The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1878-06-21
THAT HOLE.

tonian Theory.
ITO the Editor of the Louisville oourier-Journal
AS am making an effort to have the
"Symmes' theory" thoroughly testeC
by the Howgate exploring expedition
and so few persons understand what tina
theory is, will undertake to state wha
il is, and show the difference between
it and the Newtonian theory. According
10 the Newtonian, it is Que vast solitude
of eternal ice, clear up to the Goth deg
of north latitude. According to the
Symmes theory CHAT is, my fathers,
Capt. John Cleve Symmes), the explorer
will find that, after he passes the 80th
deg, the weather grows miIder; when
he reaches the S1st deg. he will find
some open water; when tho SD deg is
reached, he will find much open water,
and great quantities of wild animals and
some water fowls; when the SD deg. is
reached, he will find the open Polar sea,
that is 1000 miles in diameter, and, if
he will go out into the sea when the
weather is warm and genial, he will find
the country that the Symmes theory
says can be found, of large forests of
timber, large rivers, and rich land, and
the home of more wild animals than can
be found anywhere else in creation, and
water fowls in abundance.
Now, sir, L propose to give the ex-
perience OF many explorers In the north,
and, if they don't prove that there is
more truth in the Symmes theory than
In the Newtonian, then the world may
say, as they said of my father during
his life, that his theory is "reared upon
the baseless fabric of vision"
will briefly state the experience of
Capt. Parry, who made five voyages up
there, and, after the experience he had,
do not think any man can doubt for a
moment which theory has the most
truth in it. Parry knew nothing of the
Symmes theory, nor did any of the ex-
plorers 1 will mention.
You will bear in mind that all the ex-
plorers start to go to the North pole and
expect to get there ON ice. When Capt.
Parry made his third voyage he was
provided with reindeer and sleds so that
he could travel speedily over the ice to
the pole. He could not get his deer be-
You'd the 81st deg. for the much open
1Odter he encountered but he went on
making his men propel his sleds (Which
were small boats on sled-runners), and,
when he came to open water, he used
the little boats to ferry from one cake OF
ice to the next, and the further north he
got the more water he found, and the
milder grew The weather. When he
got up to the SD deg. he found the ice
only four feet thick, and his only safety
in a storm was i'll pulling his boats or
sleds upon a cake of ice and thus out
ride the storm, and he began to feel
some alarm but he went on, and, when
he got up to 821, he found the ice Only
three feet thick but he encouraged his
men to go on north, as he thought the
ice would certainly get stronger ; but,
when he got up to S29 deg, he could
not find a cake of ice that would bear
his own weight, and the sun so hot as to
melt the tar out OF the seams of his
boats, and small flies came on board,
and all open water north of him, so he
had to turn back, and came safely home.
How does that agree with the Symmes
theory?
Capt. Ross, who made two voyages up
there, says: 81 stood on the bank of
the open sea when it was calm and clear
of ice, and experienced warm winds
coming directly from the north, that
melted the snow and ice about him and
far south of him." How is that for the
Symmes theory?
DIR. Kane's men found open water
when up the eighty second degree, and
climbed mountain 500 feet high, and
gaZed out on great waste of waters and
NJ N Ofi 10 In I
coming directly from the north that
blew gale part of the time for three
days, and came so warm as to melt snow
and ice far south of them.
"They found water-fowls in abun-
dance, and their nests so plenty on the
mountain-side that they could have
gathered wagon-load of eggs" They
saw extensive grassy plains, and gath
cred many kinds of flowers.
Capt. Hill went into winter quarters
with his vessel at 80 deg. 38 min., and
from thence took sled-ride directly
north, and did not go but fifty miles
before he came to an open sea, and en-
camped on the bank of it and spent two
days, and while there wrote his last dis
patch to the Secretary of the Navy, in
which he says: CT find this a much
warmer country than 1 expected, and it
abounds with life-seal, game, geese,
ducks, musk cattle, wolves, foxes, deer,
bear, rabbits, cartridges, teeming with
snipe and plover, and all kinds OF wad-
ing birds. Does not all this go to
prove that there is more truth in the
SymmeS theory than the Newtonian?
Yet who knows anything about the
Symmes theory, that has been lying
dormant as it were since the
death of its author in 1929
He petitioned Congress in 1922
and 1923 to fit out an exploring
expedition for him, and in his petition
said: q will go as far north as L can
get with the vessel and then go on shore
and go north by land, and will follow in
the wake of the wild animals that 90
north in the fail from Greenland and
return back there in the spring fat and
leading their young, and where they go
1 can follow and they will show me the
wy to the ne,0 toorld that say can be
found, that intend to call Symmzonia."
Congress thought his theory "wild and
visionary" and laid his petition on the
table +; but now they will fit out Capt
Howgate at an expense of $50, 900 to do