The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1906-02-01

Sea eastward to Europe. Capt. Amund-
sen Is the first one who has gone from
the east to the west. Henry Hudson
was searching for 1T when his crew
mutinied and set him adrift in an open
boat on Hudson Bay, where he persisted.
Sir John Franklin, whose fate was an
eager theme for our grandfathers per-
ished with 220 men in his search for
the Northwest Passage. Each returning
expedition discovered something that
aided their successors, and Lieut.. Gore
found the opening which Amundsen
entered. The National Geographic
Magazine, from which many of these
facts and the map are taken, says that
THE route which Amundsen has def
nitely located will be Of considerable
use to whalers, who are venturing fur
Their and further north each year. but
it is unlikely that anything else will
come Of it."
Capt. Amundsen had other objects
In addition to discovering the North
west Passage. He was trying also to
discover the North magnetic pole, and
on his voyage he kept a continual rec
ord of the destinations of the magnetic
needle, which is Of great scientific value.
He has located the North magnetic pole
in King William Land not far from the
position fixed for 1t by Sir John Ross
In 1881. This is of the utmost import
ance in navigation, as 1t will assist in
determining the variation of the mag
netic needle. The Carnegie Institution
recently established a special, depart
ment to help the magnetic survey Of
the world and bought ship for work in
the Pacific Ocean. The National Geo
graphic Magazine says:
"Amundsen left Christiania in June
1903, taking only seven men with him
in his slOop the Gjoa. His route lay up
Baffin Bay, and then through Lancaster
CfraiO
James Ross Strait, Rae Strait, Simp-
son Strait. Dease Strait, Coronation Gulf,
and Dolphin and Union Straits to King
Point, on the western side Of the Mac
kenzie River delta.
At the Mackenzie River, where he
arrived in September, 1905, he found
some whalerS who were caught In the
ice. They told him that the political
situation between Norway and Sweden
was strained, and, being anxious to learn
what had happened as well as to hear
from his family, he determined to march
south to the Yukon telegraph line. 1t
was 70O-mile trip on snow shoes; 1t had
been made only once or twice before by
trappers, but he calculated he could get
there, spend few weeks at the station.
and return to his ship before Spring.
So with Capt. Mogg, Of the whaler Bon
ANA which had been stranded on the
beach, he set out.
FOuF weeks later, OH lee. ., Tic
people of Eagle City were startled to be
told by one or two white men who came
in on snow-shoes that he had come from
Europe via the Arctic Ocean. To cross
i'm the dead of Winter the immense ex-
panse Of ice stretching from Eagle
City to the mouth of the Mackenzie
alone seemed impossible. and not until
the outside world identified him by
telegraph would they believe that 1t was
A mundsen.
"Amundsen has announced that
about the middle Of January he will re-
turn to his ship at the Mackenzie River.
He proposes to bring her through Der
ing Strait to San Francisco, and then
return to Christiania by the way nf
Cape Horn, thus completely circum-
navigating the American continent. In
arctic history Amundsen will rank with
Greedy, hansen and Peary."
Drifting Casks.