Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1893-07-22
PeARYs sLEDGE JOURNEY.
nsasoss For Considering 10 a Moss Rc-
marknble Performance.

To the Editor Of Tho Sun:
SlR-In your Issue Of this morning you speak
of Lieutenant Peary's famous sledge trip as
being the longest ever performed by two men
with o dog team. Is not this an error Colonel
w. H. elders trip across Siberia was mqcn
longer, and understand from him that tho Irst
1000 miles OF II wero accomplished with only tho
aid Of single native. do not write to dis
parnge Poary, but certainly Cesar should have
his own DAVID 4. CURTIS
Our correspondent has unintentionally
misquoted The Sun. We did not say that
Peary's sledge trip was the longest ever
performed" What The Sun said Yves,
HE made the greatest sledge Journey
ever performed by two mon with team
of dogs, travelling on the Ice cap as far
as from this city to Omaha without
single advance cache of supplies
This OF course is matter of opinion
1t is an opinion. however, that Is sup
ported By leading authorities in arctic
matters, as was shown. for instance, in
the recent session of the Berlin Geograph-
ical society, when one Of the honors OF
the society was conferred upon Lieuten-
ant Peary
!; His performance did not equal thst OF
Glider or of several other sledge parties
notably during the Franklin search.
either in distance covered or In syerage
rate per day, az The Sun showed months
sgo 1t is. however. the conditions un-
der which such q journey is made that
fix Its relative position snonS similar
performances
In the first place, his Journey was made
many hundreds Of mites north OF every
other sledse route that Is particularly
conspicuous both for distance covered
and for sverage rate attsins<s
Some Of tho conditions were wholly
Few. twas the frs. time, for instance.
that an explorer hs6 handled $ tsSs1, o.
Eskimo dogs on ths inland Zee.
Pesry did not have 8 single ss!vsncs
cache from which 70 repleniSh his soy
plies Many other sls3ge pays.ss were
able 70 establish such caches, O. ~ leaS.
there wss the probability that they cNauld
secure some game 60 feed thar dogs If
dogs instead of men were IN the traces
Peary had to face the probability that
he would not be able to obtain pound
of fresh meat, and he therefore had to
drag every ounce of supplies for nan
and beast that he expected to use
All previous eledge work had been
done at or near the sea level Peary's
sledge work was done throughout at a
height above the sea Of mile 10 mile
and three-hfths. For two weeks at q
height Of over 5000 feet he advanced
among clouds so dense that from the
rear OF his sledges he could hardly see
his dog teams For two weeks he was
utterly unable 10 steer course except
by taking tho compass direction of the
wind and stopping every ID minutes TO
see II the wind had not Teered a point
or two
Under these and other equally unique,
untried and remarkable conditions Peary
made record which In point of distance
covered and average daily rate ranks
among the conspicuous arctic sledge
journeys and the conditions under
which these results were attained make
the journey the most remarkable Of
sledging exploits. Ii two men have
matched 1t elsewhere. Il would be inter
esting to know it,-New York Sun