Katmai Building in an Ashen Land: Historic Resource Study

Historic Properties Summary and Recommendations

The National Geographic Society's Katmai expedition built Savonoski Cabin and Lagoon Camp Cabin. Following the expedition's use of the Savonoski cabin, trapper Richard Mitchell used this cabin as his residence in the mid-1930s (see Chapter 8). In 1940, Mitchell's cabin was visited by NPS personnel Frank Been and Victor Cahalane and was noted as being in good shape. In 1945, Grant Pearson's NPS report included the aerial observation of a log cabin with a tin roof located near the mouth of the Ukak River. The river, however, was cutting into the site and it appeared that cabin would eventually be washed out. No site visit to the Lagoon Cabin has been recorded. The NGS also built at least a portion of a cabin at Ukak Camp, ten miles south of Savonoski village. It is recommended that historic archeological investigations search for remains of the 1919 NGS cabins built at Savonoski, Ukak, and Lagoon camps.

The completed Savonoski camp cabin, 1919. Photo courtesy of University of Alaska Anchorage, Archives and Manuscripts Department, National Geographic Society Katmai Expeditions Collection, Box 6, 7468.

Rock Cairns: The National Geographic Society Katmai Expedition members built rock cairns for surveying purposes. It is recommended that field notes that were used by members from 1915-1919 be researched to determine where rock cairns were built. A survey of these structures is then recommended to investigate what remains of them. One such survey marker was known to exist at, or near, the summit of Dumpling Mountain.

If historical archeological remains exist for the above features, it is recommended that a Multiple Property Documentation form be prepared to nominate these historic resources to the National Register of Historic Places. Such a form provides a streamline method for organizing and registering properties.

The Baked Mountain cabin, located just south of the mountain, was built by the University of Alaska's Geophysical Institute as a base camp for conducting their earthquake investigations in 1965. Twenty-five years later, in 1990, the cabin complex was refurbished. As this appears to be the only historic building within the Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes related to scientific research, a site visit is recommended to help determine if the structure is maintaining its historic integrity for possible future listing on the National Register of Historic Places.

Endnotes

¹ Hussey, Embattled Katmai, 319.

² Ibid., 293.

³ George C. Martin's "The Recent Eruption of Katmai Volcano in Alaska," National Geographic Magazine (24 February, 1913), 131-81.

⁴ Hussey, Embattled Katmai, 372.

⁵ Griggs, The Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes, 71.

⁶ Hussey, Embattled Katmai, 382.

⁷ Griggs, The Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes, 192.

⁸ Ibid., 195.

⁹ Ibid., 74.

¹⁰ Ibid., 215.

¹¹ University of Alaska Anchorage, Archives and Manuscripts Department, National Geographic Society Katmai Expeditions Collection, Box 6, 5661, 5901, 7451.

¹² Griggs, The Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes, 79.

¹³ University of Alaska Anchorage, Archives and Manuscripts Department, National Geographic Society Katmai Expeditions Collection, Box 6, 595; Box 7, 6254X; Box 8, 6575.

¹⁴ Griggs, in The Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes, 333, credits Kodiak storekeeper W. J. Erskine with supplying their whole outfit for two of the expedition years and Frank B. Petersen, president of the Naknek Packing Company, and his associates for assisting the 1918 and 1919 parties with their transportation and supplies via the Naknek River route.

¹⁵ Griggs, The Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes, 74-75.

¹⁶ University of Alaska Anchorage, Archives and Manuscripts Department, National Geographic Society Katmai Expeditions Collection, Box 6, H377, 5169, 7335, 7366, 7372, 7373, 7397; Box 7, 6305. The specific location of Ukak Camp in not known. Comtemporary maps suggest it was located either in T20S, R36W, Sec. 31, SW1/4 or T20S, R37W, Sec. 36, SE1/4.

¹⁷ Griggs, The Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes, 226-231.

¹⁸ University of Alaska Anchorage, Archives and Manuscripts Department, National Geographic Society Katmai Expeditions Collection, Box 5, 7142.

¹⁹ Norris, Isolated Paradise, 44-45. Hubbard's writings about his Katmai experiences include: Mush You Malemutes (New York, America Press, 1932); Cradle of the Storms (New York, Dodd, Mead, 1935); "Volcanoes Packed in Ice: An Explorer's Adventures in Alaska," Saturday Evening Post 203 (August 23, 1930), 18-19 and "The Heart of Fire Mountain," Saturday Evening Post 209 (July 30, 1932), 14-15.

²⁰ Norris, Isolated Paradise, 381-384.

²¹ Ibid., 385-386.

²² Ibid., 386-387.

²³ Ibid., 392.