McCook weekly tribune. (McCook, Neb.) 188?-1886, 1884-09-04
POLAR LIFE.

Tsco Trips to Cape Beechy-A Big Vol,
Killed Beautiful Arctic Phenomena
1.-The Sans Fdre,ceU.
New York Herald.
While the first exploring party sent
out by Lieut.. Greedy was on the way to
Lincoln bay, he was encouraged by the
open water in Halls basin, to send a
boat party, under Sergeant Brainard,
to Cape Beechy. The story that fol-
lows of their trip, and of camp life in
the polar regions, is taken from Ser
geant Rice's diary:
This expedition to cape Beechy en-
countered the greatest difficulties and
experienced remarkable escapes from
being crushed between the ever-mov-
ing and changing ice foes that threat
ened to close in on the party When
Mount Beaufort, a few miles short of
our destination, was reached, it was
found impossible to return by water
because of the crowding ice. Conse-
quently the boat in which the party
had come was hauled upon the ice fort,
where it remained until August of next
year, and so the return to the station
was made by land. The time in which
the round trip was made was from
August 81 to September 8, inclusive.
On September Is party met a pack
of nineteen wolves, but the animals,
although apparently hungry, would
not come within rifle shot. By Sep
TENDER 20 it was concluded that, as
the temperature was but ten degrees
below zero, the party was in the midst
of an Indian summer. The increasing
cold, however, soon drove the MEM
bers of the party indoors, although the
outdoor work was still prosecuted Wig
orously. The working party were
banking the house and piling and COW
ering up the provisions and commits
sary stores. The scientific corps were
hourly observing the barometers, Their
mometers and tide guage, watching
the vagaries of the magnet, and MAX
ing photographs. By September Esd
wolves had located themselves near
the station, their prey being musk-oxen.
A wolf weighing eighty-one pounds,
and having s'long white fur, sparsely
intermingled on the back with black
hair was shot almost in front of the
door of the station, where it had
doubtless been attracted by the pangs
of hunger. The animal measured five
feet nine inches from nose to tip of
tail, and stood thirty-three inches high.
"We were,' writes Sergt Rice,
''struck with the great resemblance to
our dogs, and could readily accept the
theory that the EsquimauX dog is only
a domesticated wolf. The tracks of
both are similar, and the only differ
ence that we could detect was in the
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 a Sec
ton of a large and well preserved
piece of driftwood, thirty feet long and
ten inches in diameter, that had been
found in st. Patrick's bay. The Fab
renheit scale for September: Mean
temperature, 1919; maximum, so; and
minimum, 10.4.
October opened with cloudy, dreary
weather, and on the second day of the
month the thermometer fell % de-
grees, from degrees above to 1873 be-
low. On October s'a beautiful halo
accompanied the sun all day, and in
the evening mock moons were OBJ
served. These Arctic phenomena were
OF frequent occurrence during the au-
tumn.' During this time the temper
allure outside was "a and % degrees,
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-ox meat. Mount
Ovitus was also assembled, though this
was attended with much difficulty, as
it rises above the snow valleys and
cliffs 1900 feet. ':There was, writes
Sergt. Rice, something awful in the
impressive scene of desolation spread
around. No sign of animal or vegeta-
BILE life-bare, desolate and chaotic: "a
world unfinished by the hand of its
CREATOR and such silence! am sure
that ordinary quiet would have been
an uproar compared to that which sur
rounded us. Eugene Aram should
have been transported by the poet to
such place to give full play to his
study of guilty conscience" All
this time the sun had been gradually
curtailing its light, and on October IA
it disappeared for 1876 days, and in de-
scribing this change the diary reads:
1--WE all rushed out at noon, and, sure
enough, ''old Sol only showed part of
his disk for a few moments, sprinkling
the ice and snow with silver and crys-
tails, and then sank lazily back in
beautiful glow of warm, rosy colors
1t was one of the few glorious pictures
vouchsafed the Arctic sojourner; but
one which carried with it too many
shadows, as we thought of the night of
months when even the recreant sun
caves and is away with our absent