Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1896-07-08
A RACE TO THE NORTH.
Lieut.. Peary and Prof. Dyche Both
Bound to Reach the Polar Seas
Before Each Other.

Two men, both of whom know from
experience the perils of the ice-bound
oceans to the North, who have travelled
over the snOW-cOyered wastes that keep
eternal watch and ward around the
pole, are racing thither, each determined
to bring back If any power can be found
TO raise and to transport it. the greatest
meteorite that science has any knoWi-
edge of.
This gigantic mass of solid iron, weigh
ing at the least estimate hundreds upon
hundreds of tons, lies on the shores of
Melville bay. Explorer Franklin was
the first white man who ever set eyes on
the marvel. The natives who showed it
to him told him that it had been there
forever, and all through those Northern
regions the fame of it has lived among
the tribes from time immemorial. They
call it 1.-The great iron stone"
How big this monster mass Of soft
iron is not even the EsquimauX know,
for only small portion of it protrudes
what is visible, worth fat fortune, even
in these days of billionaires.
The two men who have entered on
this swift race, with this huge iron goal,
are Lieut.. R.. E: Peary of Arctic fame
and Prof. L. L. Dyche of the University
of Kansas. There is a dispute between
the two explorers as to which is the
real owner of the meteorite. Lieut..
Peary insists upon the priority of his
claim. but Prof. Dyche says that when
he went to Greenland to bring Peary
back from his Inflated Arctic expedition
the natives showed the wonder to them
both, and both spoke then of the FEAST
bility of bringing it to the United States
Now Prof. Dyche has disappeared,
bound on some far, mysterious mission.
and the wise ones a. the West say he
has gone to get the meteorite From his
homo * IA
after leaving there, which he did quietly,
he went to Chicago and then came to
New York. In both cities he has wealthy
friends, who have promised to back him
with money in his big undertaking.
But the latest explanation of the whole
matter is even more startling. Last win
ter Prof. Dyche said to a reporter for a
Kansas City newspaper that he was
secretly planning for this summer jour
ney of Arctic discovery, which. if it
should prove successful, would be one
OF the greatest ventures of the century.
His programme was, he said. to go to
Alaska, and from there make trip
across the very northernmost boundaries
of North America, coming out somewhere
in Labrador. He would gather on the
way specimens of animals, flora and geo.
logical formations for the Kansas univer-
sity, and, besides all these, would bring
back a treasure from the north that
would startle the scientific world.
Now, bearing in mind the declarations
he made before his departure about the
bringing of the meteorite and his indis-
putatle claim to the possession of it the
theory which his friends admit may be
the right one is that While he is jour
neying across the continent from Alaska.
vessels equipped by his wealthy New
York and Chicago friends are to be TAX
en- to the North that he and his party
are to join them there, and proceed to
the site of the meteorite, and stay right
by it at any cost.
Meantime Lieut.. Peary is not remain
ing idle. He is censcripting party, and
pushing the work of equipment forward
with all the haste consistent with Sc
curity. He expects to be ready to set
sail for the North some time early in
July.