Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1881-11-09
An Arctic Island.

Herald island came in sight at o clock
P. VI , ard when we ruIcned the edge of
le pack it WIS still a11ut ten miles dis q.
ant. We made our WAY through il. how
:rer, without great difficulty, as the ice
v Is mostly light and hal openings of clear
water here and there. though in some
lose picked fields the Corwin was pretty
oughly bumped, and had to steam her
r-s 10 force a passage. At 10 O'Clock
P. NJ we came to another in the midst of
lIlr cakes and blocks about 6j feet ;hich,
gtnin 700 or 800 yards of the shore.
After 80 many futile efforts hal been
N tdr his little ice bound island, everybody
seemed wildly eager to run ashore and
climb to the summit of its sheer granite
cliffs A. first a party of eight jumped
from the bows prit chains and ran across
h narrow belt of margin ice and madIy
began % climb up an excessively steep
gully. which came to an end in an inacces-
~Dle slope few hundred feet above the
water. Those ahead loosened and sent
down train of granite boulders. which
shot over the heads of those below in a far
more dangerous manner than any of the
party seemed 10 appreciate, Fortunately
no one was hurJ, and ALI made out 10 get
lJwn in safety. While this remarkable
piece oi mountaineering and Arctic ex.
plJration was in progress, light skin
covered boat was dragged over,the ice and
Ituuched on 4 strip of water that stretched
in front of an accessible ravine, the bed of
IN ancient glacier, which | felt assured
would conduct by an easy grade to the
summit OF the island. The slope of this
ravlne for the first 100 feet or so was very
steep, hu. nasmuch rs it was full OF firm,
icy snow it was easily ascended by cutting
steps in the face of it with an AZ that
had brought from the ship for the purpose.
Bnvond this there was not the slightest
liffi 'ulty in our way. the glacier having
graded II Tine broad road
kallet who discovered this island in
lSt9, and landed on it under unfnvorabe
circumstances. describes il as an inacces-
Slbje rock The sides are indeed, in gen.
raj, extremely sheer and precipitous all
around, though skilled mountaineers would
fiud many gulies and slopes by which they
might reach the summit. | first pushed
On the head OF the glacier valley, and
thence along the backbone of the island
o the highest point, which found to be
tplul L w lEtt htONC tuC lCNCl vi tuC 6tsh
This point Is about 3 mile and half from
ne northwest end, and four and a half
rom the northeast end, thus making the
siand about six miles in length. 1t has
been cut nearly in two by the glacial action
IL has undergone. the width at this lowest
portion being about half mile, and the
average width about two miles. Tue en-
tire island Is mass Of granite, with the
exception of a patch Of metamorphic slate
uear the center, and no douot owes its ex-
stence with so considerable height to the
superior resistance this granite offered to
ne degrading action Of the northern ice
beet, traces of which are here plainly
shown, a. we'll as on the shores of Siberia
aud Alaska and drawn through behring
strait southwark beyond Vancouver's isl.
and Traces of the subsequent partial
giacinalion it has been subjected to are
also manifested in glacial valleys of con-
siderable depth as compared with the size
Of the island. | noticed grooves around
he sides. One small remnant with feeble
action still exists near the middle Of the
island. | also noted several scored and
polished patches on the hardest and most
enduring of the outswelling rock bosses
rhis little island, standing as it does alone
out in the polar sea, is fine glacial monu
ment.
The midnight hour spent alone on the
highest summit. was one of the most i'm
presslve hours of my life. The deepest
silence seemed to press down on all the
vast, Unreasonable. virgin landscape. The
sun near the horizon Redeemed the edges
Of beited coud-bars near the base of the
sky, and the jagged ice bowlders crowded
together over the frozen ocean, stretching
indefinitely northward, while more than
hundred miles OF that mysterious Wrangle
land was seen, blue in the northwest, Il
wnvering line OF hill and dale over the
white and blue ice-prairie. and pale gray
mountains beyond, well calculated to fix
the eye of a mountsineer. but it was to the
far north that ever found myself turning
where the ice met the sky. | would fsin
have watched here all the strange night,