The Iowa plain dealer. [volume] (New Oregon, Howard County, Iowa) 1867-1895, 1884-09-11
POLAR LIFE.


Farewell - The stars ut Midday -- Cold
Weather.
While tho first exploring party scnt
out by Lieut.. Greedy was on tho way to
Lincoln bay, he was encouraged by the
open water In Halls basin to send q
boat party, under Sergt. Brainard, to
Cape Becchy. The story that follows
Of their trip, md Of camp life In the
polar regions, is taken from Sergt.
Ricc's diary:
The expedition to Cape Beechy en-
countcred the greatest difficulties and
experienced remarkable escapes from
being crushed between tho cver-moying
md changing icc-nocs that threatened
tn close in on the party. When Mount
Beaufort, few miles short Of our des-
tination, was reached, IL was found i'm.
possible to return by water because OF
the crowding ice. Consequently tho
boat in which the party had come was
hauled upon the leo foot, where 1t re-
NAMED until August. OF next year, and
so tho return to the station was made
Ivy land. The time IN which the round
trip was made was from Aug. 81 to
Sept. 3, inclusive. On Sept. ID u party
met pack Of nineteen wolves, but the
animals, although apparently hungry,
would not come within rifle shot. BY
Sept. 20 il was concluded TINT, ~ the
temperature was hut I'D degrees below
zero. The party was in the midst Of III
Indian summer. Tho increasing cold,
soon drove the member Of tho party in
doors, although tho outdoor work WAS
still prosecuted vigorously. Tho work
ing party were banking the house and
piling and covering up tho provisions
md commissary stores. The scientific
corps were hourly observing barom-
eters, thermometers, and tide gauge,
watching the vagarics Of the magnet,
and making photographs. BY Sept.
%, wolves had located themselves near
the station, their prey being musk oxen.
A wolf weighing cighty-one pounds,
md having long white fur, sparscly
intcrminglcd on the back with black
hair" was shot almost from tho door OF
the station, where il had doubtless been
attracted by the pangs Of hunger. The
animal measured Ave icct nine inches
from nose to tip OF tail, and stood thir-
ty-three inches high. ave were"
writes Scrgt. Rice, "struck with the
great resemblance to our dogs, and
could readily accept the theory that the
Esouimaux dog is only n domcsticated
wolf. The tracks Of both are similar,
and the only difference that We could
detect was in size"
On Sept. "a Lieut.. Lockwood with
four men, went with provisions to de-
partment 3D." near Cape Beechy, and
three days later returned with n section
Of large and well-prcserycd piece of
,lriftwood, thirty feet long and ten
inches In diameter, that had been found
in st. Patrick's Bay. The Fahrenheit
scale showed the following thermo-
metric scale for September: Mean
temperature. 1919; maximum, 30; and
minimum, l0.4. October opened with
cloudy, dreary weather, and on the
second day of the month the thermom-
eter showed the remarkable change in
temperature of - degrees, from de-
grees above to 13.3 below. On Oct. 1
n beautiful halo accompanied the sun
all day, and in the evening mock moons
were observed. These arctic phenom-
eUu WSIS vi lISIAIhN aeA az 2,
the autumn During this time the
temperature outside was "a and % de-
grees, and during October considerable
snow fell, though this did not prevent
small parties from being on the hunt
almost all the time to Cape Baird and
the Bellows for musk-oN meat. Mount
Ovitus was also assembled, though this
was attended with much difficulty, rs it
rises above the snow valleys and cliffs
1000 feet. There was" writes Sergt.
Rice, something awful in tho impress
sive scene in desolation spread around.
No sign of animal or vegetable life
bare, desolate, and chaotic; n world
| unfinished by the hand of its creator !:
and such silence am sure that ordi'
nary quiet would have been an uproa,
compared to that which surrounded us,
Eugene Aram should have been trans
ported by the poet to such place tc
| give full play To his study of guilty
conscience" All this while the sun
had been gradually curtailing its light
and on Oct. IA it disappeared for l3t
days, aud in describing this change tn,
diary reads: ave all rushed out al
noon, and, sure enough, Old Sol, onl,
showed part of his disk for few mo
mcnts, sprinkling the ice and snow Will
silver aud crystals. and then sank lazil,
back in beautiful glow of warm, ros,
colors. 1t was one of the few glorious
pictures vouchsafed the arctic SO
| iourner, but one which carried with i
| too many shadows as we thought of tn,
night of months when even the recrean
| sun leaves and is away with our absent
friends mt home. Then succeeded
soft, misty. pearly twilight, merging
few hours later into darkness, and eacl
day the twilight decreased until weel
later, Jupiter, Arcturus, Capella, an,
Alpha Geminorum twinkled dimly n
midday. In few days they wer,
joined by Mars. Polaris, Vega, Castor
and Pollux, and the Cygni" The liyh
was still sufficient TO enable short trip
to he made. One party had gone h
Beechy and built a commodious snow
house for the accommodation of pros
pective sledge parties. Others Ia,
mined Goals and taken them to Cap
Murchison. Fourteen days after tn
sun had disappeared Sergt. Rice teste'
the active power of the solar light b.
exposing sensitive Photographic plat
ono of Carbutt's dry plates for a
hour ut noon. and got "A very distine
impression of landscape. The sam
experiment was repeated with almost n
good result tho next spring, seventies
days before the temperance of tn
sun. The minimum temperature ia
! October was --3i.1, with mean rang