New Ulm weekly review. [volume] (New Ulm, Minn.) 1878-1892, 1878-04-24
THE LAND AT THE NORTH POLE.

THE LAND AT THE NORTH POLE.
THE THEORY DEVELOPED BY THE WILD
GEESE ;. INTERESTING EyIDANcE
OF AN OLD SAILOR.
Virginia City Enterprise.
About four years ago a farmer Of
Surprise Valley found in the crop Of
a wild goose a small quantity of
grain, the like Of which he had never
before seen. He planted this grain,
and lit grew and fourished, producing
more than hundred fold. The
straw and beardless head are said to
resemble wheat, while the grain
looks like rye, but is twice as large.
The farmer h as now many bushels
Of this new cereal, and has sent
samples Of it to be planted in various
| places in California, where food for
cattle is not easily obtained at some
seasons, as the stalk Of the new
grain, when cut before it is
thoroughly ripe, makes excellent
hay.
An cid sailor Of this city, after
reading an item which has been go
ing the rounds Of the papers in re-
gard to the new cerial, the substance
Of which item is given above, finds
his memory refreshed. 1t brings to
his recollection a circumstance he
had almost forgotten, and has set
him to thinking. He has thought
it all out, and is now firmly Of the
! opinion that there IS an inhahitable
land at the north pole.
4 The old mar says he was one Of the
crew of the Investigator, Capt. Nc
Clure, which sailed from England
i'll 1850, in company with the Enter.
prise, Commander Collinson, in
search of Sir John Franklin, and he
: certainly has in his possession one
Of the Attic medals given by the
English admiralty to all persons en-.
gagged in these Polar expeditions
from 1918 to 1855.
, In September of That year the In
vestigator reached a land which
Capt. Nc. Clure named Barring
) Land, and three days after Other
land, which he named after Prince
} Albert, where, about the last of the
: month, they were frozen in.
l While on this last named land the
explorers observed many wild geese
: and other water fowl flying south
! ward. Some Of the geese STOPPED
| where the ship lay and several were
killed by members of the crew. II
2 the crops of some Of these geese h
$ recollectea to have seen, and marvel
2 ed at seeing, q considerable quaint
) ty Of a grain such as the new cerea
Of Surprise valley is said to be. A;
7 no such grain is known in the tenn
5 perate zone, and as we have no &C
: count Of u grain Of the kind being
. found in any known region in The
world, he IS Of t. he opinion that the
> geese obtained it in region lying
> about the open Polar sea.
: He says no man has yet gone dt
3 far north but he has found wills
l geese and other water fowl fyine
. still further northward. As thu
; geese are undoubtedly vending theil
5 way to a well-known stopping plaes
: far to the north there must be some
> thing for them to feed upon at the
point where they stop. AS wilc
J geese no more live on fish than dc
l tame ones, there must be in the
+ country to which they go, grass anc
, other vegetation similiar to that
found in the temperate regions. The
/ wild geese that halt Oh the Pacific
$ coast make the grain fields then
: feeding place, and it is not likely
t that in the land about the pole then
| nature is so changed that they feec
5 upon moses or fish.
Our old sailor believes that sur.
5 rounding the; open Polar sea i
/ a country where trees grow, ane
4 where grow many kinds Of grass
E and no doubt few kinds Of grain
!. The grain found in the crops Of TIT
wild geese was, he thinks, found BY
i the birds III a far northern temper
!. ate region, upon the verge Of whicl