WHEN A MOUNTAIN B BY BJORN DIHLE
A
t the beginning of June 1912, Mount Katmai, a 7,000-foot volcano 40-some miles from Bristol Bay, was showing signs of coming to life. On June 6, a new volcano would come into existence – and the Aleutian Arc’s largest eruption in documented history would be underway. Part of the Pacific Ring of Fire, the Aleutian Arc stretches 1,900 miles from the Gulf of Alaska, west along the Alaska Peninsula and the Aleutian Islands, to the Kamchatka Peninsula in Russia. The range consists of more than 80 named volcanoes; around half of those have
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ALASKA SPORTING JOURNAL
been active during the last 250 years. The June 6, 1912 eruption of the new volcano, dubbed “Novarupta,” was also the biggest eruption in the 20th century.
A SEISMIC REGION Volcanoes are an inextricable part of Bristol Bay. While there is no question a volcanic eruption changes the surrounding landscape, in Bristol Bay it may also spur biodiversity and contribute to the overall productivity of the region’s incredible fishery. Some biologists have theorized that volcanic ash could, at least in certain circumstances, help trigger
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plankton blooms that feed sockeye salmon. The Yup’ik, Dena’ina and Altutiiq peoples, who have lived in Bristol Bay and the Alaska Peninsula since time immemorial, are no strangers to volcanoes and earthquakes. Their oral narratives contain protocols for what to do in the event of an eruption. That ancestral wisdom saved many lives when Novarupta blew.
VILLAGERS AFFECTED FOREVER Mount Katmai loomed above four Native villages: Katmai, Douglas (also
