Katmai eruption of 1912 by eyewitness in Kodiak
Mrs Larsen, pictured here, told me the tale of her family when they experienced the Katmai eruption of 1912.
This volcano is just across the Sheilikof Straights about 100 miles distant so they were among the first to experience this mighty eruption. It was twice as powerful as Krakatoa and 10 times the blast of Mt. Saint Helens.
The whole sky became dark and started raining down ash. Mrs. Larsen and her siblings and a hired man that was staying at their place joined hands and made their way to shelter (miles away over a mountain pass). This was an incredible journey in itself.
Kodiak Island and Afognak to the north were covered in several feet of ash. It made breathing and seeing terribly difficult. Eventually they were rescued by a navy or coast guard vessel. If I remember right they had to walk to Port Lions through the ash led by their hired hand.
To this day if you lift the moss in the forest you will find a thick layer of ash underneath. I wish that I could remember the story better because she and a few others living on the west side of Kokiak were the closest eyewitnesses to one of the greatest volcanic explosions recorded in human history.
Mrs Larsen told me about it some time ago (1980’s) as we sat around eating some smoked salmon she had made. She was a tough lady living out there in Uganik Bay on her own. She had a spark and zest for life.
I wish that I had paid closer attention and wrote down her story then as it was a fascinating piece of history that should have been preserved. Larsen bay on Kodiak was named for her father or grandfather.
Kodiak Alaska – Katmai Eruption
Climbing Mount Apo
General Santos
Growing Orchids
Judy's Resto Bar
Logging with Motorcycles
Mount Mayon
Balabac Island
Biri Island
Calbiga Cave
Capul Island
Mangrove Swamp Palawan
Mikes's Resort
Amazing story really – amazing woman Mrs Larsen !
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What were Ed and I doing over there in Larsen bay?
Well Ed Van Fleet owned Castle Cape Roofing there in Kodiak and I worked for him back in the day. He was a great guy to work with and we landed up doing a lot of unusual jobs back then in the 1980″s. Or purpose was to repair Mrs Larson’s roof but there is no road over there from Kodiak City where we were based.
Therefore Ed proposed to use my flat bottom over sized herring skiff and load it with supplies and he would pay the fuel and I use my skiff to get us down there. We took a bunch of rolls of roofing, buckets of tar and nails and edge metal and were on our way! It was a bit of a chop getting through Whale Pass but we had a blast.
Mrs Larsen let us stay overnight at her place and regaled to us the tales of the Katmai eruption and life in general. She was one tough cookie and fed us smoked salmon and rice that she just made.
We got the job done in two days and headed back to Kodiak. The skiff went a lot faster as we had unloaded a lot of weight on the project.
She was happy with the results and we had a good feeling about the whole trip as well.
dp
(the smoked salmon she gave us was fantastic !)
I had a lot of cool experiences there in Kodiak , Afognak and Shuyak Islands back in those days.
Fishing for salmon, halibut, crab kept me busy and I even did razor clamming down there on the Karluk beach area which is hard work on low tide but we dug heaps of razor clams (and that area is very beautiful and uncrowded to me). I like.
I had moved on but made a return trip to Kodiak from Homer AK on the Alaska Marine Highway System a few years ago. The Near Island Bridge was completed and there is a big boat harbor over there now on Near Island. I took my van on the Tustemena ferry and it was a good memory but things changed a lot from the old days. It had been a hard partying , bar hopping , king crab fishing and church going place. Tony’s , The Anchor, Beachcombers , The Village, B and B , etc ha ha . Yikes anyways I will pass on the story telling :)
But I did make a run to Pashagshak and Fossile Beach – really the only road camping left . ( well Buskin river but that doesn’t fit in my plans)
The new museum in Kodiak is pretty nice and there is a new library and big High School. I really liked the old library where many of us would while away winter days reading from a good selection on the shelves but things have changed over the years of course. It was a good history for me especially fishing the Albatross Bank way off shore.
I prefer fishing out of Dutch Harbor now days.
and working western Alaska in general
dp