Daily independent. [volume] (Elko, Nev.) 188?-1915, 1891-04-20
ARCTIC EXPLORATIONS.
The Latest Schemes for Reaching
the North Pole.
ships, Balloons and Doa-sleds to Be EN-
Ployed In the Efforts to Solve
That Profoundest OF
Mysteries.

and Immediately you discover that
there are plenty Of daring spirits ready
to risk life and limb in an attempt to
prove that it is not impossible. For
more than two hundred years, says the
Boston Transcripts, the north pole has
been the Mecca of forlorn-hope ven
lures. Disasters upon disasters have
not dismayed the scientific enthusiasts;
and June next DR.. FrithS of hansen,
an intrepid Norwegian explorer, who
has already won his spurs in this field
by his daring journey across Greenland,
will start from Europe in a small vessel
built expressly for the purpose and so
constructed as to be able to withstand
the nippings of the ice foes which sent
the Jeanette to the bottom. The YES
sci will be provisioned for FIVE years
and will carry strong small boats, sleds,
dogs, ETC., for use in case of accident to
the ship hansen believes that currents
exist in that region that have an easterly
tendency as far as the longitude of the
Siberian rivers, where he expects to find
a rorthcrly current which will bear
him north to within the vicinity of the
pole. He bases his opinion of an east
certain articles left on the wreck of the
Jeanette in the opposite part of the
polar sea drifted in three years to the
coast of Greenland. So he will take his
ship to the place where the Jeanette
went down, and allow it to drift with
the ice foes until the northern currents
are reached. In this way he will not
have to stem currents or resist ice foes,
but will allow them to carry him to his
destination. Northern currents, he
thinks, must be formed by the empty
ing of the Siberian rivers into the Polar
sea.
Another scheme to reach the north
pole is that of two enthusiastic young
Frenchmen, who propose to drift over
the pole in Il specially constructed
balloon. This air ship will be strongly
constructed of two thicbnesses of China
silk, and will have a small interior
balloon, the object of which is to pro-
vide that the larger envclop shall al
ways be inflated. Four subsidiary
balloons and sixteen very small bal
looms will be attached to the larger one,
both to afford auxiliary gas and for
scientific use in determining the direc-
ton of air currents at the pole. The
big balloon will have n capacity of
forty-five thousand cubic feet of hydro
gen gas and is estimated to have q
carrying capacity of more than eight
thousand pounds. The car is of novel
construction and looks like q small
house. 1t is to be made of wicker coat
ed with thin plates of steel and will be
watcr-tight. The equipment will be,
besides the five men and a number of
dogs, provisions for. eighty days, a
sleigh, an unsuitable canoe, scientific
instruments, etc. According to pro-
gramme they will leave Spitzenbergen
in the summer of 1892, sometime when
a wind is found blowing directly over
the pole. They expect to De in the air
ten days and to land in Alaska or west
ern Asia. The scheme is not Endorsed
by the French Hronautical societies.
a plan of polar research that is likely
to be of more practical value than either
OF the aforementioned expeditions,
which are only to satisfy scientific
curiosity, is the scheme developed in Aus
tralil for the exploration of the Ant
arctic region. Since the celebrated ex-
the ErebuS and Terror, no attempt has
been made to investigate this region.
However, in the fall of the present year
an expedition will set out under the
command of Baron Nordenskjold, one
of the most experienced polar travel.
crs living, to explore the Antarctic dis.
trict, and hopes are entertained in Aus.
tralia that new fisheries for whales,
seals, cod, etc, will be found, that will
prove Of intrinsic value to the colony.
Incidentally Baron Nordenskjold may
determine whether the Antarctic CONT
nent Is really a continent or an archi
pelago; ascertain the nature of tho
fossil plants, animals, etc. 1t woult
seem that this Antarctic region offered
n much broader and better field for ex
ploration than the Arctic. Ross pen
etrated to close on to eighty degree.
south.