The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1898-07-10

| to go with me. 1t was interesting &c
note the childish. delight with which
they would listen as / told them how
| they were each TO have a 'shake-her-
up" (modern rifle. and were to hunt
musk oxen and bear, drive dogs and
eat biscuit and remmican with me in
the distant legendary Oomingrnuk Nu-
Mani (musk OK land) of their fore
| fathers.
Eagerly as these people have looked
/ forward during the past few summers
for the coming of .ssPeary's Oonliaks-
OCH (ship), they win look forward to
it with kdouble interest this season.
/ They have all the eagerness for va
riety that is characteristic of human
children the world over. and this wear
the arrival of the *Oonaaiksoehs means
that a considerable quota of the little
community will go to the White All
vungah (northl TO live in lands which
they have heard of in their forefathers'
! legends, repeated to them from their
childhood up.
! Every one will agree with me that
there could he no human beings on the
/ face of the earth better adapted for the
| rank and file of an Arctic party than
members of that little tribe. the most
northerly people in the world, whose
| fathers and grandfathers and great
grandfatherS before them lived in that
very region. They know all the vaga-
ries. all the possibilities and all the
hostilities of their home, and they also
know how to, take care of themselves.
According to the theory of Sir Glenn
ents Markham, president of the Royal
Geographical society, the forefathers
Of these people, centuries ago, during
the migration of the tribe, in Journey
ing from Siberia to their present home,
may have crossed, unkowingly, the
apex of the earth. What q striking CO.
incidence if their children should be the
instrument of finally wrestling the
secret of the polei
SMALL PARTY HAS BEST
CHANCES.
The party TO reach the pole, other
things being equal, will be the party
containing 1.-THE smallest number, light
est equipment and the fewest necessi-
ties, 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
have been proposed lately, and of
which Andrees balloon is an example.
If 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
fortunate one, and a successful ter
mination could by no means be duDli-
Gated. 1t is a significant fact that while
Nansen is publicly advocating his drift
method as the one best adapted for
reaching the pole, his navigator, Sver-
drup. who was with him on his last
expedition, abandons it altogether, and
adopts my plans and field work. 1t is
natural that a man should consider his
own plan the best. or else presumably
he would not adopt it. For myself l
can say that l have no feeling of ri
valry or jealousy toward either eX-
plorers or their plans, and gladly well
come and encourage every earnest,
bona fide original attempt to solve the
great problem. feeling that the more
the merrier, and the more chances
there are that the pole will be reached.
There is a certain class at present
who take the stand that practically all
problems of the north have been
solved. AS a matter of fact the prob
lens of the north have not been solved,
and we really do not know absolutely
what there is at and Immediately about
the pole any more than we did ten
years ago 1t is true that the highest
north has been recently moved UP d
notch, 10 miles beyond previous rec
ords, and while the indications and
probabilities are that deep sea eX-
tends from there perhaps to the pole,
yet there is not a man with extended
personal Arctic experience who would
be surprised if further explorations
should determine the existence of land
within 90 or even 80 miles of that high
est north. For myself, 1 believe in
sticking to one thing until it is ac-
complished, and as long as there re-
mains that UNEMPLOYED area of mil
lions of square miles about the north
pole, 1 regard it as not only a promise
but a reproach to our boosted civiliza-
ton of today.
My project has been enormously
designated by some. to whom a catch
ing expression is more attractive
than accuracy, as "a dash to the pole"
I do not like the term; it is entirely
misleading.
My project contemplates a serious
determined, persistent attempt to win
for the victorious stars and stripes the
only remaining great geographical
prize which the world has TO offer; an
attempt which may and likely will be-
come a siege. 1t is an attempt in which
the knowledge and experience gained
in work prosecuted during some ten
years on definite and consistent lines is
to be directed on equally definite and
persistent lines TO the accomplishment
of it's object.
(Signed) r. E. PEARY.
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