Gold Hill daily news. [volume] (Gold Hill, N.T. [Nev.]) 1863-1882, 1881-11-17
Arctic EXPLORATIONS.

IL ~ suk8eotoo tuos tuhsnck ottomptb
&, reach the North Pole should cease;
that there should be an end to Arctic ex-
ploring expeditions. at least SO far Al
government il concerned. All Of which
constitutes q very sensible proposition.
Yet II Is one which will never bs practi-
cally concluded upon. There has always
been q peculiar fascination to mariners
and explorers In that direction. and past
history shows how q has surpassed the
other In the advance toward the frozen
north and the solution Of the Polar
mystery. This smulous ambition Is
laudsbls enough and will never DO salts
fed 80 long as II 10 believed possible to
reach the North Pole in any way, The
worst feature involved Is the great risk
to the explorers. and having to send out
expeditions in search Of those who are
lost. Thus the fate Of Sir John Ross
and his companions and the ill-starred
franklin expedition remain among the
unsolvea problems Of that rsgisn Of
frozen mysteries; and lastly the Jean
n.tts has seemingly disappeared thithsr-
ward forever. Those who went In search
Of her have ceased their explorations for
the season and retired to winter quarters
ready for renewed efforts ne1t year.
The explorations and discoveries Of
the Corwin and the Rodgers during the
present season have been very interest
ing. most especially in their investiss.
lions Of wrangel Land. They landed
upon the shores Of that mystic country.
and the boats Of the Rodgers not only
sailed around ii. but from the top Of one
OF its Hottest mountains Lieutenant
Berry had the satisfaction OF being able
to see that what was heretofore thought
to b Q vast continent, was in reality
only an island. about sixty miles across.
with NO other land in sight near IL. He
could also see open water stretching far
away to the northward. and subsequently,
he steamed in that direction about 100
miles. penetrating nearly to the seventy
fourth parallel OF latitude. He saw
plenty OF ice. but nc land farther north,
bot heavy aocks Of ducks. geese. and
other migrating birds coming from that
direction. indicated that there must be
land lying to the northward.
Yet allowing that such 10 the case, Its
discovery and definite exploration. like
that Of wrangel Island could not be OF
o practical use or importance. All
the lands, continents or islands which
may lie In that frozen, i~nhospitable re-
Rion, are Of no use or value to anybody.
and sven the solution Of the problem Of
the northwest passage. together with all
the other Arctic discoveries and develop
msnts cannot DO Of any practical impor.
tanos to navisators or the world generally
and will not compensate for the life oil
even one Of the lost explorers.
As before. remarked, however. Arctic
explorations will not cease. Expedi'
tions from tho Pacific side OF the Amsri'
can continent are q new departure In
that direction and thus far have not PEN
strated a. far north ss have expeditions
from the Atlantic side. but the eapabili'
ties OF this new field have net been 81
we'll ascertainsd. In IN interesting sdi.
tonal article on this subject the New
York Tribune says:
The highest latitude reached BY the
Rodgers was 70 deg. "A min. on Sep
TENDER 10. when. owing to the ~lateuess
Of the season. she was forced to turn
back. The practicability Of making Q
much higher latitude on the Behring
Strait meridian has thus been demon
strated. wrangel Land. instead OF be-
ing the southernmost edge OF another
Gree inland. Is only an outlying island OF
the Siberian coast. while northward
stretches an unknown SEQ, which may
be an accessible in favorable seasons as
the North Atlantic between Cape North
and Spitzbergen and Franz Joseph Land.
There Is every reason for believing that
the Jeannstts entered this sea. Whether
she penetrated II successfully and found
q refuge In some untrodden realm OF ice.
or whether she was caught In the pack
and carried toward the polar archipelago
which skirts the American Continent. Is
now the most psrplexing question upon
which Rs06rsphers and navigators can
eypsnd their Of conjecture.
The latitude reached BY the Rodgers.
although tho highest 40 far recorded on
the Bshring Strait meridian. Is nearly
ON q line with Upernsvik. Greenland.
where 90 many OF the Bsfin's Bay e.
petitions have obtained supplies before
entering upon serious work. II 10 fully
nine degrees lower than the highest lati-
tuds reached by Parry in 1897. BY Mares
in 1876, and by the Austro-H Hungarian
expedition which recently discovered an
unknown mountainous coast 200 miles
north Of Nova Zembla. The Rodgers
might have gone $50 miles on the same
meridian without passing the parallels OF
Kans's fual area Of discovery or the
winter quarters OF the Polsris. Search
has not been made for the Jeanette in
any latitude where she could have been
shut In, provided she had the same open
sea before her in 1879 which the relief
vessels have found this season. II the
Rodgers rssumes the quest next year.
she may succeed in reaching some new
Spiizbsrgsn or an edge Of Arctic main
land far to the north. where Captain De
Long has been vinteripg and pursuing
his explorations, or where possibly nc
has been hopelsssly imprisoned.
The engineers assert that the st.
Gothsrd tunnel will be ready for trsfio
by the irst OF January next. The blast
mo In the tunnel has all been done by