|
|
Article: Death came: Not this day
- Article from:
- Boys' Life
- Article date:
- September 1, 2003
- Author:
CopyrightCopyright Boy Scouts of America Sep 2003. Provided by ProQuest LLC. (Hide copyright information)
|
History told them Alaska was a rough, treacherous place. But these Scouts had to find out for themselves. Boy, did they.
Ivan Orloff cowered in his hut, trembling at the roar of Mount Novarupta. For three days, the volcano shook the earth, triggered tidal waves and spewed an ash cloud that would reach nearly around the world.
"Night and day we light lamps," Orloff, a Russian fisherman, wrote from Kaflia Bay, Alaska, 30 miles from the volcano. "We cannot see the daylight...and we are expecting death at any moment.... Pray for us."
Orloff survived that week in June 1912, an ordeal typical of Alaska's turbulent history. Millions of years ago, scientists say, all of what is now Alaska was ...