Seattle daily post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, W.T. [Wash.]) 1881-1888, 1884-08-19
the ARCTIC weRlD.
Lieatenant Greedy Talks Of the Grand.
eur OF the Fsazen Regions. ..d Of
.ne ""rk Dene for seisaee By His

cur OF sne Rsaxen Regions. and eS
the Werk Dene for setsnce by mn.
| Men.
PORTSMOUTH, Aug. l7.-For In. nnr.
pose of obtaining some idea ~ ,hs -,
erai nature and probable yalus of tha
scientific observations made bv Lien,
| trseiy, an Associated Press renortey
visited him Saturday. Greeiy stated
that the
OBJECT OF TEE LADY TRANxIIs BAT IL
| PKDITIos
was TO establish polar station. one of
the thirteen suggested by Lieutenant
Weyprecht of Austria, who discovered
Franz Josef Land. Simultaneous Oh.
serVatlons OF all physical phenomeaa
were to be taken. fne cornpIete pro.
gram that was to be followed
was arranged by an Interna-
tional Psiar Congress, in which repre-
s.ntatlves OF thirteen nations took part.
Inc observations, in making which the
Greatest possible accuracy was TO be
nao, were those OF the declin alton and
deviation OF the magnetic needle and of
me barometer, and the mean and maxi.
NUN rise and fall Of tides Explora.
tlCns were t. be merely incidental 70 the
4
lifted out under the authoritv of the
United States Congress, was imposed
OF three officers of the army, one acting
surgeon, and nineteen enlisted men
from the army. Stores for n months
we're sent on
TIE PRorgus,
Which left st. Johns on yuly 7. 1881.
with the party. She toushed at Disco
Island and Upper Navick to procure
sledRes, dogs, skins and dog food. Two
Esquimaux were added to the party AZ
fioven. A landing was made at Carey
island, IN the north OF which the water
and provisions cached by Mares in 1871
in the Alert were found in good cond,-
ton. At Littleton Island Greely per
sonally recovered the English Arctic
mail left by Sir Allen YJung in the
Pandora In 1876. 1t was the original
Intention TO establish the polar station
at Water Course Bay, but heavy masses
OF dangerous lee rendered Water Course
bay exceedingly dangerous, and NOV
ing TO
DIsC0yERY HARB6R.
The station was there established on
the site occupied By the English expsdi-
tion OF 1875. The erection of a house
n
and equipments were landed. On An.
gust 18th came the parting between the
Greedy party and the men of the Pro-
teus. Tue little band gathered on the
frozen shere sand watched the Proteus
AS she esteamed slowly down Lady Frank
lin Bay. On the evening of the same
day the Temperature sank below the
freezing point, and
THE 10Y ARCTIC WINTER
Was upon them in earnest. Their
house was finished about a week after
the Profeus left. II was named In honor
Of Senator Conger. Fort ConRer."
During the first month the GOLD affected
the men more than at any subsequent
| time at Fort Conger. Later on in De-
cember the temperature sank from 70 to
| IS degrees below zero, and 30 remained
Tor days at time. bat even in that
weather the cooks favorite amusement
was dancing. bare armed and with slip
| pered feet, on the top of snow drift.
Daring the day the men dressed in their
| ordinary outside clothing, but their fan.
nels were very heavy. Five of the men
were generally for part of the day en-
gagged in scientific work under Greely's
direction, and the duties of the camp
occupied the remainder. About one
hoar each day was devoted to amuse-
meat. All slept in bunks. The quar-
ters were heated by large GOAL stoves,
the average heat maintained being 50
degrees above zero. Checkers, cards
and chess were the amusemeuts OF the
evening. The life, Greedy said. was far
from being lonely one. Many Of the
men said they bad never passed two
happier years than they spent at Fort
| Canoar nn tha iEfh ~ lafnhaV
| THK SON LEFT THEM
For l35 days and twilight VARYING from
half an hour to twenty four hours sue
ceeded. For two months II was 30 dim
| that the dial of watch could not be
read by il. On April llth the sun came
above the horizon and remained there
1875 days giving the party great suffi-
cheney of the midnight sun. During
months the stars were visible constant
| iy, the consultations of Ori0n's belt
| and the Or eat Bear being the brightest,
Tho North Star looked down from al
most overhead. Standing alone outside
| the fort on one of the snow drifts, these
night scenes we're wierdly grand. To
the north famed the Aurora Borcalis,
aud bright consultations were set like
jewels around the glowing mood. Over
ev cry thing was dead silence, 80 horri-
| bly, oppressive that man alone 10 almost
tempted to kill himself, 30 lonely does
be feel. The astronomer Of the party
said that with the naked eye, star Of
one degree smaller magnitude than can
i be seen here in the same way might
| be discerned. The moon would remain
| In sight IL and IL days at a time. The
| Thermometer registered, ON June 3lst,
the highest
TEMPERATURE
At Lady Franklin Bay which we knew
| during our stay. Il Was So degrees above
zero. The lowest was In February, 1883,
&c degrees below. In this February our
mercury fruzc and remained solid for
Is days. The mercury in the ihermom-
eter invariably rose duiine storms or
| high winds The highest barometer
was slightly above 81 inches. The great
| est variations vera in winter. An electro
meter, an instrument used to ascertain
| the presence Of electricity was set mp
bat not the slightest result was obtained
THE DISPLAYS or tn. AURORA
| Were very good, bat not to be compared
With those seen at Discovery Island or
| Upper Navik. So far ~ Greedy could
| observe no cracking sound accompanied
the display. and the general shape Was
thai Of q ribbon. The southwssteriy
| horizon was the quarter In which the
| brightest displays were seen. Mares re
ported In 1876 that no shadow was cast
| by the aurora, bat 0reeiy says he dis
tinctly observed his shadow cast by IL.
There were no electrical disturbances
ssve those manifested by q rumsline
| like distant thunder. heard twice. far
away 20 the north. In the course OF
| the tidal observations made. the very
interesting fact was discovered that tne
| TrDEs
AZ Lady Franklin bay came from the
north. while these az Melville bay and
Cape sabine were from the south. The
| temperature OF this north tide 10 two
| degrees warmer than thai of the south
tide nc Cape Sabine. Why this vss
Greely would not venture 10 state. he
used in measuring the ebb and now OF
/ the tide q fixed gage iron rod planted In
- 49,. - Axxrl n