The Cincinnati daily star. [volume] ([Cincinnati, Ohio]) 1875-1880, 1876-10-28
An Alarming Suggestion.

We have been experiencing OF late
rather singular succession Of sensa.
tional items of information from the
Arctic regions. The Polar Circle is not
commonly considered very happy hunt
ing grounds for locals in search of
an item. Nevertheless the items come.
And they come sensational"
1t is but a few days since we learned
of the arrival of an American vessel
from the polar regions said to be laden
with cargo of valuable minerals from
deposites reported to have been there
found in immense but unknown quanti-
ties. That was from the Atlantic side.
Almost directly upon the heels of this
came the information that on the Pacific
side feet of American whaling ships,
eleven in all, had been caught in the ice
foes off the northermost point of Alaska
and carried off still further towards the
zoe by the DRIFT OF the ocean, with all on
board in helpless and almost hopeless
condition, most probably to perish among
The sunless fields of Arctic ice.
Scarcely had this terrible announce
ment become commonly known
before we are informed that
scandinavian mariner, one of
The race of the old vikings, had
actually succeeded in making the
passage around the northern coasts of
the European continent, commonly
or tbo -
and had reached the Pacific, thus open
ing a shorter ocean route from Europe to
China, through the polar sea. This had
been achieved, as it is claimed, by find
Ing and following the Arctic floodgate
through which the Gulf Stream pours its
heated waters into the polar sea.
This was indeed startling announce
ment to the maritime world. 1t was
The problem gwen by the Dutch nayiga-
tors and men of science, that the way to
reach the open circumpolar sea
was by following the current
Df that mighty river in the
ocean, the Gulf Stream, in its course of
enthusiastically flow, from the Atlantic
around the northern coasts Of Europe to
The Pacific. And yet, ignoring this ap-
Darently cOmmOn-sense view of the case,
Arctic explorations have been almost en-
tirely in the direction of the Northwest
Passage. 1t has been noticed for hun
hred years that the uniform drift of ice
lc Tram tln noIo couthuardc fntn warmer
Ieas. This could be accounted for only
by the theory that there was pouring
IN of an immense ocean current OF
warmer waters around the pole, whose
returning currents carried with them the
cebergs, found floating always to
NE southwark, not untrequently
Deen of our northeastern coasts. 1t was
10 find and follow this warmer current
10 the northeastward that the Dutch
,eographers advised as the means ofI
eaching the pole, as well as to open
hort route by sea to China and the
Asiatic coasts. And this latter is now
lnnounced as having been achieved.
But still again, and in connection with
Ihese problems concerning the relations
# the Gulf Stream and the Arctic Ocean,
comes another suggestion of even more
startling moment. The idea is advanced |
hat it is in the power Of America to
convert the British Isles and the whole |
Dr Northern Europe into frozen will.
ierness, such as Labrador now presents. |
This frightful Offering to the Ice God can |
be made simply by cutting the proposed |
ship canal from the Gulf of Mexico to |
sLhe Pacific, across the American 18TH |
mus. So it is said. This congelation |
of continent will ensue by cutting
such an inter-oceanic channel, as our
government has proposed, whereby the
"" rent of this world warning Gull
Stream will be effectually diverted from
its present course towards Northwestern
Europe and into the Polar Sea, and direct
I'd through that opened channel straight
through the Gulf of Mexico onward into
The Pacific, there to waste its warmth
upon that oceans vastness. This is the
khcCry; and if true. it would indeed