Mt. Katmai Eruption
An Event To Remember
By Forrest A. Norton
Thursday, June 6, 1912, dawned
dear and bright over the Island of
Kodiak and the busy fishing vil
lage on its eastern shore. The
people of Kodiak went about their
daily activities, children played in
happy groups or fished in the near
by lakes, with no thought that this
was a never-to-be-forgotten day in
their lives.
About mid-afternoon an awe
some cloud appeared and by five
o’clock the air was filled with
breath choking dust. As the eve
ning lengthened the dust became
thicker and breathing more diffi
cult. Earth shocks, heavy rumb
lings, noxious gases and the ever
present dust created a night of
terror for all the people of Kodiak
and vicinity.
The morning of the 7th of June
was so dark that electric lights
and lanterns were ineffective and
protective cloths across the face
only partially blocked the choking
dust from the nose and mouth.
Many inches of volcanic ash had
fallen. Around mid-morning the
air began to clear and the people
believed the violent “storm” had
ceased. All the domestic water was
fouled but the U. S. Revenue Ser
vice cutter Manning, the schooner
Metha Nelson and other vessels in
the harbor provided water for the
inhabitants.
At noon on the 7th ash again be
gan to fall and by 2 o’clock the
day had turned to pitch darkness.
More than 800 people sought
shelter in a warehouse on the
wharf and aboard the vessels at
anchor in the harbor. Officers of
the ships gave up their quarters to
the women and children
As the ash fall continued una
bated the people were all invited
aboard the ships. More than 500
people took refuge aboard the.
Manning and the remainder went
aboard the Metha Nelson, the
barge St. James and the tug Print
er. Most of these vessels moved to
the vicinity of Woody Island so
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that a dash to the open sea could
be made in safety if it became
necessary.
June 8th began as dark and fear
some as the day before but by
mid-afternoon the fall of ash be
gan to decrease and the sky
emerged with a reddish cast. Ob
jects began to appear in the murk
but nothing seemed familiar.
Everything was covered and coat
ed with volcanic ash. The earth
continued to rumble and there
was great fear that the worst was
yet to come.
Sometime during the night of
the 7th, at the heighth of the ash
fall, a large building had burned
to the ground and the glare of the
fire had not revealed itself 10
people in the near vicinity. It was
also discovered the buildings at
the wireless station on Woody Is
land had been destroyed by fire.
Electrical disturbances were so
intense that wireless communica
tion was useless and it was not
until the 12th of June that the
Manning established contact with
an expedition then in Shelikof
Strait and learned that Mt. Katmai
had been the source of the disturb
ance.
It has since been determined
that almost seven cubic miles of
volcanic material had been blown
into the sky in the greatest single
volcanic eruption ever known.
Only a short time ago our nuclear
scientists created a man-made dis
turbance that completely obliterat
ed a small island in the Pacific
but even that could not compare
to the eruption of Mt. Katmai.
A few deaths were indirectly
connected with the eruption but
many were the fearful experiences
of the people of Kodiak. The in
domitable spirit of the people
would not let them give up and
the inhabitants returned to their
ash-filled and damaged homes.
They moved vast quantities of ash
from the houses and repaired the
damages. They shoveled uncounted
tons of breath choking dust to re
habilitate their places of business
and again life began to resume a
normal routine.
Now, 44 years later, the disaster
that struck on that bright June
day in 1912 has faded to an almost
forgotten memory. The new arriv
al on Kodiak must search for evi
dence of that awesome time. The
ash that fell has enriched the soil
and deep rooted, dense vegitation
has obscured the surface signs of
that great eruption.
Through the years since that
fateful day numerous expeditions
of the National Geographic Socie
ty and other groups have establish
ed the authenticity of the original
assumption that the center of the
disturbance was Mt. Katmai. Until
this year no one has disputed the
title of Mt. Katmai as the focal
point of the greatest single erup
tion ever witnessed by man. There
are now two Californians who
claim it was not Mt. Katmai'that
spread a pall of ash across thous
ands of square miles of land and
sea but that" the source was in real
ity Mt. Novarupta which lies in
the shadow of Mt. Katmai.
Kodiak lies dose to the con tar
of the largest number of active
and inactive volcanoes in the
world. From the lofty peaks of the
Wrangell Range east of Anchorage,
out along the Alaska Peninsula
and on out the length of the Aleu
tian Islands are situated many vol
canoes which are active in a great
er or lesser degree. At Anchorage,
in July, 1953, the ash fall from Mt.
Spurr caused the snowy peaks of
the Chugach Mountains to turn
black from a coating of volcanic
dust. Out along the "Chain” there
may be seen mildly active vol
canoes spreading a mantle of black
over their snow white shoulders
and shrouding their peaks in
clouds of steam. Other volcanoes
at present are showing a wisp of
steam at their vents to give evi
dence of the violent forces lying
(Continued on Page 14)
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