Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1896-09-24
THAT METEORITE,
Which Peary Hopes to Bring Home
This Time,
Weighs 40 Tons and Will Far Surpass Any
Other Known Specimen.

III the lioHeh HoTtn on an expeditions
| the chief purpose of which is to brin:.
back the big meteorte which has served
for years as an iron mine for the Esl,i
mo and IS due TO return within the next
| ID days. On Friday, July 10, the exne-
dition set sail in the steamer Hone from
this port, bound for the arctic regions
She called at Sidney, Cape Breton to
| fill her bunkers with coal and 10 take
on board the members of the Marty
who Joined her there in preference to
making the sea voyage from Halifax
to St John. All preparations com
pleted. she sailed from there on tbo
morning of the 18th, passed Rattlo
| Harbor, Straits of Belle Isle. on tho
| 18th. and called at Turnavfk island
Labrador, on the Goth, where the last
dispatches and letters were mailed no
fore venturing into the great icy sea.
| This expedition, the sixth under tho
auspices of Lieutenant Peary, was nm
dertaken with the view of bringin,.
| home the great meteorite near Cane
York, completing certain chronological
| collections left unfinished in former
trips. and exploring the vast unknown
coast line of Melville bay Pearv's
previous trips and his notable achieve
ments under seemingly nsurmountable
difficulties have made his name familiar
| to the American people and placed HIM
| IN the foremost rank of arctic explorers
| his present programme, though not as
| ambitious as many former ones is like
| ~ TO be OF great scientific value even
| II NanSenS magnificent work causes il
| TO suffer by comparison. His main
| purpose is to secure the great meteor;tc
mentioned by Sir John Ross in 1918. but
never seen by white man until Pearv
and Lee located and surveyed it in
| May. 1894. They found three blocks
one weighing half a ton second three.
tons, and large one about forty tons.
The former two he succeeded in bring
ing back in the Kite last year. a,ut he
mad no appliances sufficiently heavy to
remove the latter. This ponderous mass
OF metal. giving by analysis nearly 80
per cent. pure IRON lies on an island
about twenty miles southeast of Cape
York. which Peary named" Meteor Is
iand,' and is an irregular cube 10 by
by feet. To facilitate its removal he
is we'll supplied with drills. derricks.
dynamite and explosives. and if it BE-
found impossible to get it otherwise it
transportation to the ship, and then
put together again in the museum for
which it is intended
He would naturally prefer to take if
away complete, but the locality is diff.
cult of access and can only be reached
| IN seasons when the ice is very open.
so it may be difficult to reach the spot.
and then the getting of such a mass OF
metal from its place ON the shore owe.
the mile or SO Of ice which never de-
taches from the coast to the shin
noored at the outside edge, would be
no slight undertaking. This meteorite
stands unequaled in the world, the one
next in size. which is in the British
Museum, being only eighteen tons The
three at Cape York answered the pur-
pose of an immense deposit of smelted
ron for the ESkmos, who used il in the
manufacturing Of knives and nipple
ments of the chase. The manner IN
which they procured it was something.
They broke beach stones, and with the |
sharp, Jagged edges hacked pieces off |
the mass. When Peary visited the spot
he found an immense collection of thesa !
stones, accumulated by the Eskimo who |
had journeyed thither from all the west |
and south coasts of Greenland for |
hundreds of years. Scientific investi
3ations are not being lest sight of, ana |
for this purpose two independent part |
les sailed by here, one from Cornell |
university and the othcrfrom the Mass |
&chusetts Institute of Technology
The former party is made up as fol- |
lows: Ralph \. Tarr, professor OF
dynamic geology and physical eeogra-
ply lin charged A. G. Gill, professor OF
iaineralogy and photography: +. NJ
kindlc, paleontologist; j. y. Bonestcel
assistant in geology: T. L. Watson
student of geology; j. @. Martin cnto-
moloSist. This party was to be landed
by Peary on his way north at Devils
thumb, on the southern end Of Melville
LAY, region never before visited by
scientitic men. The Boston party con-
aists of Professor Alfred Burton Gn
chargc) and Professor George H. Bar
ION of the staff of the Institute of Tech
nology: Geologist c. H. Putnam, assist
ant in the United States coast and
Eeodetic survey, detailed to accompany
the party to take pendulum ana mag
netic observations; Russell w Porter.
student in the architectural department
Of the Institute of Technology. artist
and Photographers; John c. Phillips,
student of Harvard, assistant geologist
This party was to be first landed a.
Omenak ford, south of Melville Bay.
then the Cornell men. each party being
furnished with a whaleboat and stores
After that Peary with the ship makes
u direct run to his own Headquarters
in Bowdoin Bay. West Greenland, where
at Falcon harbor, latitude 7747 north.
he spent two years His aim in return
ing there is to secure additional ethno-
logical collections. He has found that
as result of their frequent contac.
with his expeditions the past six years
and observations of civilized methods
the Eskimo are gradually changing the
construction of their kayaks and sledges
and the form of their weapons and do
mestic utensils. so that it is imperative
to secure the original specimens with
out delay, before they become modified.
It is highly probable that he may pro
coed still farther north but he will moi
leopardze the ship to do it as the navi- l
cation there is very dangerous
His only companions in this part of :