The evening times., 1899-08-07
into THE FROZEN NORTH
Three Americans Going on an Ex'
ploring Tour.
The Leader Is DIR. Robert Stein, of
Washington, and He VIII Have
pect to DiscOver-Natural History
COIlectiOns-Their Return Home.

After a lapse of nearly thirty years, an
effort will be made to explore the North
American archipelago. vast body OF
islands lying north of the continent, which
is thought to have wonderful commercial
possibilities through the development Of
the fisheries and fur trade of that fan
northern country An effort will be made
to complete a map Of the northern bound
aries of the continent and at the same time
discover something about the magnetic pole
which is known to lie within that great
ice-bound tract. The leader OF the pro-
posed expedition, which will leave some
time during the present month, is WASH
ingtonian, DR.. Robert Stein, Of the United
States Geological Survey. who. accompa-
MED by DR.. Leopold Kann, of Cornell Uni
yersity, Ithaca, and Samuel Warmbath, OF
Boston. will be landed from the Peary
supply steamer Diana near Cape Sabine the
eastern extremity of Ellesmere Land.
That island, together with Grinnell Land
and Grand Land forms the eastern bound
airy of a triangular area about 1oo,o ,ooO
square miles in extent intervening be-
tween the lines of exploration for the
Northwest Passage and those directed a,
the Pole McClintock Richards, BelcheI
and Inglefeld, aiming westward. charted
the Parry islands to the south OF the tri-
angle, while Inglefeld, Kane, Hayes, Han,
Mares and the Greely expedition, aiming
northward, charted Ellesmere Land, Grin
nell Land and Grant Land, TO the east of
the triangle. Thus, two sides of the tri-
angle, the south and east sides, are known
The third, the northwest side, is unknown,
400 miles intervening between the Polynia
islands, McClintocks furthest in 1857, and
Cape Alfred Ernest, Aldrich's furthest on
the north coast of Grant Land in 1876 ne
length of the other two sides is almost ex-
actly the same
These annual supply expeditions viii al
ford unique opportunity OF cheap trans
portation for exploring parties. of which
DR. Stein, by special agreement made with
Lieutenant Peary last year, is the first TO
avail himself. The greatest item of ex-
| pense in all Arctic expeditions is the char
| ter of a vessel 10 convey the party to Its
/ base OF operations. In all the Peary ex-
peditions this cost never amounted to less
| than 81, 500 for the use of a vessel for three
months. DR.. STEMS expedition pays $500.
While this is special arrangement. which
| may not apply to other parties, there is
10 doubt that whatever charge is made, 1t
Will be but a small fraction OF the sum
! that would be required to charter steam
! er-
The actual landing point of DR.. Stems
| party cannot be accurately foretold, as it
| will depend on the ice conditions. If cir
cumstances allow, an effort will be made
| to land them on the west side of AleXan
dria Haven, a deep bay on the north side
OF Ellesmere Land, about thirty miles west
of Cape Sabine. This will place the party
on the very threshold of the unknown, as
! that point was the furthest westward
reached by the British expedition of 1875,
l-rS 7
expedition, in 1884. Alexandria Haven it
self was called by the British expedition
| the Arctic Paradise Sheltered all
around by high mountains. whose glaciers,
prc:ruding through numerous valleys, no.
where reach the sea, il exhibited a sur
prising luXuriance of vegetation, especially
that most beautiful of Arctic flowers the
pink colored epiIobium, growing in dense,
matted beds along all the water courses.
Recent traces of musk oxen were very
abundant. The shore was studded by
ancient Eskimo houses, surrounded by
heaps of bones of whale, walrus, seal, mar
whal and musk OK. In the sea, a little to
the north. the dredge brought up a sur
prising wealth of animal life, the crinoids
being especially abundant and beautiful.
Sergeant Long. indeed who reached that
neighborhood in March, 1884 found moth
ing but bleak solitude. but even he re-
ports an abundance of seals in Rice Straits,
separating Cape Sabine from the main
land. Unfortunately, the lack of boats
prevented him from getting them.
At the landing place the party will con-
struct two houses, a larger, to serve as a
storehouse, and a smaller, made as nearly
coldproof as possible, to serve as living
room. The latter is TO be twelve feet long.
eight feet wide and eight feet high inside
The walls, floor and ceiling are TO be
double. with an air space between, filled
with magnesia sectional covering which
has been found the best TO prevent the
escape of heat from steam boilers and pipes
The walls, floor and ceiling will be made as
air tight as possible by means of Fay ma
Mia building paper. Air for ventilation
will be admitted by galvanized iron pipe
passing through the wall into a sheet iron
drum, surrounding the stove pipe, from
which il will escape by valve at the top
thus supplying a constant stream of fresh
warm air, while the foul air is drawn in
by the stove. For travelling by water tn:
party will have an eighteen-foot dory and
a cedar canoe covered with canvas. Two
rubber boats have also been secured, onS
ten. the other twelve feet long. weighing
twenty-five and forty pounds. Each boa,
has three compartments, which can be in
fiated separately. When inflated one boat
readily carries two men with their baggage
and is practically unsuitable. 1t is well
known that the. hard ice OF streets in win
ter does not injure bicycle tires. and hence
il is hoped that these boats, inflated to q
far less degree than tires, will resist the
young ice, which is so destructive to wood
en- boats. As, however. they have neve,
been tested in the Arctic, they are regard
ed rather as an experiment.
To Find m Outlet.
AS soon as the house is built and tn,
provisions are stored, accommodating triI
will be made westward by boat. to ascer
tain which of the numerous inlets affords
communication with the western sea- Tha
| such communication exists is the opinion
of Greely, confirmed by Eskimo reports
II there is no strait, the trip to the ives
cnast will have 10 be made Overland. Dur