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Our transcription: On the afternoon of June 1, 1912, one such eruption began in the vicinity of Mt. Katmai, a volcano in the Alaska range. The sky turned ominously black as an immense cloud of ash, pumice, and gas billowed up from the volcano. Volcanic activity continued relentlessly for three days. Despite several attempts to reach the site of the eruption, it wasn't until 1916, four years later, that a National Geographic expedition, led by Robert Fiske Griggs reached the scene. As the explorers first entered the valley near Katmai, they were startled to see what appeared to be thousands of small steaming volcanoes. In fact, these were not volcanoes at all but gaseous steam vents known as "fumeroles". Before the eruption, the valley had consisted of swamps and moist woodlands. When the thick layer of hot ash blanketed the ground, moisture boiled away as steam. Griggs dubbed this simmering landscape the "Valley of 10,000 Smokes".
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