Jennifer McLeod, age 11, of Fort Garry, Manitoba, Canada, for her question:

Where is the Valley of 10,000 Smokes?

In the year 1912, Alaska's volcano, Mt. Katmai, erupted with a thunderous roar heard 750 miles away. Villages within 100 miles were buried under a foot of its ashy debris and the sun was dimmed with high flying clist for several months. The remote region was explored by scientists in 1916, and in 1918, some 4,214 square miles of the territory be¬came a National Monument. Katmai National Monument is located on the Alaska Peninsula in southwestern Alaska, quite a bit south of the Arctic Circle. It is about twice the size of Death Valley and the largest area administered by the National Park Service of the United States.

When surveyed, the devastated region was torn and scarred by volcanic activity. About five miles northwest of the volcano was a valley where countless plumes of smoky gases seeped up through the ground. This eerie place was named the Valley of 10,000 Smokes. It has kept its name, though most of its smoky plumes have diminished along with the sub¬siding volcanic activity. However, Mt. Mageik and other active volcanoes still threaten the region. And the crater of Mt. Katmai, three miles wide, bears quiet testimony to the furious upheaval that created the Valley of 10,000 Smokes.