VALLEY OF TEN THOUSAND SMOKES, a volcanic region in Alaska, which came into being at the time of the eruption of Mt. Katmai on the Alaskan peninsula on June 6, 1912. An ancient trail led through the valley, so that it was well-known to have been rich in plant and animal life, a favourite hunting-ground of the natives. One of the first events in the Katmai eruption was the bursting forth of a new volcano, Nova Rupta, in the floor of one arm of the valley. Probably from this vent, and other smaller ones, issued the great flow of incandescent sand which filled the floor of the valley, 17m. in length and 4m. in width, utterly con suming everything in its path until it reached the lower end of the valley, where the trees were merely turned to charcoal. At the time of its discovery not ten thousand but millions of jets of steam were issuing from the floor of the valley from vents ranging in size from a tiny crack to pits or craters I soft. in diameter. In temperature they ranged up to 1,200° F., hot enough to melt zinc and to set ablaze a stick held in the steam. Immediately following the hot sand flow Mt. Katmai exploded. Its three-peaked snow covered crown was blown to atoms, leaving a crater 3m. wide,
containing a lake 3,7ooft. below the crater rim. Five cu.m. of ash were thrown out, covering Kodiak island, loom. away, with a blanket a foot deep. Acid rains fell in Cordova, 36om. distant, while the fumes tarnished brass in Victoria, B.C., 1,500m. away. The haze was noted in Virginia and at the Bureau of Standards in Washington, D.C. The dust from Katmai thrown into the higher layers of atmosphere robbed the North Temperate Zone of io% of the sun's heat in the summer of 1912. Because Katmai is located in a region almost uninhabited, not a human being lost his life, though this eruption was one of the largest ever known.
The Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes and its neighbouring won ders were discovered by Robert F. Griggs, director of the National Geographic Society's expeditions of 1915-16-17-18-19. This re gion proved to be so stupendous a volcanic laboratory as well as so rich in scenic value that in Sept. 1918 President Wilson set aside the whole district, comprising more than a million acres as the Katmai National Monument. (L. T. G.)