National Geographic October 1974

Big Thicket of Texas
Early settlers cut through dense tangle to make homesites in the wild region northwest of Beaumont, now proposed for a national preserve.
Bhutan Crowns a New Dragon King
Surrounded by Buddhist ritual, an 18- year- old becomes the fourth hereditary king of the sequestered Himalayan nation.
Skylab { The Sun Unveiled; The Sun As Never Seen Before}
Skylab’s telescopes have observed the birth of a solar flare, storms, bright points, and coronal features.
Skylab { Skylab Looks at Earth}
The manned orbiting laboratory called Skylab carried multiple cameras and sensors that surveyed Earth’s crops, woodlands, and soil types, detected pollution, and studied clouds, sea, and snow cover.
Skylab { Skylab, Outpost on the Frontier of Space}
Skylab, America’s first manned orbiting laboratory, visited by three separate missions, has harvested a spectacular wealth of data to analyze.
Ghosts of the Gulf Stream: Blue- Water Plankton { Blue- Water Plankton: Ghosts of the Gulf Stream}
Scuba- diving researchers in Bahamian waters collect and count drifting organisms often too delicate to survive capture with nets.
Atka, Rugged Home of My Aleut Friends
On the far reaches of Alaska’s Aleutian Islands, families that long ago survived Russian slaughter and white man’s diseases battle poverty and isolation.