Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1898-07-09

will keep up the supply of food, dogs and
Eskinlos until the objects of the expedition
are accomplished. If the ship should be
Channel the first year, the party will land
at Hayes Sound and devote the season to
explorations of that unknown region. Re-
treat from the colony at Sherard Fjord will
always be practicable across the inland ice
to Whale Sound.
To Besfege the Pole.
The program is to secure every mile and
advance just as far there is land, then
attempt to accomplish the remaining dis
lance in one effort. In case the conditions
are unfavorabe or impracticable the first
season, 1 shall return to my Eskimo vii
lage. winter there and start again the next
spring; and if the conditions are not favor
able the second year, come back for the
winter, and so on, trying again and again.
L believe that at any point in the arctic
regions. at one time or another, at one sea-
son or another, the door is open or can be
opeEed, and the man who is in readiness
ana waiting for the opportunity can get
where he wants to. When an expedition
gees north for one or two years only it
may not md the favorable opportunity, but
IL 1t can stay there four or five years, which
L am prepared to stay if necessary some
time in that period the favorable occasion
Is sure TO come. and the door will be opened
or can be pushed open.
For a practical attempt at the mole the
utilization of the Eskimo is of uuouesttonef
value They are the people best fitted in
the world for that particular kind of work
men who, under the leadership of one whom
they know to be their friend and in whom
they have the utmost confidence will fol-
low to the end, faithful and loyal as their
own magnificent dogs. What could be more
practical than party made up of the chill
dren of The north itself, a surgeon for erner-
gencie5 and a leader to furnish will intel
iSence and direction?
EskimOs Eager to Help.
These children of the north are not mere
ly willing. but anxious and glad to go with
me. 1t was interesting to note the child
ish delight with which they would listen as
L told them how they were each to have
'skake-her-up' (modern rifle and were to
hunt musk oxen and bear, drive dogs and
eat biscuit and pemnican with me in the
distant legendary Oomingmuk Nunami
(musk-oN land) of their forefathers.
Eagerly as these people have looked for
ward during the past few summers for the
coming of 'Peary's Oomiaksoch'' (shipJ
they will look forward TO it with double in
terest this season. They have all the ca ger
human children the world over, and this
year the arrival of the "Oomiak soch''
means that a considerable quota of the lit
tie community will go to The White Avur-
have heard of in their forefa Tiers legends
repeated to them from their childhood up.
Every one Will agree with that there
could be no human beings the face Of
the earth better adapted for the rank and
hIe Of an arctic party than members of
that little tribe, the most uortherIy people
in the world, whose fathers and grand =
fathers and great graudfathers before them
have lived in that very region. They know
ali the vagaries, all the possibilities and
all the hostilities of their home. and they
know how to take care of themselves. Ac-
cording to the theory of Sir Clements
Markham, president of the Royal Geo
graphical Society, the forefathers of these
people centuries ago during the migration
of the tribe in journeying from Siberia to
their present home may have crossed I'M
knowingly the apex of the earth. What a
striking coincidence If their children should
be the Instruments In finally wrestling the
secret of the pole
Has the Best Chance.
The party to reach the pole, other things
being equal, will be the party containing
the smallest number, lightest equipment
and the fewest necessities-a party which
can travel fast and continuously. In the
writer's opinion, the pole will never be
reached by ship nor with any of the new
tangled or unusual projects of which so
many nave been proposed lately and of
which Andree's balloon is an example. II
in reply to the first part of this statement,
the past results and present advocacy by
Nansen of the drift theory is cited, it must
be admitted by every person cognizant OF
arctic matters that the voyage was in
many respects a fortunate one and a sue
cessful termination could by no means be
duplicated. 1t is a significant fact that
while Nansen is publicly advocating his
dr1ft method as the one best adapted for
reaching the pole, his navigator, Sverdr1Ip,
who was with him on his last expedition
abandons it altogether and adopts my plans
and field of work. 1t is natural that a man
should consider his own plan the best or
else, presumably, he would not adopt il.
For myself, can say that ! have no feel
ing of rivalry or jealousy toward either ex-
plorers or their plans, and gladly welcome
ana encourage every earnest bopa fda
original attempt to solve the great nrobIar,,
feeling, that the more the merrier and tine
nore chances there are that the pole will
be reached.
Mystery of the Pole
There is a certain class at present who
take the stand that practically all prob
lens of the north have been solved As a
matter OF fact, the problems OF the north
nave not been solved, and we really do not
KNOW absolutely what there Is at and i'm
mediately about the pole any more than we
did ten years ago. 1t is true that the high
est north has been recently moved un a
hotcn' 40 miles beyond previous records
- - 4tilhotioiiS anu PROBABILITIES
are that a deep sea extends from there
perhaps TO the pole, yet there is not a man
with extended personal arctic experience
VINO Wo Id be surprised If further explora.
tons s. uld determine the existence Of
Iand wlth-u nifty or even thirty miles OF
that highest north. For myself T beIieve
IN sucking to one thing until it is accom-.
pushed, and as long as there remains tina,
UNEMPLOYED area of millions of square miles
ABOUT the north pole, I regard it as not
only promise, but reproach 70 onr
boosted civilization of today.
My project has been enormously desig-
mated oy some to whom catching ex-
preston Is more attractive than accuracy.
as a dash to the pole" / do not like the
term; 1t IS entirely misleading
My project contemplates a serious. de-
termined, persistent attempt to win for
tne notorious stars and stripes the only
remaining great geographical prize which
the world has to offer; an attempt which
may and likely will become a siere IL h.