The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1903-11-06

InexhnustibIe Quantities.
st. Johns. n. F., Special to Chicago News.
The most NORTHERN mine in the world over
which the American flag floats, ii the gold
areas of Alaska are excluded. is the cryo-
lite deposits OH the western coast of Green
land. This, moreover, is a real mine. an
underground working, with all the modern
mechanical accessories, and il is operated
Tor about six months every year, the ter
rible winter frosts which cause iron and
steel to burn a mans hands as if at white
heat making active progress impossible at
that season.
Cryohte is a bright quartz and is found
In inexhaustible quantities on the Green
iand coast, where alone In the western
hemisphere does it occur in workable beds.
BESIDES the elemenr itself the raw material
contains mixed iron and galena. IT is puri-
hed at philadelphia, where the c~ryolite is
hanaieo Tor commercial uses, it entering
largely into the manufacture Of soda. boraS
and alum, and in its crude state fetches SEQ
d Ton, the quantity of waste constituents in
1t being comparatively small. To convey il
from greenland 70 Philadelphia requires a
meet OF eleven stout ships. which for over
twenty years have been plying this peril
Gus trade.
VI all the mariners who follow the sea
none endure such hardships. undergo such
strenuous and desperate battles with wind
anu wave as the men of the cryolite fleet.
The big, bluff, storm-stained vessels are
naniliiar TO every western ocean voyager.
WHICH sees them thrashing their way along
WIN ragged ensign fluttering from the
peak, light in ballast and the sport of the
gales on the ~northward trip and numbering
heavily in the seas on the laden home
coming run. Hardly a month elapses hut
one of them is driven into ST. Johns for
sheiter, water or repairs, for this port is
me maven Tor all the crippled shipping of
the North Atlantic and the worst weather
Is met beyond the Grand Banks.
Greenland is a Danish colony, peopled al
most exclusively by Eskimos. The trading
eigners find it extremely dificult to secure
permits even to prospect for mineral. The
enterprising Americans who now own the
cryoIite concession had to obtain it first
through the agency of a Danish company,
Wnlcn, having secured legal rights, was paid
of with a good round sum. Every spring
the present owners send north a colony of
Americans TO work the mine and ship the
product. though the managers and many
or the workmen remain on the spot perma-
lently, except when they revisit the United
states for a Sojourn.
occasionally, when the ships with the
annual augmentations for the little mining
camp are late in arrival, the Eskimos have
70 De utilized in getting out a sufficiency
OF the mineral 10 load the boats. but
otherwise native help is never used.
The Eskimo, naturally, is not a worker
ana mas no instinct of saving or economy.
vnai naea or OF a h beap sas Is 1be to I Kill a IS seal al, q
10 REPETITION, repeating the performance
until the meat IS all consumed and then
S,arvlng or subsisting on shellnsh till he
uous labor or working under orders he
anhors, and after repeated experiments the
mining managers have had to abandon as
hopeless all attempts to train the natives
to habits of industry or thrift.
Inc missionaries who labor among them
ma the task equally difficult; the be-
nlghted creatures are like children, too i'm
DTOXl0Rnt In rQCarN-a for 49,
or the good things of to-day, and the Dem
Ism government has to maintain store
houses, with food and clothing. from which
they can be helped when oyertaken by the
miseries OF an artic winter.
The little mining force is managed on
quite simple lines, Danish customs pre-
valling all over the Greenland coast, where
the Norsemen nine centuries ago first Set
loot Inc good order of a respectahle
American community is observed and the
festivals are those of the mother land. The
Fourth or July Is the day of days there, old
glory floats from every pole top and if the
children lack the facilities for making the
celebration as diversified as lseWher
they make up for it in enthusiasm. The
isolation or the place In winter is absolute.
there being no communication with the
outside world for about six months. as the
impenetrable ice foes shut off the whole
pecan, ana even when navigation is open
the arrivals and departures of the cryolite
ships supply the only variety. Yet the set
tiers are contented. Hard work is a great
solace and they are hard workers. every
one, while the fact that the hamlet is not
a gold camp indicates that lawlessness
is at a discount.
Probably no mine in America, however
Is more prontably managed, despite the
heavy odds, because the virtual MONOPOLY
enables 1t TO pay on a very moderate out
put. The first ships usually reach there in
May, after four to six weeks of steady adj
ping is continued till the end of October. or
later IL the season will permit ships then
on the way to reach there.
The last departing ship, if she is closing
the season, takes south those who will NOT
winter there, but ii sometimes happens
that the one designated for his purpose
fails to arrive at all, and then nobody gets
away till next season, unless a belated
Danish gunboat calls In and gives some of
the heads of the mine a roundabout pass
age.
With the departure of the first opera
lions cease, save to a small extent, and the
APPROACH of Thanksgiving is welcomed AND
duly honOred when ii comes. During tbe
winter all sorts of seasonable sports are
enjoyed, hunting, skating and iceboat sail.
ing. Game of varied character is obtaina.
BILE; seals can be shot among the ice and
furred animals in the forest. Christmas and
New year are observed and during the six
months night which marks the winter in
the land of the midnight sun long sledcinp
trips are taken behind the speedy wolfelike
Eskimo dogs, the greatest runners in the
world.
On the whole, then, while the life has IFS
drawbacks, in its Isolation and the mis-.
cries attendant upon cold and darkness
there are yet worse places to live in than
in this little mining village within the
arctic regions where for six months thf
sun shows with endless light and for an.
other six only the dancing CLOVIS of IN.
aurora borealis serve to accentuate the all.
pervading gloom. Every occupant of thu
mining center is looking forward to thu
purchase Of Greenland by the United state.
some day, so that this and the other min.
eral resources the country possesses ma,
be developed on a scale that Ia nouv a..