The Red Cloud chief., 1884-08-15
The gesrsel Arctic ExplsCsn.

iidings that the search expedition that
sailed last winter Tor the relic: Of Lieu
ieuan; Greeiy and his party. who hare
now been absent IN Lady franklin Has
sinec i--2. and whose SAFETY has been
very doubtful. has been = csstnplets sue
cess. The p-rccsrious position tks; the
Greedy party had been PLACED in sas
dine 20 the blunieB q the NAVY Depart
ment last year.
In the spring II 1859 the United
states Government dispatched > snail
party Of explorer. under LieuIensa,
Grerly 10 Franklin Bay. tn rcms Until
the autumn vf 1875. 90 make ~scisa;lnc
ob-erg ations in accordance with the
plans determined by The International
Arctic Association A. il well known.
the other nations succeeded IN bringing
safely back th.r respective parties last
fail. while the parry seai 10 relieve tbs
American expedition only pcrpetrsted
a serie, OF unparalleled plumbers. and
Vetarued to leave Grr.iy 4 battle With
his : cond winter in the highe., la;i-
tude eyer reached By any exposition
The popular notion j. that Arctic cx-
plorat on : reckless. foolish ard waste
iul. Of little importance 10 the world.
and that the men who risk their li'es IA
going % the Arctic regions are hardly
worth the ri,k and eXpenss 81 rescue
The truth i. that these men devote
themselves 10 the cause ~ science, and
Ia the benefit Of their fellDw-men.
Thev 20 Ia observe physical phcnomens
under extreme and singular circum-
stances. and when fortunate enough 20
return they give most valuable kuowl-
edge to the world. BY practical scien-
fists the great value and importance Of
scientific observations in the Arctic
regions have long been acknowledged.
Nothing i more necessary for us 10
thoroughly understand IN \ country
which. like ours, stretches over such an
extent Of latitude than meteorOlogy.
This can not bc thoroughly understood,
or it, laws defined, until we Obtain a
more extensive knowledge Of the phys
ical condition Of the polar basin. The
unsolved problems II electricity and
magnetism are also of world wide inter
est. Hence ali geographical societies
and scientific bodies have paid special
attention TO the scientific equipment OF
all the recent Arctic expeditions; and
while much light has been thrown on
purely geographical questions, important
results have also been obtained in yari-
Gus departments of physical cicnce,
Hitherto, however, these results have
been too isolated and scattered 10 adj
NIT of comprehensive generalization.
Each expedition has worked on il, W
particular lines. without reference To
any common system by which alonet the
kew To the Interpretation OF the phe-
nomena could be obtained. To remedy
this state of things the lamented Lieu
tenant Wevprecht, the discoverer OF
Josef Land. suggested that the money
spent i'm fitting out expeditions for the
purpose Of discovering new lands. or
attempting to reach the pole. would be
more usefully applied in making a
thorough physical Investigation. on
the basis of 4 common plan, of tEd
lands already discovered. He further
proposed that, to obtain this object.
the North Tole should he encircled by
corona of fixed obscrvatories, and that
two stations should be established in
the Antartic Seas. Mr.. William Lee
Howard. the Arctic voyager, strongly
pushed this matter ut the International
Geographical Congress, and was a strong
advocate of Lieutenant W~eyprecht's
plan. The value of this suggestion was
fully recognized by Count Wilczek. a
well-kEowu and muniiicent patron of
Arctic enterprise. and TO his generous
support and active co operation the full
ilment of the scheme is largely due.
Finally the plan was submitted TO the
Meteorological Congress ut Rome. II
there met with most favorable consid-
Grafton, and was referred to an Inter
national Polar Conference, which was
held at Hamburg, the States represent
ed being France. Holland. Germany,
Austria. Russia, Sweden, Norway and
Denmark.
The scheme was at last put upon its
feet by the promise Of the United States
to establish two stations. and it was
then announced that the eight stations
required were secured. BY July. 1881.
the final arrangements were completed.
l. was determined that the observations
should be commenced ut all the stations
in the polar regions. a well rs those in
the temperate zones. rs oOn As posi-
Bile after August /. 1852, and tina. they
should be continued, as far as practical
bic. unit! September /. 1883.
Denmark was established at God
thaab; America sent Greedy to Lady
Franklin Bav, in Smith Sound (the
northernmost OF all the stat Ons); Ger
many was stationed at Cumberland
Sound. on the west side of Davis Strait,
81 Er-l,~ 49, Lot Dan - Tho tn.,%
. of the Hudson : Bay Territory. near the
Great Slave Lake. The United States
alsN had a station at Point Barrow;
Russia took up her stand at the mouth
of the Lena, and Holland occupied
Dickson's Haven. the Russian branch
station being At Moller Bay. Nova
Zembia. Norway took an easy station
at BOsekop. in the Alien Ford; Sweden
selected Spitzbergen. and Austria gar
: risoned Jan Maven Island. the most
dreary station of the lot, being only a
volcano rising directly out of the Arctic
; Ocean. and when not entirely sur
rounded by ice is enveloped in a thick.
cold fog.
France went far a-fieid. establishing
a station at Cape Horn. while Germany
ever foremost in scientific research
established a third station on one Of
the islands of South Giorgid. in "a deg.
80 miu south latit de, IL deg.
Fl min. IL sec. west longitude, sonIe
eleven hundred miles east of Cap,
Horn. The object in establishing sta
tions in the antartic regions WAS To n
BILE some scientific data 10 be obtained
npon the corieSpondences or d vergen-
ces between arctic and sntar.ic phcnorn
ena. and TOGO operate with the observa-
tories of Cape Town and Melbourne.
Thus we had during the years So and
IS no less than fifteen expeditions csr-
rying out the full programme OF the In
terna:ionaI POLAR commission and IN