The Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes

Griggs was a botanist who led a 1915 National Geographic Society expedition to observe the aftermath of the Katmai volcanic eruption in southeastern Alaska. The Mt. Katmai region was the site of one of the world’s largest volcanic explosions and the dramatic effects of that explosion are photographically and scientifically documented in this report. The eruption led to the complete devastation of all plant, animal and insect life under ashfalls of one to several hundred feet, and the subsequent flooding.