Daily inter mountain. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1881-1901, 1900-03-24

RUSSIAN EXPLORER, BARON ,
PED
and that he is prepared to prove his as
sertion by actually visiting the island.
IN fact, he is so positive in his declara-
tlons that he has interested the czar of
RUSSIA in his project ia such an extent
that the money to deIray the expenses of
the expedition, which is to start for the
north in a few weeks, will be furnished
from the imperial treasury. Baron Toll
also believes that he will discover that
this island is not the only one that is
as yet unknown to science. He is of the
opinion that it is a part of an archi-
pelago and that the researches that he
will undertake next summer will add
materially to human knowledge. Whe-
Their he succeeds or not time can only
tell, but his expedition will be watched
with more interest than has been accord
ed any similar investigation in years.
Jacob Sannikof was a merchant of va
kutsk, on the Lena river, and from 1906
to 1911 he made a series of adventure
some journeys to the New Siberian ISL
ands. In fact. he was one Of the discov-
erers of the New Siberian islands, and
was the first man to spend a whole sum-
mer along that coast. Later he made
many trips to this part of the country,
some of them having been made in the
service of Mr.. Syrovatsk of Yaktusk, who
held Il government monopoly of the trade
Al AAnIA4IlAOtll AtOIy, hlu anu luIS. all OIL
which could be obtained in great album
dance on these islands,. On other occa-
sions Sannikof ~journeyed to these north
ern lands as the companion of Matthias
Hedenstrom, whose writings have long
been a part of The literature of Arctic
explorations.
= Up to this time the world has had a
very imperfect idea of the topography
and contour of the lands in this part of
the globe, but Sannikof was a natural
eYn1rrar and his Lahore oHda1 tn t1na
acute and accurate observations of He'd
enstrom open up a new field for eXplora-
ton. They proved that SO far from be-
ing a worthless and barren waste of ice
i the New Siberian islands constituted a
country that had much within it to in
terest and instruct the scientific.
1t was While engaged in one of these
Journeys that Sannikof discovered the
mysterious land thai has since borne
his name. At this time he was engaged
in exploring the northern coast of the
New Siberian islands, when his sharp eye
discerned, far to the north of the ISL
ands of kotelnoi and New Siberia, those
unknown lands whose conjectural out
lines appeared for the first and almost
the last time on the maps published in
1911. 1t was clear weather, and the land
stood out so distinctly that there could
be no mistake about the fact of it's ex-
iStence.
Sannikof Immediately announced his
discovery to Hedenstrom. and the two
explorers set out to visit this new coun-
try. Taking their dog sleds, they start
ed out upon the ice and had succeeded
in making their way a long distance from
land when they found themselves faced
by wide stretches of open water, and
they were obliged to turn back Withou
accomplishing their purpose. Thu fur
Their they went, however, the more plain
ly the land disclosed itself, and they even
discovered certain things that led them
to believe that this land might be inhab-
tied.
From that day the one wish of sanni.
kof's life was to learn something more
about the land hat he had discovered.
but this was an ambition that he was
never to realize, and when, ten years aft
er the memorable Standardization
journey, Lieutenant Anjou reported that
the land was nothing more or less than
a mirage, explorers ceased to. look for
Lieutenant Anjou had been sent out by
the Russian minister of marine to make
a thorough survey of the New Siberian
islands and to discover, if possible, some-
thing more authentic about the unknown
land of which Hedenstrom had spoken
so positively in his books. After COM
pleting his task at New Siberia, the lieu
tenant made several attempts to find the
other land. He set out in the direction
that Hedenstrom had indicated and
found the stretches of open water just
as it had been described by the earlier
explorer. Latter lie Ildue all attempt ID
bridge this chasm by means of Il boat,
but the feat was such a dangerous one
that he gave up the project and return
ed firmly convinced that thef first explor-
ers had permitted their imagination To
get the better of their judgment. He in
J sisted that there was no land to the
north of the New Siberian islands, and
his assertion was accepted as true.
So the matter stood until remnants Of
the Inflated expedition of Captain De
Long struggled back to civilization and
reported that they had sighted a new ISL
and to the north of New Siberia. This
in a measure substantiated the story told
by Sannikof, and. as the result, the ques-
ton was once more opened to discussion.
Some held that the old explorer was cor
rect, While others insisted that Lieuten-
ant Anjou was right and that the men,
bers of the De Long expedition had SIM
ply been deluded by the same mirage
that had appeared as land to Sannikof
and Hedenstrom
Five years passed without any further
knowledge being obtained. and then, on
a clear day in 1856, Baron Toll, who was
a member of DR.. Bunge's expedition, saw
the sharply defined outlines of four flat
topped mountains to the north of Kotel-
moi and indications of a fOreland to the
east of them. Estimating the distance
" these islands and the point
where he was standing, he believed it to
be about 1870 miles.
From tina day Baron Toll devoted
! practically all his attention to his new
discovery. and. although he was unable