The Democratic press. [volume] (Ravenna, O. [Ohio]) 1868-1901, 1890-07-23
BLOWING UP THE NORTH POLE.
1t Would Make the Arctic Region Habit
able and Stop North Atlantic Storms.

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 omitted to
do? These points, says the Pail Mall
Gazette, are discussed in pamphlet by
II. A. II. Dunsford, C. E., which has
just been published.
We need not suppose for a moment,
writes Mr.. Dunsford, how matters
would stand if the ice cap were re-
moved 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
fow past the pole and southwark as
warm streams still. They would eff
fectually keep the ice form reforming.
and do away with the excessive cold
of the Arctic regions altogether. Ma
ture 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 pc
riod. In the time of the Roman re-
public the rivers in Gaul used to freeze
over in the 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 a change in eli
mate must have gradually taken place.
The records of the Hudson's Bay COM
pany also show that the winter on the
shores of Hudson's bay has grown
shorter at the rate of one day in ten
Io soA 81
is open for navigation being now twen-
ty days longer than it was 100 years
ago. About the year 1S15-18 the ice
barrier on the east coast of Greenland
began to break up, as was noted at the
time by Sir John Barrow, who regard
ed it as one of the most important,
tory of the world. All this is evidence
that the ice barrier is being steadily
driven farther north and will eventual
~ leave a channel by which the Japan
current can flow unchecked through
the Polar sea from Behring's straits to
the Atlantic, in which case the exist
ence of the remainder of the ice cap
will be but of short duration, for if the
warm currents can actually reach the
ice they will soon solve the question
they do not reach it, for the ice cap block
ing the way leaves no outlet for them
(the warm currents being, of course,
surface water), and their course is ar
rested long before they come near it by
a 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.
AC fn1 hn
open the sea, we must remember that
the ice is not of great thickness, that
we have now powerful explosives that
are perfectly effective when frozen, and
that every mass of ice detached on the
course of stream flowing southwark
will float away of itself. l do not of
course, mean to imply that it will
be easy, but that it is within our pow
er to make a channel wide enough for
a part of warm stream to pass with
out losing all its heat on the way. We
may notice also that explorers have re-
ported open sea to the north of Green
land, and that the accounts that they
have given us are circumstantial and
can not well be doubted. The main bar
rier with which we shall have to deal
will be the belt of ice northwest of
Greenland. Of course, until it is COM
pleted, tie channel will freeze over
every winter; but do not think that
the removal of the ice thus formed will
be so serious difficulty as might be
expected. The ice being caused mere
ly 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, so that
surface or submerpad mines can ba
laid. enabling the ice over any de-
sired length of section to be broken up
so soon as the winter
is over.
The advantage to be gained by the
opening of the sea and the ameliora-
ton of the climate can scarcely be
The rendering habit
able of the shores of the Arctic. and
growth there of civilized communities;
a direct route to the Pacific and an
immense increase of trade with the Pa
cific coasts of America and Asia; lands
suitable for colonization, within easy
reach of Great Britain, and which in
great part belong to the British empire;
valuable fisheries; q 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 be-
tween the poles and tropics.
BIG ELEPHANT YARN.