St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1884-10-25
POLAR PICTURES.

POLAR PICTURES.
Record Of Tie observations Made by
Greely and His Associates i'm the
Arctic.The Midnight sun.The Bright
est stars and the Awfully Oppressive
silence--LicutenantL LockwOOd's Jour-
ney.
For the purpose of obtaining some
idea of the general nature and probable
value of the scientific observations
made by Greely at Lady Franklin Bav,
an Associated Press agent visited him
at Portsmouth, n. H. Greelv first
stated the object of the Lady Franklin
Bay expedition, viz: To establish a
Polar station-one of the thirteen sug-
gested by Lieutenant Weypracht. of
Austria, who discovered Franz Josef
Land-simultaneous observations of all
physical phenomena were to be taken.
The complete programme which was to
be followed was arranged by an Inter
national Polar Congress. in which the
representatives of thirteen nations took
part. The observations in which the
greatest possible accuracy was to be
had were those of the declination and
deviation of the magnetic needle, the
temperature of the air and sea, height
of the barometer. and mean and maxi
mum fall of the tides. All explora-
tions were incidental to the main OBJ
jects of the expedition.
The expedition was fitted out under
the authority of Congress; was COM
posed of three officers of the army. one
acting surgeon, and nineteen enlisted
menfrom the army. Stores for twenty
seven months were put on the Proteus,
which left st. Johns, July l. 1881. with
heparty. She touched at Disco Island
and Upernavik- to- procure sledges,
dogs, skins and dog food. Two Esqui-
maux were added to the party at
Proven. Landing was made at Carey
Island in north water and the provisions
cached by Mares in 1875 in the Alert
were found in good condition. At
Littleton Island Greedy personally re-
covered the English arctic mail left by
Sir Allan Young in the Pandora in
1876. At Carl Ritter Bay, in Kennedy
Channel, cache of provisions for use on
retreat was made. 1t was the original
intention to establish the Polar station
at Water Course Bay, but heavy masses
of ice rendered Water Course Bav ex-
ceedingly dangerous anchorage. Nov
ing to Discovery Harbor the station
was there established on the site occu-
pied by the English expedition of 1875.
The erection of house was at once
commenced. and stores and Equipments
landed. On the 2Sth of August came
the parting between the Greely party
and the men of the Proteus. The little
band gathered on the frozen shore
and watched the Proteus as she
steamed slowly down Lady Franklin
Bay. On the evening of the same day
the temperature sank below the freez-
ing point, and an icy arctic winter was
on them in earnest. Their house was
finished about a week after the Proteus
left. 1t was named. in honor of SEN
ator Conger, Fort Conger, During the
first month the cold affected the men
more than at any subsequent time at
Fort Conger. Later on in December the
temperature sank to from fifty to sixty
five degrees below zero, and so remained
for days at q time. But even in that
weather the cook s favorite amusement
was dancing bare headed, bare-armed,
and with slippered feet on the top of a
snow-drift. During the day the men
dressed in ordinary outside clothing,
but their iannels were very heavy.
Five men were generally for part of
under Greely's direction, and in the
duties of the camp. The remainder
were employed generally about one
hour day, and devoted the rest of the
time to amusement. All slept in hunks
in the quarters, which were heated by
. large coal stove, the average heat
maintained being fifty degrees above
zero. Che ckers. cards, chess and read
ing were the amusements of the even
ing. The life, Greely said. was far
from lonely one. Many of the men
said they had never passed two happier
years than those speEt at Fort Conger.
On the 18th of October the sun left
them for one hundred and thirty-five
days, and a twilight, varying from half
an hour to twenty-four hours, sue
ceeded. For two weeks it was so dim
that the dial of watch could not be
read by it. On April Ii the sun came
above the horizon and remained there
one hundred and thirty-five days, giving
the party great sufficiency of the
midnight sun. During three months
the stars were visible constantly, and
the consultations of Orion's Belt and
the Great Bear were the brightest. The
North Star looked down from almost
overhead. Standing alone outside the
fort on one Of these night scenes were
veirdly grand. To the north famed
the aurora borealis, and bright constel-
lations were set like jewels around the
glowing moon. Over everything was
dead silence. sohorribly oppressive that
1 man alone1S almost tempted to kill