The Madisonian. (Virginia City, Mont.) 1873-1915, 1895-10-26

Itl III tlliilI tIic
sailors. Both
We're absolutely p0werless WHOM the ice
king chose to put an end to the voyage.
The Erebus and Terror We're steam YES
sells, yet the great voyage of Franklin
came to grief. 1t remains to be tested
whether anything will be gained in the
way of solving the polar mystery by the
perfection of the airship. Trials will be
made next year. Meanwhile explorers
do not rest upon what has beer done nor
content themselves with old methods.
Going to hunt for the pole may be a fad
with some, but the majority have a new
theory to work out. Peary thinks that
the true way to reach the pole IS TO tray
Ell upon the ice cap of Greenland until
It's ntrthernmost point has been reached,
and he seems to have solved one prob
lem that so long baffled the %navigators.
They hoped to bear provisions in ships,
but the ships themselves We're icebound
III regions SO far south that sledge jour
neys from them could not reach the
pole. Peary found an abundance Of wild
game as far north as the farthest sledge
journeys Of the nayigators had penetrat-
ed, and if his theories hold good explOr-
ers may start from a base at Il parallel
where sledge journeys from the ships
ended.
Peary is putting to use the knowledge
gained by one Of the most daring ex-
plorers of the century, DIR. Kane.
Kane's expedition for Franklin's relief
has never been equaled III the same field
in boldness of venture, thoroughness Of
search and in the severity and duration
of exposure and hardship. He pushed
his vessel farther north than any sailor
before or since. He held q theory, which
has not been exploded, and that is that
there is an open polar sea. He believed
that Franklin had reached and found
refuge on some habitable land beyond
those frozen regions which. since the his
tory Of civilized man, have been the
polar frontier. Kane set out in 1853 to
make for that open polar sea. He had
been in a search in 1851 and knew the
seen. Kane's vessel was the Advance, a
tried warrior in the ice seas, for she had
made the trip in 1850. Kane and ten Of
his comrades were detailed from the
United States navy. The party number
ed IS in all. By bold and original navi-
cation the Advance reached latitude 70
in four months, and after wonderful
adventures and escapes In trying to bore
through the ice the daring men found
their vessel drydocked by the upheaval
of the ice pack. The position was lati-
tude 70 degrees 81 minutes, longitude
70 degrees 40 minutes. The Advance
came to "a standstill in August and never
moved again. For two years the explor-
ers made it their home while prescott
ing their bold searches on foot and in
sledges northward. They passed the
eighty second parallel.
Kane's first venture was made in
whaleboat. accompanied by seven vol
unteers. 1t was in September, and al
first they had no trouble in pushing
through the fields of floating ice. Fl
nally, however, the channel i'll which
they sailed came to III end. h iC'
pack on the off shore side closed ii
against the ice belt along the coast, ant
the boat was abandoned. The party thel
uOOh d SlcuSc dIli iIlDtIltu ltiO itO va
of the cliffs on the west coast, Green
land, travelling to where the line break
to the east, with a northern facing
From an altitude Of 100 feet Kan
looked out upon a solid area of ice
stretching away toward the pole, Wit
the aid OF IA powerful glass he could sc
beyond the mountains of icebergS, alOn
shore, to aresion Of comparatively levt
ice, which he thought might be the boz
ders of the polar sea, He returned to tn
brig and prepared for more extende
trips. Three depotS We're made alon
the coast and supplies buried III hug
caverns to keep off the robbers of tn
a%rctics, the polar bears. That accom-
plished, the explorers had nothing to c
for the long winter except to hunt II
food and fight the intense cold. BY tt
middle Of December the last yestlge
arctic twilight had disappeared and
we'll as midnight MONDAY was sunles
Nothing but a faint CLEAN defining Il
range of ICY mountains far to the sou
gave token that the world had a su
During January and February the the
mometer ranged between 4j and IS b
low zero.
When perpetual day returned
March. a sledse party went out to c
anime the depots. After II days part
them returned barely able to tell of t
disaster that overlook them. Their do
had persisted and -four of the mel h
given out at the lines and were lyi'
out in the ice disabled. Kane led a r.
cue party and after a difficult marc
during which the guide went deliriol