Little Falls herald. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1889-1950, 1900-11-09
UNDER SIXTY
FEET OF ICE.
BY M. QUAD.
COPYRIGHT, 1900, By c. ,. LEWIS.

x COPYRIGHT, 1900, By c. ,. LEWIS z
Cherry island lies !, 400 miles directly
| north of Sweden and is the dividing
line between the Greenland and the
Barents' seas. A line drawn from east
to west would strike Nova Zembla
on the one end and Hudson's Land
| on the other. There are about
60 days in the year when the
| island enjoys the heat and the
| verdure of summer, but during the re-
mainder there are such cold and bleak
ness and loneliness as man can find no.
where else outside Of the north pole it.
self. In the deep, dark ravines the
earth has never thawed since frozen
tens of thousands Of years ago, and on
the north side are blocks of ice which
were cast up there when the Creator
was seeking to bring order out Of
chaos.
In the year 1860 an English scientific
society fitted out what was known as
the Cherry island expedition. 1t was
purely in the interest of natural his
tory. Certain fish and birds which had
become extinct in the south were still
to be found up there, according to the
! reports of whalers, and that was the
object in fitting out the brig Albatross
for voyage from London. Aside from
strong handed crew, three professors
and four or five students accompanied
the expedition, and after a voyage al
most without event we reached Cherry
island soon after the beginning Of it's
brief summer. The last 200 miles OF
our run was made through field ice,
with giant icebergs to be seen on every
hand, and we found great length Of
shore piled high with blocks Of ice
from to % feet thick 1t was three
days, job to warp the brig into a safe
anchorage on the south side of the
island. and when we had her secure
most of the people went ashore to live
| for a time in tents. Notwithstanding
the sunshine and verdure, there was 4
loneliness about :-e place to make one
afraid. we had expected to find polar
bears and rabbits in plenty, but there
was not bit of animal life, excepting
a few stray seals, to be encountered.
Birds there were in plenty, however,
and of the species desired, while fish
of all sorts were to be had for the cast
ing Of hook. Each professor had
his work cut out for him. and l was
attached to Professor John Saunders
Of the Royal museum as helper. He
was after birds and their eggs. and
when we had been on the island a week
l helped him to capture specimen Of
the great aux, which species was sup
posed to have been extinct for a quar-.
ter Of century past. But three OF
these birds were seen during our stay
Of 40 days, and we took one away with
us into a captivity which lasted for
ten years. 1t was said that the cap
ture Of this bird alone was worth more
to natural history than the cost of the
expedition.
The island, which is Of volcanic orr
gin, is a mere tumble Of rocks. 1t is
IL miles long by 5 in breadth and at
the time Of our visit had no tree higher
than ten feet. These grew between
powders and on the slopes, with
patches Of coarse grass all about, but
there was not a level spot half an acre
In extent on the whole island. It was
intersected in every direction by ra-
vines, some shallow and some Of awful
depth, and during storm, when the
surf was bringing in great blocks Of
Ice and heaving them upon the rocks,
there were rumblings and echoes in
those dark ravines to make a man pale
with fear. We had been on the island
about 30 days and had pretty thorough
~ explored it when Professor Saun-
ders and my humble self met with an
accident one day which led to most
strange discovery. We had set off to-
gether on a hunt after BIRDS eggs, and
In walking along slope we struck
spot overgrown with short green
weed. As we walked over this bed we
suddenly found ourselves slipping.
There was water under it, and the
whole mass gave way and sent US slid
ing into ravine. We went slipping,
sliding, clutching and humping full
so feet before we brought up, but nef-
Their of us was hurt beyond a few
bruises. Owing to the wet grass we
could not Chamber out at that spot and
so continued on down the ravine. Hav-
ing presently come upon few bones,
which the professor pronounced as be-
longing to polar bear, we decided to
| A~1 ko 1n6
almost north and south. 1t was dry
now, but there were times when 1t
must have been filled with water from
bank to bank.
It was a toilsome journey we made,
but it ended at last at wall Of Ice
within half mile of the surf. At that