The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1884-09-04
POLAR LIFE.
Two Trips to Cape Beechy---A Big
Wolf kilIed---Beautiful Arctic
Phenomena.

While the first exploring party sent
out by Lieut.. Greely was on the way to
Lincoln bay. he was encouraged by
the open water in Halls basin to send
q boat party. under Sergt. Brainard, to
Cape Beschy The story that follows
OF their "trip, and of camp life in the
polar regions, is taken from Sergt.
Rice's diary:
This expedition to Cape Beechy en-
countered the greatest difficulties and
experienced remarkable escapes from
being crushed between the ever NOV
ing aud changing ice-aoes that threat
ened to close in on the party. When
Mount Beaufort u few miles short of
our destination, was reached. il was
found impossible to return by water
because of the crowding ice Cense-
qsently the boat in which the party
had csmo was hauled upon The ice
foot, where it remained until August of
next year, and so the return to Fhc sta
ton was made by land. The time in
which the round trip was made was
from August 81, TO September 3, in
elusive. On September Is party met
q pack of nineteen wolves, but the ami
mails, although apparently hungry.
would not come Within rifle shot. By
September 20 it was concluded that, as
the temperature was but 10 degrees be-
low zero, the party was in the midst of
an Indian summer. The increasing
cold, however, soon drove the members
of the party indoors, although the out
| door work was still prosecuted vigor-
ously. The working party were bank
inc the house and piling and covering
up the provisions and commissary
stores. The scientific corps were
| hodrly observing barometers, ther-
mometers, and tide gauge, watching
the vagaries of the magnet, and max
ing photographs. By September %,
wolves had located themselves near
the station, their prey being musk
oxen. A wolf weighing eighty-one
pounds, and having long white fur,
sparsely intermingled on the back with
black hair" was shot almost from the
door of the station, where it had doubt
less been attracted by the pangs of
hunger. Tho animal measured five
feet nine inches from nose to tip of tail,
and stood thirty-threo inches high.
1--WE were," writes Sergt. Rice,
..struck with the great resent blance to
our dogs, and could readily accept the
theory that the Esquimaux dog is only
domesticated wolf The tracks of
both are similar, and the only differ
ence that we could detect was in size
On September "A Lieut. Lockwood,
with four men, went with provisions to
department 3D." near Cape Beechy,
AMI three days lator returned with
section of q large and well-preserved
piece OF driftwood. thirty feet long and
ten inches in diametor, that had been
found in st. Patrick's bay. The
Fahrenheit scale showed the following
thermometllc scale for September:
Mean temperature. 1913; maximum 80,
and minimum 10-4. October opened
with cloudy, dreary weather. and on
the second day of the month the ther-
mometer showed the remarkable
change in temperature of % degrees,
from 9 degrees above TO 1873 below,
On October ''a beautiful halo accom-
panied the sun all day, and in the
evening mock moons were observed.
These Arctic phenomena were of fire.
quent occurrence during the autumn"
During this time the temperature out
side was "a and 20 degrees, and during
October considerable snow fell, though
this did not prevent small parties from
bsing on the hunt almost all the time
TO Cape Baird and the Bellows for
musk-ox meat. Mount Ovitus was
also ascended, though this was attend
ell with much difficulty, as it rises
above the snow valleys and cliffs 1900
feet. There was," writes Sergt.
Rice, something awful in the in-
pressive scene OF desolation spread
around. No sign of animal or vege-
table life-bare, desolate, and chaotic;
a world unfinished by the hand Of its
CREATOR and such silence. l am sure
that ordinary quiet would have been
an uproar compared to that which sur
rounded rs. Eugene Aram should
! i;iave been transported by the poet to
such place to give full play to his
study of a guilty conscience. Ali this
while the sun had been gradually cur
failing its light, and on October Il it
disappeared for l56 days. and in de-
scriDing this change the diary reads:
'Ne all rushed out at noon, and, sure
| enough, Old Sop only showed part of
his disk for 4 few moments, sprinkling
the ice and snow with silver and crys-
tails, and then sank laaily back in q
beautiful glow of warm, rosy colOrs.
II was one of the few glorious pictures
vouchsafed the Arctic sojourner, but
Cne which carried with it too many
shadows as we thought of the night of
months when even the recreant sun
ieavss and is away with cur absent
frien1s at home. Then succeeded a
soft, musty, pearly twilight, merging
few hours later into darkness, and
each day the twilight decreased until,
q week later, Jupiter, Arcturus, Ca
pella, and Alpha Geminorum twinkled
dimly at midday La II few days they
were joined by Mars, Polaris. Vega,
Castor and Pollux, and the Cygni."
The light was still sufficient to enable
short trips to be made. One party had
gone to Beechy and built a coInmodious
snow-house for the accommodation of
prospective sledge parties. Others
had mined Goals and taken them .. -
Cape Murchizon. Fourteen d--ys after
the sun had disappas".sd SerGt. Rice
Ies5ed the h.ct.iTe power OF the solar
. - oy exposing !. sensitive photo
graphic p!ate-one of Carbutt's dry
nlateS-for an hour at noon, and got q
very distinct impression of q Landscape.
Ihe same experiment was repeated
VILE almost as good a result the next
spring. seventeen DAYS before the re-
appearance OF the sun. The mini
mum temperature for October was
5i.l. with mean range of-9.2. Those
ilgures were noted from hourly obser-
VauonS. and were duly corrected so as
TO show accuracy.-N. I. Herald.