Description: Kennedy and Waldron (1955) report a "strong ash explosion followed by steam and ash eruptions occurred on January 17, 1924."
It is likely that the actual date of the start of the eruption was January 6, as a news article from the Fairbanks Daily News Miner explains (February 6, 1924): "Writing from Belkofsky under date of January 16, a correspondent for the Seward Gateway tells of Mount Pavlof recent eruption as follows:
"'On January 6, Mt. Pavlof, which has been smoking for some months again erupted accompanied by * * * earthquake shocks and pitch darkness, the shocks lasting for several minutes and accompanied by a violent electrical display. The natives were very much frightened and started to pack their things preparatory to leaving the village, but they were finally calmed down by Rev. Bordukovsky who went from house to house assuring them the danger would soon be over. Since the eruption the volcano is throwing out a huge column of smoke and steam, and residents of the village believe that is is only a matter of time until the top blows off the mountain, as was the case at Mt. Katmai. It is hard to understand the terror of living under an active volcano, by people who do not see these things; the black darkness, and the violent explosions, the falling of rocks and lava, the lurid flashes of lava thrown high in the air, all produce a feeling of helplessness and terror that must be experienced to be believed."
The Modesto Evening News, May 27, 1924, states that the eruption had ceased.