Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1907-04-26
SEEK A NEW ARCTIC LAND.
Men Trying to Follow In the Track
of Whales and Birds.

Men Trying to Follow In the Track
Of Whales and Birds.
A letter from the Arctic which came
south by slow stages last winter Is
published in the April bulletin Of the
American Geographical society. 1t Is
filled with news from Capt. Mikkel-
sen, the Arctic explorer. 1t was car
ried in October last from the winter
quarters Of the explorer $50 miles
along the Arctic coast Of Alaska to
Herschel island, near the mouth Of
the Mackenzie river, q hard journey
Of five weeks in the growing darkness.
Late in November the mail that goes
south once during the Arctic night
starts on its way in charge OF two or
three men who carry It from one
mounted police station or Hudson Bay
post to another, stopping a few days
at each point to replenish supplies and
rest from the arduous march.
In midwinter It reaches Dawson. In
the Klondike and thence Its south
ward journey is expedited. Thus we
have one mail in winter from the
Northern coast Of North America.
Mikkelson and his little party spent
last winter on their schooner, the
Duchess of Bedford, at Flaxman Is
land, about twenty miles west Of the
Mackenzie river delta. The thick ice
which pressed on the coast OF Alaska
last summer prevented the party from
reaching its proposed winter quarters
at Mimic inlet.
But the main plans Of exploration
will not be retarded by the failure to
reach the proposed winter quarters.
Flaxman island is well placed as a
starting point for the sledge journey
which Mikkelsen and Leffingwell are
doubtless now making on the sea ice
In search Of the new lands that are
believed to exist somewhere In the
Arctic north Of Alaska
Capt. Mikkelsen had mingled much
with the whalers. who told him OF
their long experience In these waters;
and he was able to collect valuable
facts bearing upon the question Of the
land he has gone to seek.
It is q curious fact that In the spring
a narrow lane Of water opens In the
thick pack ice to the north Of Cross
island. Here the Esquimaux carry on
their spring fishing The ice pack is
almost motionless outside Of this lane
Of water which extends far to the
northeast
In the latter part Of May the whales
disappear from the neighborhood Of
Point Barrow. They swim or to the
northeast and nobody knows where
they go unless they follow this lane
Of open water through the pack; which
perhaps takes them to the north OF
the supposed land mass.
The next that Is seen Of them is
hundreds Of miles to the east between
Banks Land and Cape Bathurst. where
whalers can count on their appear
ance in the latter part Of July. They
are travelling from the northwest.
Here the whalers make their finest
harvest as the whales are circling
around and turn westward again to
swim to Point Parrow along the shore.
It Is hard to understand why this
pack Ice should open year after year
and supply the whales with channel
through which they can travel far to
the northeast. The only reasonable
explanation Is that there Is land Of
some magnitude In the north from
which the ice recedes in the spring.
Mikkelsen also learned some very
interesting facts about the migration
Of birds. Myriads Of birds PASS Point
Barrow in the spring travelling, like
the whales, to the northeast.
1t Is well known that millions OF
them must breed elsewhere than on
the mainland, for they do not live
on the coast Of Alaska, but pass over
It to the north. and they are not seen
again till the next fall, when they are
travelling south. Geese come flying
out Of the north of Herschel island as
late as August IS. SO the birds give
the whalers additional reason for be-
lieving that Mikkelsen and Letting
we'll will find land this spring not very
far to the north Of the Alaska coast
The only time when this land Is be-
lieved to have been seen by civilized
man was in the '70s, when Capt. John
Keenan, was In command Of the whal-
er Stamboul. He said he was stand
ing to the north under easy sail In a
fog somewhere between Harrison and
Camden bays on the Alaskan coast
when the fog lifted and he and all the
men of his crew distinctly saw land
to the north.
He could not take time to visit 1t
for he was obliged to turn south In
search Of whales, as the success OF his
voyage depended on seeing them. The
Esauimaux near Camden and Harrison
bays say that in the brightest days OF
early spring they can see land far to
the north.
Mikkelsen intended to take a party
Of two or three men early this spring
and strike out on the ice from Flax
man island toward the north-north-
east follow this direction for $50
miles, then travel west for about 100
miles, and thence south to Cross is-
land. He hopes on this journey to
strike either the land reported by
Capt. keenan, or that which DR.. r.
A. Harris, Of Washington, believes,
from the slight movement Of the pack
ice and the small diurnal range OF
the tide, probably exists in Beaufort,
sea.
The party expects to winter next
year in Banks Land and In the spring
of 1908 they will start on another
sledge trip toward the west from Cape
Prince Alfred.
These two sledge journeys should
solve the problem as to the existence
of land Of any magnitude between rs
degrees north latitude and the coast
Of Alaska.
KANSAS BrrTERNEss-This is what