VOLCANIC OUTBREAK.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XXXIX, Issue 12826, 27 July 1912, Page 3 (Supplement)

VOLCANIC OUTBREAK.

OFF THE COAST OF ALASKA

RUIN 1 AND DEVASTATION

SAN FRANCISCO, June 26. . Great destruction of property, and pos,sibly of life, 1 is reported to have occurred m the Aleutian Islands, pn the coast of Alaska, by the eruption of the Katmai volcano. These islands afford i ft > remarkable instance of volcanic activity. Twenty-five of them have volcanoes, and there are 48 craters; Ships passing them always- see. the sky a lurid red at night time. A writer upon the Aleutian Islands says: "Here, within the limits of a single century, have all the known phenomena occurred; the elevation of mountain chain and islaoids, the sinking of extensive areas of the -earth's surface, earthquakes, eruptions of lava, ashes and mud, hot springs, -and ■ explosions of steam and sulphuric gases." The island of Kodiac seems to have sustained the bulk of the damage ffon\ the eruption of Katmai. -Some 500-resi-dents on the island were taken off by the Government steamer Manning as soon as the descent of ashes began. After the outburst subsided the people regained soma confidence ahd left the ship to return to their homes^ Ruin and devastation efaced "them. ; In some places the ashes* we*e 4rom 20fb to 30ft deep, rendering' it- difficult for the people of the island to make their way about. Nearly all the ihouses were found to be m ruins', and those that ,had withstood the attack of theMhail -of ashes and stones were uninhabitable because of the fine silt which drifted through every crevice, making useless the stores of food and clothing. The. only water the people of Kodiac were able to use was that distilled from sea water by 'the Manning, all other supplies having become clogged. It was feared also that the streams had become polluted and poisoned bythe volcanic explosion. • : "^:. Reliable information received by the Federal' Government at Washington was to til© effect. -that-m ore than a thousand people had been rendered homeless. GJonV gress, on the recommendation of President Taft, voted £20,000 for the relief, of. tho islanders. Tho wireless telegraph service lias been put out of commission by the eruption, and even yet it is doubtful whether or not thea'e has been con-> siderable /loss of life on some of the other islands and on the mainland. Latest* accounts state that the rain of ashes, from the flame-spouting crater laid waste the country within a radius of 100 miles of Katmai. Mr 0. W. Carlson, an Alaska mining man, Avho has just arrived m San Francisco from the scene of the disaster, says that the ship upon which •■•h© was travelling was covered from 'stem to stern with ashes when 90> miles from the volcano. "When avo first sighted the flames shooting up"'from the crater the clay was perfectly clear," he stated, ''but ahnpst immediately afterwards the air became laden with &s)h' When dnrktiess came tho flashes pf lj^hi'-' ning that followed each other m quick succession 1 through the night made yivi^li and different hued streaks across the sky. None^of us suffered any ill effects from the dust. The birds, however, seemed >to suffer mightily. ' Millions of them began "to migrate the minute the volcand started, and we afterwards heard that all the animals that had not escaped had, like the vegetation, been killed off."