Lancaster daily intelligencer. [volume] (Lancaster, Pa.) 1864-1928, 1890-05-03
To BLOW Ur THE NORTH POLE.

Il Would Make the Arctic Region Habit.
able. Open the Northwest Passage.
and stop the North Atlantic Storms.
From the Pail Mall Gazette.
Did nature intend the Arctic Sea 10 be
open, and the climate moderate? And Is II
possible to do by means of dynamite what
Nature has unaccountably omitted to dor
These points are discussed IN a pamphlet
by Mr.. H. A. II. Dunsford, G. f., which
have just been published.
We need only suppose for moment
writes Mr.. Dunsford) how matters would
stand ii the Ice cap were removed from the
north pole The two warm streams would
In that case flow In exactly the same course
that they now take, but, instead of becom-
1ngschilled, as is the case at present, flow
past the pole and southwark AS warm
streams still. They would effectually keep
the Ice from reforming, and do away with
the excessive cold of the Arctic regions
altogether. Nature is, in fact, working to-
ward that end, for the climate of the
northern part OF the northern hemisphere
has been steadily ameliorating ever since
the commencement of tho historic period.
In the time of the Roman republic the
rivers in Gaul used to freeze over in winter,
and Roman writer's represent Germany as
land of frozen morasses. Compare the
climate at present enjoyed by those coun-
tries with this description, and it will be
at once apparent how great q change in
climate must have gradually taken place.
The records of the Hudson's Bay company
also show that the winter on the shores of
Hudson's bay has grown shorter at the
rate Of one day in ten years, the season
during which the sea is open for navigation
being now twenty days longer than 1t was
200 years ago. About the years lSl5-1SlS
the ice barrier on the east coast of Green
land began to break up, as was noted ut
the time by Sir John Barrow, who regard
cd 1t as one of the most important, though
least noticed, events in the history of the
world. All this Is evidence that the ice
barrier Is being steadily driven further
north, and will eventually leave a channel
by which the Japan current can flow un-
checked through the Polar Sea from
Behring's Straits to the Atlantic, in which
case the existence of the remainder of the
ice cap will be but of short duration, for II
the warm currents can actually reach the
Ice they will soon sol We the question with
out human assistance. At present they do
not reach it; for the leo cap blocking the
way leaves no outlet for them the warm
currents being of course surface water),
and their course is arrested long before
they come near it by wide belt of cold
water, for which there is no outlet except
that the coolest part of it escapes by flow
ing under the ice to form the cold streams.
AS for the proposition that we can open
the sea. we must remember that the ice is
not of great thickness, that we have now
powerful explosives that are perfectly ef-
Of ice detached ON the course of a stream
flowing southwark will float away of it's
sell. do not, of course, mean to imply
that it will be easy, but that it is within
our power to make q channel wide enough
for part of a warm stream to pass with
out losing all its heat on the way. We may
notice also that explorers have reported
open sea to the north of Greenland, and
that the accounts that they have given us
are circumstantial and cannot well be
doubted. The main barrier with which we
III Ill have to deal will be the belt Office north
and northwest of Greenland. OF course,
until it is completed, the channel will
freeze over every winter: but / do not
think that the removal of the ice thus form
ed will be so serious difficulty as might
be expected The ice being caused merely
by the freezing of the channel will be
smooth, not hummocky, and after the first
snowfall can be traversed easily by sledges
or dog trains, SC that surface or submerged
mines can be laid, enabling the ice over
any desired length of section to be broken
up instantaneously so soon as the winter
is over.
The advantages to be gained by the open
ing of the sea and the amelioration of the
climate can scarcely be overestimated. The
rendering habitat /, of the shores of the
Arctic, and tho growth there of civilized
communities; a direct route to the Pacific
coasts of America and Asia lands suitable
for colonization, within easy reach of
Great Britain, and which in great part be-
long to the British empire; valuable fish
cries: q considerable and increasing trade
in the Arctic itself; and comparative if not
total immunity from storms in the North
Atlantic, the principal il not the only cause
of storms being the difference in temper
ature between the poles and the tropics.