Wisconsin tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1847-1854, 1853-11-03
DlSCoTERY OF A NORTH WEST PASSAGE.

by the Asia we have intelligence of the
discovery of a Northwestern passage
Commander Mcclure, of the British Ma
WIS the fortunate man who has thus rem
dered himself forever famous. We con-
dense from the n Y Evening Post on
! this subject
]. The course Of Commander Mcclure. as
near as we can gather it from the brief
announcement of tl.e fact made by the
English Admiralty. sas through the Pr.
OF Wales Straits, connecting with Bar.
rows Straits. to cliff, south of Melville
Island, called Banks Land. and thence
through foes or hammocks of almost i'm
penelrable ice, TO place called Baring's
Island. to the Bay of Mercy The pre-
else position of this island we are unable
to ascertain, but it seems to be sufficient
iy FAR east, and near to the cutie; of Behr-
ing Straits, on the coast Of Asia to settle
the question of the practicability of the
passage
Among the first adventures who st,
tempted this hyperborcan way were two
Portuguese brothers. uamed Cortereal who
In the early part of the sixteenth century.
sailed towards the Pole and were heard
of no more Sir Hugh Willoughbv. some
fifty years later, sought to find China be-
yond the coast of Labrador. but both he
and his crew left their bodies on the fro.
zen plains, where they were found by the
Esqulmaux Indians. Sir Humphry Gil
bert, at subsequent period, went down
Oft the coast of ewfoundland, in making
similar experiment In 1910 Hudson,
the famous navigator, after discovering
Hudson's Bay, was set adrift va eight
of his hardy sailors, by a mutinous por-
tion of his crew, aud was supposed to
be destroyed by the icebergs In 1923.
Bafin added the vast inlet of the sea.
since called by his name. to our Arctic
geography In l74l, Bchring Russian,
explored the straits on the eastern side Of
the continent ! and in l773 Capt Phip-
pes made many explorations ON the North;
but the Arctic discovery of modern times
may be said to have begun in 1918; with
Sir John Ross who passed through Davis
Straits and Bafin's Bay to Lancaster Sd.
The next year, Franklin undertook to
trace the looEed for passage without meet
ing with much success The same year
Lieutenant Parry had discovered We'll
lington's Channel, Regents Inlet. Bath
urst's, Byam. Martins, Melville, ana ott-
er islands. now called the Parry Islands.
These places have ever since been the ul.
tima:e landmark of Arctic research.-
Parry, Ross, and Captain Franklin, made
subsequent voyages, all of which added
something to our information. and in 1880
and 1886, Captain Bach went eastward
beyond Franklin's Point but these ex-
plorations were nearly all carried on with
IN and below the declinatons of Parry
1t will be seen therefore. if Commander
McCiure has gone sufficiently bey ond
Banks Land to enter the region of Capt.
Beechy's discoveries in 1896, to the north
! of Behring's Straits, he has solved the
problem of a northwest passage
We are inclined to think. however. that
the Post has overlooked previous equal
ly successful solution Of this problem =
Sir George Simpson, Governor of the
hudson Bay Company, somewhere about
the year 1910, if we remember Alright,
started from one of the Company's posts,
with a small party, and by means of ca.
noes and sledges penetrated the farthest
western point of previous discoverv--ani
from thence by the same means. followed
the shores OF the Arctic Ocean until he
reached point previously reached oy
navigators from the west; thus conclusive.
ly demonstrating the existence of the long
sought Northwest Passage - 1oIsci5 i'd.
UeitiSer