The Evening statesman. [volume] (Walla Walla, Wash.) 1903-1910, 1906-11-09

American Arctic ocean will give to the
palaeocrystic sea it's final quietus. The
British expedition under Capt. Mares
was the first to enter, in 1876, the
ocean north of Grant Land, that has
been the scene of Peary's latest sledge
tourney. On the edge of that sea Mares
saw what he called floebergs and also
foe ice of a very different character
from those observed in the European
Arctic.
These foes, or ice masses in the
sea. varied from 20 to so feet In
thickness and the areas Of some OF
their surfaces was as much as thirty
square miles. They were as big as
manv islands rising above the surface
Of the sea The worlds curiosity was
aroused, for such immense masses of
sea ice had not been heard of be-
FORE
Then there were the floebergs ris-
ing to heights of so to 500 feet and
resembling the flat topped icebergs
of the Antarctic regions. There was
a great deal of discussion about these
forms of ice. Several theories as to
their origin were discussed and it was
finally decided that they must be due
to the annual snowfalls in this re-
zion. where there is very little melt
ing. and the constantly increasing
weight of snow converted these ac-
cumulations into snow ice.
FIoes Centuries Old.
These forms were so very different
from the polar pack observed to the
north of Spitzbergen that a distinct
i've term came to be applied to the
region where they were found. So
this part of the Arctic Ocean was
named by Mares the Palaeocrystic
Sea or sea of ancient ice. 1t was ar
gued, for a number of reasons, that
this sea covered with enormously
thick ice, was Of great extent, and
also that it was a shallow sea, and it
was believed that most of the foes
grounded on the bottom. Many of the
foes were supposed to be centuries
old. Surely, if sledges could be drawn
along the surface of these foes, though
it was very rough hauling, there would
be a pretty stable sort of foundation
to travel over, for it would not be
likely to float away and leave some
explorer in the lurch who should hap
pen to get between the palaeocrystic-
ice and the north pole.
Peary, by actual experience, he~
ma end to this theory of enormously
thick ice covering a large part of the
Arctic sea to the north of America.
He has been there, hundreds of miles
from the land, and he found the or
binary foe ice thick, to be sure, in
comparison with any ice we have seen
but not the very ancient variety to
which Mares first introduced us.
Ice Is Unstable.
The ice that Peary met was not
grounded on the bottom of the sea,
for anchored in this way it could not
6rif off RI no CT n
the persuasion of a high wind, giving
Peary and his belongings involuntary
was just where he did not care to go.
In fact Peary has proved that the
ice of the sea to the north of Grant
Land is really no more stable than it
is to the north Of Asia and Europe,
where the Fran drifted for many hum
dreds of miles to the northwest and
where Capt Cagni of the Abbruzzi
expedition drifted some sixty miles tC
the west when he was trying TO make
a straight road back to camp after
reaching his highest north.
The failure of the ice in the Ameri-
can Arctic ocean to afford a more or
less stable highway for a sledge ex-
petition to the North Pole will prob
ably destroy the last illusions as to the
advantages offered by polar ice any
where for sledge travel poleward. The
American Arctic sea ice had not been
fully tested in this respect until
Peary went on this last journey. He
achieved the highest north in spite
of the fact that in the long run the
ice as a sledge route failed him more
utterly than it has failed any previous
explorer who attempted to use it as
route to the pole; in other words,
the days came when he was put in
the perilous plight, though he was
very far from land, of being unable to
sledge another mile, for the ice was
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