Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1876-11-23
Enough of Arctic Explorations.

THE recent return of the steamers
Alert and Discovery from a fruitless
mission to the frozen region about the
! North Pole seems to call to mind how
much treasure has been Squandered.
how much suffering has been endured
| and how many lives have been lost in
the vain attempt to penetrate an
ocean which nature closed by impass-
| able barriers. Scarcely had Columbus
published his account of the discovery
Of this continent before John Cabot
set about finding way of reaching
India by sailing north of the newly
found continent. His first voyage in
this direction was made in 1897, and
was attended by severe hardShipS.
During the following two hundred
years some two hundred voyages
were made by different navigators to
the same frozen sea. Great Britain
took the lead of the commercial ma
tions in undertaking to find a north
west passage to the Pacific Ocean. A
reward of $4,000 was offered to the
fortunate individual who would sail
from sea to sea. Some thirty eXpe-
ditions have been fitted out by Great
Britain alone. for the purpose of dis
covering a Northwest passage. The
same Nation sought to encourage ex-
ploration by comforting titles and dis
tinctions on the men who hazarded
their lives in the perilous undertaking.
Parry, Franklin, Ross, Book and
Richardson were all knighted for the
services they were supposed to render
their country by the explorations they
made in the regions about which we
know SO little, but of which we know
quite enough, after all
The expedition which attracted the
most attention was the one COM
manded by Sir John Franklin. The
two vessels, the Erebus and Terror,
which conveyed his party, left England
May "a, 1S45, but never returned. The
loss of the brave men who constituted
this party seemed to stimulate rather
than discourage the spirit of adven-
ture. There were now two things in
stead of one to find-the lost party
and the passage they went to discover.
TWenty-one expeditions in all sailed
from different countries for the pur-
pose of obtaining information in re-
gard to the fate of Sir John Franklin.
Great Britain offered rewards amount
ing to $4,000 for his discovery, and
expended S., 900, 600 in the various ex-
peditions sent out. A spirit of rivalry
sprung up among the different nations
to see which would penetrate the vast
frozen sea the greater distance. This
spirit was shared by the people of the
United States, as was shown by the
expeditions of Kane, Hayes, and
others.
These expeditions resulted in little
else than in demonstrating that there
is no passage available for the purpose
Of navigation, and in obtaining some
evidence that there exists an open sea
about the North Pole. The expedition
lately returned to England found the
best proof against the existence of
such a sea. The party which
composed 1t found ice varying
from eighty to $50 feet in thick
ness, and so broken and rugged
that a progress of only a mile per day
could be made over it. 1t is to be
hoped that the day for Arctic expedi-
tiOns has passed. 1t is not possible
that any benefits to commerce can re-
suit from them, and it is very hard to
see in what way science is to be bene-
fitted by future Arctic voyages. Had
the money that has been spent in fruit
less expeditions in the direction of the
North Pole been employed in stimu-
lating discoverers in practical science,
the world might have been better and
wiser therefor. Half the people in
this country rely on soft coal for fuel,
but we have not found out how to
burn it without having the best por-
tions of it pass into the air in the
shape of SCOT or unconsumed gas.
Botanists inform us that no use has
been found for thirty-nine-fortieths of
the plants now known to them. We
are in comparative ignorance to-day
of the science of making steel, and
still our civilization largely depends
on it's manufacture. With so many
things to find out, any one of which
would be of immense value to the
world, we may as we'll remain awhile
in ignorance of some matters pertain
ing to the Polar Sea.-Chtca9o Times.
Cuin II,