The Cooperstown courier. (Cooperstown, Griggs Co., N.D.) 1902-1913, 1905-01-26
pgARNs cREAT aaE5xoRlIE,


x00 lSI&eety heaviest ana 000e 1D1eo&
esti1g neteofitess wSr discovered was H.
S731-ton chunk OF iron and nickel an
cobalt brought TO the Brooklyn navE
yard BY Lieut.. rsafy'sslatest arctic e1s
petition, ana rsceutly 9rAeged through
the streets Of New Yorkfby 81 horses q
be deposited at the main entrance Of the
American Museum Of Natural History.
There. on q massive pedestal reaching
-eleAf down to bed rock, this extraordE
nary celestial visitor. an awe-inspirlng
spectacle Of the stupendous missiles
whirling through space. rests in its lass
abiding place. Like real ghost, como
to take permanent residence in order to
prove vague, CHASTITY superstitions, %
this mammoth Greenland meteorite
stands-12 feet long, eight feet high ana
six feet thick-as II to verify the declas.
atoms Of science that all about us arp
stars and planets and heavenly bodies
consisting Of minerals and metals iden-
teal with those composing our own
earth.
Fascinating though this meteorite Is
to the scientists, no less is it to laymen
throughout the world. for the part which
this huge bowlder Of metal had IL MAIN
tanning human life on Greenland's most
barren shore lends IN interest which no
other natural curiosity can have.
One Of the earliest puzzles to arctio
explorers was the fact that the knives.
the harpoons and the other Eskimo
hunting implements SO necessary to the
native Of the frozen north were made Of
iron.
"From the Iron mountains we get our
iron." the natives explained to Capt
Ross as far back as 1918, and from that
day to 1896, when Lieut.. Peary succeeded
in locating the mountains" one of the
most perplexing things to arctic exc
plorers was the location of the mysterl-
Gus source Of supply.
g Like many other scientific object Of
search, the Iron mountains" were dis
covered by Peary chiefly through acc!-
dent says Raymond Porter,wslns Pear
sons Magazine. Nine years ago he hap
Ep1ned to- be st4ytng over night in m
Eskimo Village on Whale sound, when
he came across an /" Oodoo"-a knife
used by Eskimo women. The knife was
an Ssxccedingly primitive affair. con-
sisting Of five pieces Of iron fastened to-
gether with thongs.
"Where did you get this?" Peary
asked Of the woman.
From the great Iron mountains ;"
lansw SSFstl tlse liostsss. Il very Old.
never saw another likeit;s but Old l1en
In the tribe say that years and years
ago, before the whalers brought us
knives and blades and harpoon heads.
these knives were the only ones used
by our people"
Peary investigated further, was d.
rected to the ice-bound body Of water
known as Melville bay, and, guided by
an Eskimo hunter named Tellikotinat.
was led to three enormous powders Of
iron, meteorites. known to the natives
respectively as the Dog" the "Wom-
an" and the "rent." Here, then, was
where for centuries the natives had
gotten their iron; for, despite almost a
century's ravages Of arctic elements, the
flint-hard surfaces of the masses still
showed where natives had labored pa
tiently, breaking and wearing away
chunks and sections Of the stone to be
transformed into heads for harpoons
and other hunting implements