Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1908-03-04
CAPTAIN ROAD AMuNDsEN.

,rno ,nnearnnce in this city Mol'u"s
the noted navigator ana
arctic explorer. Captain ROAD Al.l'''u-
80 Norway. was noteworthy W
.as,on especially in educational VI"
.,ss The genial gentleman ana sa'an'
mo stood on the platform ii lui' eN
All, dress, was hardly suggestive Oh any
thing connected with Arctic experience
where the mercury slides down 'ie
scale TO so degrees below Zero anu
the thickest furs are necessary 10 Keep
o,,t the intense cold. The captain IL
n n,o6est man aud told his story IN
straiehtforward way without any snow
of affectation or assumption of superior
merit. although he had succeeueo )"
doing what had been dreamed OIL iol
Gao years. and seriously attempted AT
dlTereut times for over four centuries.
All this man had was sloop risgeo'
wooden vessel. 6S feet long. ana seven
mon. and at an expense of $4,000 ne
accomplished what other explorers with
hundreds of men and unlimited purses
TO draw from had completely faileo III
doing To be sure he had TINS auVah7
tape. that he was able to aVail hlihseii
Of charts made by previous explorers
and that fact that more nad DEG"
,aarnea of the northern waters III the
,ast OK wears than had ever before been
known. But this information, valuable
as IL was. only went little way ie'''
ing vast deal to be learned by haturai
insight OF instinct and the cohlpu.a-
tfons OF himself and the able men WIN
accompanied him. There was one i'ose
valuable lesson that had been learheu'
ava that was. the fewer men the pet
Ter rather than to attempt entry INTO
the great ice packs with large sh'ps
and large compliments of men lha'
policy proved n great handicap 10 on
John Franklins expedition, ana oper
ated rnfavorably in other expeo't'o's'
o,antain ROAD Amundsen went THOR
oughly equipped with the latest anu
most approved Instruments for survey
ing. astronomical and general geodetic
work in locating the magneuc pore,
and according to the narrative reia'eu
by this fearless navigator, his search
In this respect was as successful as ms
piercing his way through from Davis
strait to Behrlng Sea. 1t is fortunate
the conditions were favorable, and Inc
men lived TO push through, only one
man dying during the rigors of the Voy-
aee AS the Captain said the North
west passage has no commercial value
because OF physical and climatic diff
fjcultics which place perpetual em-
barge on anything like speedy travel
ing. unless a vessel is so equipped with
ice breaking machinery that she can
force her way through II feet OF Ice
Moreover, II there could be any advan-
tage the building of the Panama canal
would neutralize 1t.
However this does not minimize the
Captains achievement. His dis
coveries from a purely scien-
tihc standpoint promise to be
of the highest Importance in deter
minatlon OF problems connected with
the earth's magnetic currents, which
could only be done from data secured
in the discovery and location of the
magnetic North Pole. The name
of Captain Roald Amundsen
Hluy HllS DE cutdlo6uSu viii
those of Nordenskjold, vasco di
Cana, Magellan, Balboa, De Soto,
and to an extent with that of Christie
pher Columbus himself. But the general
public will hardly appreciate this at
present. although posterlty certainly
win. The fact that the man Is with
us and one OF us, and is seen by the
IA, fl
charm OF historical romance that in
vests the memory of daring naviga-
tors in centuries past and gone. But
In future history the name OF the man
who discovered the Northwest Passage
and made 1t with the loss of but one
man, will be referred to in the soien'
tifc world at least, with a feeling akin
10 reverence.