important coaling and provisioning point because of tile lie dangers lun gers from fogs and rocks however ships now swing well south of the aleutians Alent Aleut lans ians only a few withes and v bites live nt dutch harbor nearby Is the village of a native community the aleutians Aleu Aleut tiina ians were born of volcanic v 01 action and the activity Is not yet spent bog bogoslow Bogo goslow island some 50 in miles iles from dutch klaibor IIa fla ibor Is continually changing its form rearing one smoking promontory after another above the waves and withdrawing others ot liers volcanoes are to be found in the aleutians Aleut lans ians in every stage of development young ond aged volcanoes active and dormant not only cones whose symmetry rivals that of fujiyama but also the jagged stumps of mountains that have hare been blown to bits by recent volcanic explosions consider it one of the best beat known fields for the study of the problems of aatu attu aatu attu Is the easternmost of the aleutian islands 2700 miles from the coast of washington state because the international ter date line lies iles just beyond attu aatu an airman rising from the island to continue his big flight plunges directly into another day without the lapse of any time thus if he starts from this westernmost american station monday morning he be will be lying flying a few moments later in the morning of tile the day that to the eastern hemisphere Is tuesday traveling in the aleutian route strikes the main land of asia nt at the coast of miles east cast of attu aatu this peninsula and the country north of it to the bering strait contains a large area of tundra or arctic plains soft spongy morasses during the few months of summer frozen snow covered wastes in winter in the higher land impenetrable underbrush springs up in summer what little e travel is possible at this season Is done on the backs of sturdy ponies it ho must wade up the shallow streams or plod through the sticky swamps in winter travel Is easy tennis teams of dogs and reindeer whisk laden sledges 0 or er the frozen surface of the streams and neross across the of tile the tundra at a rate under favorable circumstances of 73 miles or more a day in tile the summer the curse of the moist regions of the north str strikes ikes the country swarms of mosquitoes and hies flies thicken tile the air and malce make life miserable for all living livine things lings ti the nomadic fee with their herds of reindeer to the sea coast whore where the breezes give some relief tile the Kam chalkan peninsula proper Is about miles in length and the distance from its roots to bering strait Is an equal distance bhatka a lies iles in the same latitude as the british isles while title the country north to the arctic ocean Is in the latitude of norway the Kam chathan region Is bathed by cold arctic currents instead of the warm gulf stream arid and its climate la Is therefore much colder than that of britain or scandinavia front from the southern tip of the aurile islands sweep southward to the major islands of japan this distant string of fog enshrouded storm lashed islands Is the most westerly group of the north cs bridge of islands like the aleutians Aleut lans ians the auriles are a string of volcanic peaks dent dead and alive whose smoking heads protrude above the col cold anil and stormy waters of the lie north pacific and stake out tile bellor sea ot tims thus tiey they form a haten haien fur for the japanese fishermen vho aho swarm swarin over this island girt sea in summer stretching between bhatka and the japanese island of they have long iong been known to the russians who exploited their valuable furs not until recent years have the japanese become interested in these next door neighbors tile desolate islands are a cradle of 0 blizzards hazards to the mariner and aviator alike storms find and squalls spring up tip from nowhere low lying toga fogs hug the waters surface in spring and summer hidden rocks lie in n wait for the unwary navigator and swift currents rare race through narrow str straits alts horev Ho Ilo the lost sailor may tell when lie Is close by the vast fields of brown seaweed or kelp help float on the water old salts who bo can smell the beach when near land are not it alone one in this useful ability allet ft lieu galling these foggy waters water |