Newspaper Page Text
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Utmisand Smokes
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-(Prepared by the National Geographic So
ciety, Washington, D. C.)
On (lie Alaskan peninsula, out of
reach Just now but more accessible
than was I lie Yellowstone national
park when it was established, Ameri
cans possess a wonderful national
monument and potential rival for
Yellowstone about which many of
them know little. It is the Valley of
Ten Thousand Smokes, a wonderful
area of steaming fissures unlike any
thing else in tlie world. Tills marvel
ous valley may be considered a by
product of the great eruption ft? Knt
mai volcano In 1912, one of ' j most
stupendous volcanic explosi.f" j his
toric times. The existence"val-
I }|
ley was not even suspevcted , an
expedition sent out by Nav’UHl
Geographic society to study <) her
phases of the devastated area sudd~n
ly came upon its myriads of ftimariJes
sending their faint wisps and roaring
volumes of steam into the atmos
nliere.
Tills is one of tlie greatest womlers
of the world, if not Indeed the very
greatest of all the wonders on the
face of the earth. The valley cannot
he described; only after one has spent
many days within Its coniines does one
begin to grasp the proportions.
To one coining for the first time into
the valley there seems but the thin
nest of rinds between himself and
molten material below. Several times
when members of the exploring party
accidentally put a foot through a thin
place in the crust, steam came spout
ing out of the hole, forming anew
fumarole. But it was always one foot
only and the owner did not take long
to get it out.
In many places the valley round
about the vents is covered with a pe
culiar blue mud, thinly coated with a
chestnut brown crust, which some
times supports one and sometimes
gives way suddenly, letting one down
to his shoetops in the soft, scalding
mud beneath. At such times one is
apt to feel that ids feet are taking
hold on hell in very truth, particular
ly if the place happens to look “tick
lish” otherwise.
Vents All Down the Vdlley.
The area in which the vents occur
Is not a simple valley but Includes a
complicated system of branches, the
whole forming a tract of very irregu
lar shape. The main line of activity
extends directly transverse to the
axis of the Alaskan peninsula from
Katmai pass northwestward toward
the head of Naknek lake. In this di
rection vents occur all the way down
the valley as far as the bend to the
north. There Is clear evidence that
when the steam jets burst forth this
line of activity also extended straight
across the pass and down through the
upper valley of Magelk creek to Ob
servation mountain.
Activity occurs in various branches
of the main valley. The total length
of all of these smoking valleys Is 32
miles. The area is 70 square miles,
the average width being something
over two miles.
One of the questions most frequent
ly asked by persons interested in the
region Is whether or not there are
geysers. None was observed, and the
conditions are such ns to make their
development unlikely for the present.
Geysers belong to a declining stage
-f volcanic activity, while the present
region is in a youthful stage. A gey
ser consists essentially of a column
of hot water mixed with steam, which
Is periodically projected Into the air
by the sudden formation of the steam
from water gradually heating up to
the boiling point.
A geyser can exist, therefore, only
in rock cool enough to permit the ac
cumlation of the water. The vents
of this steaming valley are so hot
Waiting for Supper at a Steam Oven.
that they would instantly vaporize
any ordinary quantity of water that
might find its way into them. One
can readily see that if the valley cools
off gradually there may come a time
favorable for the formation of gey
sers.
To attempt any catalogue of the in
dividual vents or any description of
them would be utterly futile. They
vary all the way from miscroseopic
jets of gas to mighty columns of
smoke which overtop the mountains.
To explore the valley thoroughly and
become acquainted with the charac
ters of the various vents would re
quire a residence of several months.
The smokes in general, however, may
be classed as coming either from
craters or fissures.
Craters Are Active.
The craters are much less numerous
than the fissures, but include tome of
the largest and most active of the
vents. All of them are located in the
floor of the valley, not around the
edges. They average about 100 feet
In diameter. The rims are slightly
raised above the general level, show
ing that they were produced by ex
plosive action, but the amount of
material, in these crater rings is, in
general, very much less than enough
to fill the cavity. Within they are
perfectly conical pits, sloping down
into the throat at the bottom.
The steep sides, standing at th,
critical angle, remind one of the pits
which ant lions dig in the sand. In
deed, little Imagination is required to
picture the old devil at the bottom
waiting to devour whatever slips over
the edge; for the sides are so nearly
perpendicular that if one made the
first slip lie could never get out again.
The smoke from these craters comes
out in such volume that often the hole
is completely filled and its outlines
concealed, but by waiting a few mo
ments at the windward side one can
usually see the inside of the crater,
and sometimes for an instnnt catch a
glimpse of the throat at the bottom —
usually a perpendicular tube about
ten feet in diameter leading down into
the bowels of the earth. On favorable
occasions one may see as much a ; 50
feet below the surface of the plain.
Much the greater part of the steam
in the valley comes to the surface,
not in these craters, but through the
innumerable fissures. There are read
ily seen to be two sets of these —bands
of marginal fissures, several together,
running around the edge of the valley
in parallel lines, and single central
fissures, winch crisscross the floor In
all directions.
Fantastic Mud Formations.
All of the vents, even the smallest,
whose fumes are too slight to be vis
ible, incrust the inud in their vicinity
with copious deposits, giving the ad
jacent ground a most fantastic ap
pearance. These incrustations take
on all colors imaginable and in many
places give rise to very beautiful
formations. The prevailing hues are
perhaps those due to the gray and
green and yellow alums, which build
out curious crystalline structures
simulating lichens growing on the
ground.
Over large areas the ground has
been burned to a bright red by the
heat. The variations in the intensity
of the color produced are extremely
beautiful, including, ns they do, all
shades from orange and brick red to
bright cherry reds, purples, and on
down to t lack, with occasional con
trasting streaks of blue. This type of
coloration is most pronounced in areas
originally occupied by small fumnroles
which have burned out. In places
the ground has the appearance of
having been burned with fire for a
mile at a stretch.
THE DANIELSVILLE MONITOR, DANIELSVILLE, GEORGIA.
Census Cuts
Prison Score
Federal Institutions Have an-In
crease, but State, County and
City Jails Show Decrease.
NO INMATES IN 1,390 CITIES
Figures Were Obtained as Preliminary
to Complete Decennial Census
of Prisoners to Be
Taken in 1923.
Washington.—The Department of
Commerce announces that, according
to returns received by the bureau of
the census, the number of prisoners
confined hi federal penitentiaries,
state prisons, county jails, state and
county chain or road gangs, city police
stations, and other penal institutions
on July 1, 1922, was 103,889.
Of this number 5,540 were reported
for three federal penitentiaries, 78,073
for 104 state prisons, 44,283 for 2,451
county penal institutions (principally
jails), 12,717 for 290 chain or road
gangs in certain southern states, and
21,035 for 1,319 city institutions, while
the remaining 1,041 were women com
mitted by the courts to the care of
other institutions (24 in number),
mainly under the control of religious
or charitable organizations.
Similar data were collected for July
1, 1917, but the total for that date
does not include all prisoners in chain
or road gangs, nor women committed
by the courts to the care of institutions
under the control of religious or char
itable organizations. Excluding these
from the figures for 1922, the compar
able totals for the two years are:
1922, 151,172; 1917, 150,180. These
figures include prisoners awaiting trial
and a few persons held as witnesses,
as well as prisoners serving sentence.
Report Part of Big Census.
The returns were obtained in re
sponse to a circular of inquiry which
the bureau of the census mailed to the
various institutions, as a preliminary
to the complete decennial census of
prisoners, which will be taken in 1923.
The number of prisoners in federal
penitentiaries increased from 3,018 on
July 1, 1917, to 5,540 on July 1, 1922.
During the same period the number of
inmates of state prisons increased
from 71,442 to 78,673, and of county
tBJB£ 38 S ¥ _* ' !•••.•* >■ ..t
Great crowds witnessed tlie destruction by fire of tlie Ohio river steamers
Island Queen, Cliris Greene and Tacoma at Cincinnati recently.
CAVE MAN OF THE ORIGINAL TYPE
Wife Charges Him With Series
of Forgotten Crimes.
Human Enigma in Jail in New Jersey
Is Now Blamed for Shooting for
Which Half-Brother Served
Sentence.
Philadelphia—Like a “hairy ape,”
both in appearance and in his rebellion
ugainst society, like a Robison Crusoe
in his self-sufficiency, with something
of a cave man’s characterstics in ids
disregard of clothes and comforts, Wil
liam Ware, dragged from his cave near
Stratford, N. J., is an enigma in Cam
den county jail.
He is a veritable human riddle, the
solution of which may mean the un
raveling of a number of leng-forgotten
crime mysteries in New Jersey ranging
from petty thievery to heinous out
rages.
Most of the allegations of crime
Steamers Burned at Cincinnati
jails from 41,871 to 44,283, while per
sons confined in city penal institutions
(including police stations) decreased
in number from 23,855 to 21,635.
The data as to prisoners in federal
and state penal institutions, presum
ably, are complete and accurate for
both and 1917. The combined
total of persons in such institutions
increased from 74,460 in 1917 to 84,-
213 in 1922. the rate of increase being
13.1 per cent.
The rate of Increase in federal pris
oners was 83.6 per cent; in state pris
oners, 10.1 per cent. The ratio of fed
eral prisoners per 100,000 population
increased from 3 in 1917 to 5.1 in 1922,
and the corresponding ratio for state
prisoners increased during the same
period from 72.4 to 74.5.
Corn in Lead
As Farm Crop
Only 10 Per Cent of the Entire
Product Is Consumed by.
Human Beings.
IMPORTANT Gin TO WORLD
Consumed Either Directly or in Form
of Meat It Is the Principal
Source of the Nation's
Food Supply.
Washington.- Corn, the red mans
gift to the white man, has come to
be the nation’s most important farm
crop. Consumed either directly or in
the form of meat and other animal
products, it is the-prlncipal source of
the nation’s food supply.
The 1921 year book of the Depart
ment of Agriculture shows just to
what extent the 300,000,000,000-bushel
crop forms the basis of the live-stock
industry. Forty per cent of the crop
is fed to swine on farms, 30 per cent
to horses and mules on farms and 15
per cent to enttle on farms. Only 10
against Ware of the woods are made
by his wife.
For some time the county authori
ties had been receiving complaints
from farmers of a “wild man” who
terrorized them and their women folk,
although no specific acts were alleged
against him.
When they saw Mrs. Ware she
showed them a letter she had begun,
setting forth the complaints against
her husband. Among the things she
alleges is that about eight years r.go
Ware shot a man, but eluded detec
tives. His half-brother, a man
named Hinkle, was blamed and
served a sentence for the shooting.
She also avers her husband had some
connection with a jewel robbery, 18
years ago, in which the jewels were
afterward recovered from an under
ground cache. She is, however, weak
on details. Her husband, she said, was
the brother of John Ware, the first
; man hanged In Camden county’s old
jail.
The returns for counties and •
are not comparable for the , Cltl *
for the reason that In ea!h °
larger number of institutions?'
ered for 1922 than for 1917 Co *
The only fair comparison b etWM>
the county and city figures for
years is that made with “
based on the total number of i £
tions for which reports were r ?
(.ncludtas those reporting
For county Institutions the avera*.
number of prisoners decreased t,
16.2 in 1917 to 14.7 in -922, So 3
institutions it fell from 10.1 ln J
earlier year to 8 ln the later. '
The number of empty county 1.11.
and other county institutions £
creased from 623, or 24.2 per cent of
the total for which reports were re.
ceived, in 1917, to 570, or 189 Mr
cent of the total, in 1922. On the other
hand, the number of city institutions
reporting no prisoners increased from
1,168, or 49.7 per cent of the total, in
1917 to 1,390, or 51.3 per cent of the
total, in 1922.
per cent Is used direct for human
food.
Corn was one of the most impor
tant gifts America made to the rest
of the world. The United States now
produces about three-fourths of the
world’s corn crop. That corn also is
an important crop in Argentina, Bra
zil, Mexico and some of the southern
European countries, is shown in the
report.
Disease Regulates Crop.
Weather, insects and plant diseases
have a great deal to do with regulat
ing tlie size of the crop in the United
Sttites. The estimated loss caused by
common smut alone during the period
1917-1920 was placed at about eighty
millions of bushels annually. Of in
sect pests tlie corn-ear worm, where
abundant, causes a loss of at least 7
per cent of the grain ou the < rs at
tacked. The European corn borer
also threatens to take a heavy toll.
It is stated the production of the
corn crop is financed with less bor
rowed capital than is the case with
other staple farm crops. The reason
for this is that the farmer’s income
is distributed throughout the year
more evenly than *s the case in many
other sections, and because the direct
investment in the crop consists more
of the farmer’s own labor and less of
purchased material and quipment
than is the case in many other crops.
Get Book From Congressmen.
The year book, which is obtainable
through congressional representatives
from the . department, contains much
data of interest and value to produc
ers, including chapters on production
costs and figures, financing and ad
vice on production according to sea
sonal supply and demand.
HUBBY’S VALUE sl, SAYS WILL
New York Woman Calls Helpmate
“Worthless" and Leaves
Small Bequest.
New York—“l give and bequeath
to John Klaus of the Said town of
Mount Pleasant, my worthless hus
band, the sum of sl.”
Thus read the will of Mrs. Caroline
Klaus, just filed for pfobate in White
Plains.
Surrogate Slater Stated the testa
trix left an estate valued at $5,000,
which will be divided among her chil
dren, grandchildren and distant rela
tives. Mrs. Klaus was an old resident
of Hawthorne, in Mount Pleasant
township. She referred to her hus
band in this one clause only.
William Ware Is intelligent and talks
well. He says he is no criminal and re
sents being taken to jail, although 8
did not offer physical resistance.
He wore only trousers and shoes
when they found him in his cave,
hair on his chest is two Inches long
and few chimpanzees can boa.-d m
furry forearms. His torso and ’ P
arms bulged with great muscles, lie
one of the most skillful wielders of an
ax among the woodsmen of 50
sey.
Washing Fluid Poor Seasoning
Fall River, Mass.-!' ulenu j ;
knew that something was ,
him when “his stomach began t
according to the story he t,ld
South end police. a
He bought what he * oU *£' h!iorln |
bottle of vinegar from a
grocery store and later fo.
the contents to seaso fluid he
vestlgatlon showed that . fluid
bad swallowed was a- int o
and a stomach pump
operation.