Helena weekly herald. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1867-1900, 1879-03-13
Helena, Montana, Thursday, March 10, 1879
WONDERS OFTHE NORTH.
From the New York Star.1


from the New York Star.1
DR.. l. l. Hayes, the famous Arctic ex-
evening at the Church of 81. Joseph on
''Arctic Adventures and Discoveries" He
had, he said, figured in four expeditions to
the Arctic regions. The first was with
Kane the second in 1860, when he CON-
manded himself; in 1869 be went to Green
land and in 1874 to Iceland. ''We sailed
from Boston," continued DR.. Hayes, ''In
1860 in schooner of 130 tons. We num-
bered fifteen officers and men, and on July
% we reached the Greenland coast. Our
course then lay northward. We soon reached
that belt of ice that forms an insurmOuntable
barrier to the open Polar sea. That there is
such a sea surrounding the North Pole is
easily demonstrated, and that it will ultimate
ly be penetrated is exceedingly probable.
There is now being organized final expedi-
ton, under the auspices of a well-knOwn
journalist, to sail from San Francisco in June
and plant the Stars and Stripes at the North
Pole. Well, we sailed along the western
coast of Greenland and through the drifting
ice, reaching Smith Sound. Our vessel
became wedged in the ice, and we were fro
zen in from September to July. In the
Arctic regions you do not experience that
delightful change from day to night, but
rather long continued sunshine or darkness.
Little flowers blossom on the rocks for a
brief season. Although the summer is six
month long, the time Of vegetation is only
six weeks, and in high latitude saw only
ten days one summer when ice did not form.
1t was at first difficult to get accustomed to
constant sunshine, and the animals on board
went bowling around the decks at the phe-
nomenon. An old rooster who had greeted
the day for fifteen years, in disgust drowned
himself in the sea. The ice in Greenland
is the great attraction. The glaciers are Of
ten twenty miles wide, and the streams flow
through the mountain passes perhaps 5000
feet deep. An iceberg is the most beautiful
object have ever looked upon. have seen
one of them 315 feet above the surface of
the water, which means that its total height
was over 1900 feet. 1t was three miles in
circumference, and was after all, only CON-
paratively small fragment of an immense
mass. That iceberg of 2,700, 100000 tons,
if sold in New York at the price we unfortu-
nate people have to pay, would wipe out the
national debt and fill the pockets of those
who handled the money.
After the warm gales released the party
from their critical position, they reached the
narrow passage leading to the Polar sea. We
would have accomplished our purpose had
not northern gale choked up the passage
with ice, which we could not penetrate. Our
vessel was lifted, like foot ball, high into
the air, and for few moments things looked
pretty dark. When turned from my own
gloomy thoughts, however, to console my
comrades, found them betting on the chan
f%l,o Pc
Laughter AT last we reached safe harbor,
for the ice soon gave way Our winter was
period of gloom. We were thousand miles
selves. Our boat lay under a snow-bank.
We had two stoves and kerosene lamps. Out
siGe was perpetual night. But there were
great belts of colored light that flashed across
the heavens / have often watched, while
the sheets of fame were blazing, icebergs
creeping out from darkness, like ghosts, into
the light and then slowly disappear again.
The aurora borealis threw green and purple
and gold over the ice. They had singular
brilliancy, but were terrible in their suggest
ion of solitude often left our little world
and went miles away where no sound was
heard but the groaning of an iceberg, as if it
bemoaned its long imprisonment. There
was an absolute silence not to be experienced
in any other part of the world. 1t was at
times intolerable, and have been glad to see
on my return the glimmer of light in the
schooner and meet something that could
make noise. On Feb % we saw the sun
for the first time that winter. We greeted it
with hearty cheers, which we continued all
day. Five minutes later it had disappeared.
1--WE came within 480 miles of the North
Pole. In the summer we returned home in
safety. Only two of our number succumbed
to the climate. 1t was our intention to re.
turn the following year, but the country was
then in the throes of civil war. Since then
other expeditions have started for the North
Pole Capt. Hall went sixteen miles nearer
than we did, and an English expedition sixty
miles nearer"