Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1905-07-14
PEARY AND THE POLE.
The Maine Man and His Maine Built Ship are Being
Watched by All the World.

Commander Robert f. Peary, U. o.
NJ. will soon sail again for the nortN Oh
his new ship, the Roosevelt, essayHhs
another venture from the Greenland
zone.
There IL not in arctic history any
more striking figure than that OF PcarJ'
the embodiment of the resolute. mas
terly American spirit now revolution
izing the world. He is son OF Maine
and a graduate of Bowdoin and DON
may we'll be proud of him. he mas
spent over a decade warning with the
forces of nature in that desolate SOIL
tude, and peculiar touch Oh
brightness is added to the otherwise
gloomy picture by the fact that his
courageous and devoted wife has
braved it's loneliness with him, endur-
ing the terrible winters there, ana see
ing their baby girl draw its first bfeath
in their far-northern home. Peary mas
made Greenland his theatre OF opera
lions; exploration there has, by COM
mon consent. been left to him alone.
Almost every summer since 1881 mas
seen him invade the frozen wastes on
new discoveries bent. Eight long WIN
tiers, too without a glimpse of the sun
for six months each time. has he Ia
bored in the land of the ice.
He is forty-eight years old, and has
given his prime to this work. He has
spent his own private means, and his
wife has given hers; and they have
both taken to the lecture platform to
raise funds to help him on, while once
he had to exhibit his ship in Atlantic
seapOrts to obtain enough money to
complete her stores. The United
States Navy Department, in which he
is a civil engineer, now ranking as
commander has granted him the leave
Of absence necessary to pursue his re-
searches; but he has enjoyed no finan-
cial aid from the government. He has
had 20 plan his expeditions. finance
them and then carry them out. Lat
terly, however some wealthy friends
have undertaken the fiscal part, thus
relieving him of one of the greatest
worries that must vex an enthusiastic
soul.
For Peary is an enthusiast, though
his enthusiasm Is tempered with sa-
gacity and prudence. He feels that he
can win, and is undismayed by Obsta-
cles He has lived among the Eski-
mos, adapted himself to their print
tive conditions. subsisted on walrus
blubber and other "delicacies," >and
faced every discomfort the civilized be-
ing finds associated with his human
antithesis. Nor is this the worst
Peary has endured rigorous hardships.
physical torture, and serious disable
ment. His whole arctic career has
been a long record of gallant battles
against distressing misfortune. After
a flying trip to Greenland, in 1888, to
test his theories, he took his first ex-
petition north in 1891, and TIE steam
er's wheel-chain swapping as she
struck the ice, the end broke his leg.
He was landed on a stretcher, camped
in a tent, supervised the building of a
house. allowed the leg to knit during
the winter, and the next spring, with
only one companion, and without acct
dent, made a 1900 mile journey over
tine ice-cap that covers Greenland,
reaching its farthest coast line, the
first white man to view it's northern
extremity.
In 1893. he took up larger expedi-
ton to follow the same route and con-
tinue on toward the pole. That au-
tumn the Pea-y baby was born in their
hut, on the west Greenland shore. The
ensuing spring the nOrthward march
was begun, but frightful storms beset
them from the start and they had to
retreat, after struggling against the
weather for two weeks. Some of the
party were frosted and others dispirit-
ed. returning by the relief ship that
sumner; but Peary, Lee and Henson
resolved to make another attempt
This they did early in 1895, and sue
ceeded in the journey across the ice
cap, but from lack Of food could go no
farther, for starvation had them at
deaths door. They escaped by eating
their dogs; out of forty with which
they left they brought back only one.
In 1885 Peary tried to carry to New
York the great meteorite at Cape York.
the lergest i'm the world; but his ship
was forced away from the Greenland
coast by ice and storm. He tried
again in 1897, and this time succeeded.
In 1898 he began a new siege of the
pole, and in long end toilsOme march
was caught by n blizzard and held
helpless for two days and nights. The
little group killed a dog and ate it;
but Peary's feet had become frosted.
erd DR.. DERRICK then Of his force. had
to amputate seven toes. To do this
even roughly they were forced to shell
ter in Greely's deserted station. Fort
Congcr Lady Franklin bay. and there
the invalid lay helpless for six weeks.
Then he had to be dragged south for
2b0 miles on a slecge. with the tenn
perature SO degrees below zero. to his
ship, the Windward, for the operation
TO be perfected. as the surgeon had no
proper instruments north. This in
volved another six weeks illness and
spoiled an advance toward the pole in
1899. But in 1900 Peary was well
enough to start again, and this time