The Toledo chronicle. [volume] (Toledo, Tama County, Iowa) 1873-1924, 1874-10-22
Arctic Discovery.

DIR. HAYES, in letter to the New
York Tribune respecting Arctic discovery,
writes:
The route to the pole by way of Smith
Sound was first tried by DR.. Kane, and
its practicability was first demonstrated
by myself. Crossing Smith Sound with
dog sledges over the ice from DR.. Kane's
winter quarters, discovered and reached
Grinnell Land, finding everywhere near
It a smooth belt of ice of the last winters
freezing, proving that while the center
and eastern sides of the sound were
choked with heavy and almost impassa-
Bile hummocks, the west coast was en-
tirely free when the previous winter had
set in. This fact reported to DR.. Kane,
and upon my return to the United States
from that expedition | published the
opinion that by hugging the west coast a
free passage could be had through the
sound. Upon the strength of this argu-
ment my expedition of 1860 was organ
ized but not having (by reason of lack
of means) the steam power which | de-
sired, l was unable to reach the west
coast in the teeth of heavy gales and
drifting ice-ficlds, and was forced into
winter quarters, with my little schooner
badly crippled, on the east side in lati
tude IS deg. II min. In this respect my
fortune was exactly that of DR.. Kane,
neither OF us having steam power.
From winter quarters | travelled north
with og-sledges over the ice nearly
300 miles, measured as the crow flies,
until | was arrested by open water a
little below latitude 80 deg, my highest
determined position by solar altitude be-
ing 81 degrees, 81 minutes, on Grinnell
Land. Beyond this l made good pull
northward, but having no solar altitude
l could not fix my position beyond 81
degrees, 81 minutes with accuracy. Capt.
Hall traversed Smith Sound in the
steamer Polaris without difficulty. as
had long before predicted could be done,
and passing over the route which l had
passed over with dog -sledges, he reached
the open water which l had sighted.
His highest latitude was 80 degrees, 16
minutes-some twenty five or thirty
miles nearer the pole than mine. But
he was there in August, most open
month, while was there in May, before
thawing had fairly set in. He was in a
ship, and in dogsledge, but the open
sea was to both our eyes the same, and,
as believe, in both cases illimitable,
except as here and there obstructed by
loose, drifting fields of ice. The high
way to the Pole was, | believe, open to
Capt. Hail. and had he lived, l be-
lieyc he would have reachedit it. l believe
the same thing could have been done by
my old commander, Dr. Kane, in August,
1858, and by myself in 1860 had either
of US been blessed with steam; and be
lieve, as / have repeatedly asserted pub
licly thnt Al =
with steam power any year, and in proof
Of this we may cite the fact that Capt.
Hall experienced no difficulty what
ever in the Polaris, which, as if it
were but pleasure voyage, steamed
in six days from Upernavik to the
highest point ever reached by any YES
sci; and even the land he sighted beyond
must, think, have been something fur
ther north than latitude SO de-
grees, which seems to have been the
northernmost point-Cape Vienna-seen
by the gallant officers of the Tegetthotf.
For in 1861 | traced the outline of the
land, which named Cape Union, on the
west side Gmperfectly traced, it is true,
owing to the great difficulties of the sit
uation) to latitude 81 degrees, 45
seconds, and Capt. Hall must have seen
land beyond this.
SO / must think the American Grinnell
Land must have been little further
north than the Francis Joseph Land OF
Messrs. Payer and Weyprecht. take
some pride in thinking this, as it is not
only an American discovery but my own,
and has been traversed by no other
white man except my one companion in
1854, and my three companions in 1861.
l think l may still, therefore, claim the
discovery of the most northern known
body Of land on the globe, for on the
Greenland side Capt. Hall did not ex-
tend the surveys of DR.. Kane (Which ter
minated about latitude go degrees,
so seconds) so far north as he sighted
beyond my own surveys on the opposite
side. | have said this much in order
that l might show some grounds for as
serting my belief with you that Smiths
Sound is "the most, or only, available
route to the pole"