The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1890-05-08
TO BLOW UP THE NORTH POLE.


TO BLOW UP THE NORTH POLE.
It Would Make the Arctic Region Habita-
table.
Did nature intend the Arctic Sea to be
open and the climate moderate? And is
it possible to do by means Of dynamite
what nature has unaccountably omitted
to do2 These points are discussed in q
pamphlet by Mr.. II. a. 81. Dunsford, G.
E., which has just been published.
We need not suppose for moment,
writes Mr.. Dunsford, how matters would
stand if 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 becoming chilled, as is the
case at present, would flow past the
pole and southwark as warm streams still.
They would effectually keep the ice from
reforming, and do away with the exces.
sive cold of the Arctic regions altogether.
Nature is, in fact, working toward that
end, for the climate of the northern part
of the northern hemisphere has been
steadily ameliorating ever since the
commencement of the historic period.
In the time of the Roman Republic the
rivers in Gaul used to freeze over in
winter, and Roman writers represent
Germany as land of frozen morasses.
Compare the climate at present enjoyed
by those countries with this description,
and it will be at once apparent how great
8 change il climate must have gradually
taken place. The records of the Hud.
sons 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 it was 200 years
ago. About the years 1S15-1S18 the ice
barrier on the east coast of Greenland
began to break up, as was noted at the
time by Sir John Barrow, who regarded
it 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 channel
by which the Japan current can flow
unchecked 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 dura-
tion, for if the warm currents can actually
reach the ice they will soon solve the
question without human assistance. At
present they do not reach it; for the ice
cap blocking the way no outlet
for them (the warm currents being, OF
course, surface water,) and their course
is arrested long before they come near 1t
by wide belt of cold water, for which
there is no outlet except that the coldest
part Of it escapes by flowing 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
nov powerful explosives that are perfect
ly effective when frozen, and that every
mass of ice detached on the course of a
stream flowing southwark will float away
of itself. I do not, of course, mean to
imply that it will be easy, but that it is
within our power to make achannel wide
enough for part of a warm stream to
pass without losing all its heat on the
way. We may notice also that explor-
ers have reported open sea to the north
of Greenland, and that the accounts that
they have given us are circumstantial
and cannot we'll be doubted. The main
barrier with which We shall have to deal
will be the belt of ice north and north
west of Greenland. Of course, until it is
completed, the channel will freeze over
the removal ofthe ice thus formed will be
so serious a difficulty as might be expect.
ed. The ice being caused merely by the
freezing of the channel will be smooth,
not hummocky, and after the first snow
fall can be traversed easily by Bledges or
dog trains. so that surface or submerged
mines can be laid, enabling the ice over
any desired length of fsection to be broken
up instantaneously 80 soon as the winter
is over.
The advantages to be gained by the
opening of the sea and the amelioration
of the climate can scarcely be overesti.
mated. The rendering habitable Of the
shore Of the Arctic, and the growth there
of civilized communities a direct route
to the Pacific and an immense increase
of trade with the Pacific coasts of Amer.
lea and Asia J; lands suitable for coloni.
zation, within easy reach of Great
Britain, and which in great part belong
to the British empire; valuable fshe.
ries; considerable and increasing trade
in the Arctic itself; and comparative if
not total immunity from storms in the
North Atlantic, the principal if not the
only cause of storms being the difference
in temperature between the poles and
the tropics. the Pail MaW Gazette.