Springfield globe-republic. (Springfield, Ohio) 1884-1887, 1886-01-21
ARCTIC REGIONS.
NOT so oEsoLATe AND pReARv As
is GENERALLY BELIEVED.
Navigation Among 1ceburgs Eot So Dan
gsrous ~ Newspaper Accounts Have
Stated An Arctic summer-CAu-
ton Of Navigator.


late and dreary conceivable. 10 which
Arctic writing have done much to lend
color, and especially if the author be ono
who has travelled but little in varied eli
mates before he visited that Of the frigid
zones and Judges them rigidly from civil
i. cd districts The polar country is not Q
Garden of tden-although one writer has
tried TO prove that il was the original
garden itself at one time in the far past
but from my standpoint consider it .
misrepresented country in regard TO wild
desolation and desert dreariness 1t can
easily be compared to any other country
in the winter devoid of timber. and every
ira e,er knows how many he has seen of
these We often see even Arctic writers
speak in the most dreary way of country
covered scores Of feet In snow and its
waters frozen as deep in ice hoping this
great thickness will impress their readers
accordingly.
/ defy anybody in q country covered
with snow and whose waters are frozen
over to tell whether i; Is to the extent of
one inch or q hundred feet without dig
ging to find out 1t only shows what
combined ink and imagination can do
when the latter controls II any one
could be unknowingly placed in such .
SouHuy. ~ouiu Ikc W huOW Nv nc
could tell whether it was the north pole
or Nebraska. King Williams land or
kansas | have seen far more desolate
and dresry scenes on the prairies of
Dakota and ad dining states and terri
tories covered with their winter mantle
of snow. through which would pro, ect
barren hills swept the fall before BY
prairie fires. and doubly black by contrast
rs much mors desolate than the Arctic
as the Arctic is over any land have ever
seen.
AN ARCTIC SUMNER.
Arctic expeditions have in the past and
especially far past. been mostly maritime,
spending their summers among the ice
packs and in harbor only in winter, and
from their standpoint the country must
look desolale indeed As this character
of expedition is CONSTANT, proving to
have about reached its limits, and PARTIES
are entering the field and more success
fully carrying forward Arctic projects
with their greater facilities and as they
spend their time on the land the year
round they are in better condition to give
. true account Of ii. a. judged from that
standpoint: and they have uniformly
given better character to the Arctic than
Il ever had before; and this will probably
increase
have been inland on King Williams
land in the summer with the snow OF the
ground and ice off the lakes. flowers COW
ering the former SO that one could hardly
put the foot down without crushing them
and the latter covered with garrulous
aquatic life. reindeer grazing on the dis
tant ridges and butterflies hitting about.
the sun in the heavens at midnight. and
the picture certainly looked better than
many IF the sage brush and cactus deserts
of the southwest rs one drove through
with the thermometer soaring In the sky
and constant fear of contagious lead collie
caught from the Indians who there
abound.
ICEBERGS NOT DANGEROUS.
There are few more erroneous impres.
sions-or. at least, found them. so in the
part of the Arctic where l traveled-re
gsrding the frigid zones. Of which will
speak have seen the navigation Of the
Arctic spoken of SO much as dangerous
from the icebergs that thought itworth
while to give this attention. have seen
in general newspaper accounts but never
In books written by polar travellers ice
beres quoted as dangerous quite as often.
II not oftener. than ice fields or fioea
The broad distinction between the two
as different rs mountain and plain-I
do not think il necessary to rehearse here
in deial for all of my readers must
understand it, but this distinction never
seems to be made l might say that ice
bergs in the Arctic regions are in gen
erai about rs dangerous to carefully con
Quoted navigation as the houses on the
banks of the Hudson or Mississippi are
dangerous to steamers navigating those
streams
II one will only remember that during
the short Arctic summer. when naviga
ton ID at all possible in these regions,
that it is quite as light at midnight Is il
is at noon. the chances of running against
compact mountain of ice are very small,
unless 1t would be during q heavy fog
As TO this chance II should also be re-
membered that polar navigators are on
the watch for all such contingencies. and
when in the iceberg region. which they
well know. and q heavy fog has settled
they move very cautiously, and never at
gait they can not control In time TO
avoid all possible accidenta
When icebergs float southwark into the
realms of alternate day and night. and
are so infrequent that they are not care
fully guarded against. they become dan.
gerous customers. and this has probably
led others to think that this danger {,
many times multiplied in the regions
from which they come, when. in fact. it
is one of the most Insignificant ones that
is there encountered Just now | recall
no case Of ship being sunk or even in
jured by an iceberg north Of the Arctic
circle