The Portland daily press., 1897-01-15
HOW TO REACH THE POLE.
Lieutenant Peary Outlines a Plausible
Scheme.

was tue recipient xueSudy ulBhb III AeO"
York of the Cullum geographical med al.
The medal was bestowed upon Lieuten-
ant PeaIy by the Amer lean Geographl-
cal Society in recognition OF his services
in polar seas in 1891 and 1895, when he
conducted personally two expeditions to
search for the north pole. The medal is
the institution of the late vice president
of the society, General Cullunl, and will
henceforth be awarded by the society to
American arctic explorers whose achieve
lnents make them worthy OF 1T. The
president of the society, Hon. Charles z.
Daley, in presenting the medal to Lieu
tenant Peary, made brief speech.
Lieutenant Peary made reply, saying:
History has been made rapidly in the
arctic regions in the past few years, and
is apt to be made still faster in thu next
few. My own reconnaissance of the
Greenland inland ice in 1886 was followed
by Nansen's crossing Of the country in
1888. Then came my two expeditions OF
1891 to 1895, in each Of which l crossed
the northern portion of the great ice gap
from Whale Sound to Independence
Bay and thessnorthern terminus of main
Greenland; reaching an unknown por-
ton of the east const and settling the
question Of the penisularity Of the great
arctic island. Simultane ously with my
second expedition started the expeditions
of Wellman to tho Spitzbergen region.
jackson to Franz Joseph Land, and
Nansen into the great blank of the Sibe-
rian arctic basin. Now, all of these ex-
petitions but one have returned, leaving
untouched or unfinished several of the
most interesting problems of the north.
"Nausen has wrested from tue stars
and stripes the record of highest north
which it had held for q dozen years, and
placed the Norwegian flag fur in advance
He has also shown that the entire seq
ment of the polar basin north of the ST.
berian coast is not available for further
poleward efforts. jackson is still in
Franz Joseph Land, but, with all my
admiration for the pluck and energy of
this gallant Englishman and the free
| handed generosity and public spirit of
his patron, Mr.. Harmsw orth, fear that
conditions are against him, now that it
is established that Franz Joseph Land
is merely an archipelago of limited ex-
tent, with no land north of 1T.
"My own expeditions have satisfied
me that from a sufficient depot of provss-
ions and equipment located in the lati
tude of Independence Bay, the pole is at
tainable. The results of these various
OK petitions have shown that thare Is left
but one practicable route by which to
attain the north pols, and that route the
one that has been known as the Amer1-
can, viz: The route through Smith
Sound, Kane basin, Robson channel
and along the mort Invest coast OF Green
land. This route has been developed
almost exclusively by Americans-Kane,
Hayes Hall and Greedy.
"The pole is certain to be reached soon;
it is only question of time and money,
and not so very much OF the latter; and
unless we are alert we shall be Left i'll
the rear. propose for your considera-
ton now in the simplest and fewest pos-
sible words safe, common sense project
for reaching the pole by the only re-
manning practicable route. have no
theory to advance (the polar regions are
peculiarly hostile to theories); therefore,
have no long array Of arguments to
marshal. l have to present simply a
plain statement of facts. My plan in
16W6sU WOEUS is TO TdlS5 u luuu suiHCl6HG
to insure the continuation of the work OF
exploration for ten years, if necessary,
pay $3.50, 900, and deposit 1t in trust COM
pany; purchase ship, give her mini
mum crew, load with concentrated pro
visions, proceed to Whale Sound, take
on board several picked families of my
faithful Eskimos, with their tents,
canoes, dogs, etc; force way through
Robson channel to Sherard Osborne
Fjord or farther, and land people and
stores; then send the ship back. AS soon
as the freezing of the ice in the great
fords of the northwest coast would per-
NIT sledge travel, the work Of advancing
supplies northeastward along the coast
would be commenced, taking compare
lively short stages and light loads SO
that the trips could be quickly made. AS
soon rs the supplies had been advanced
the first stage, the party itself would
move forward, leaving cache behind
and as they would be following Eskimo
customs and living in snow houses, this
could easily be DONE Then the second
stage of advance would be taken up and
the work carried on until the departure
of the sun. Each of the brilliant winter
moons of the polar night would afford
Al