Omaha daily bee., 1909-09-25
STRUGGLE FOR POLE
Dsuntless Courage and Hardship
Crowned with Success.
LIFE CEETERED ON ONE TASK
Twrnty-Three Years Of Planning and
TrtVntion Before Reaching the
Arctic GonI-weu Earned
Triumph.

For twenty-three years Commander Rob
ert Edwin Peary has had before him as
his goal the one spot farthest north. which
his dispatches now say he has reached.
More than n score OF years Of hard en-
de~avor-before his first expedition, in 1856,
he had planned voyages in his mind either
20 the pole or to reconnoltre and map out
possible lines Of Arctic travel, always with
the one place IN view: and since 1888, his
life has oentered entirely on the actual at
tainment
Pesry really began the search for the
North pole in 1891. when he crossed Green
land from Whale Sound, on the western
coast, TO Independence Bay, It's northern
limit, which he named for the date he
reached there, July 4. He had but one
companion, Eavind Astrup. a Norwegian,
since dead, and their march OF $50 miles
in each direction over the trackless waste
OF the interior ice-cap. formed a unique
record. hansen was stimulated by IT to
his famous expedition beyond Franz Josef
Land I'm 1897.
In 1895 Peary tried to utilize this ice-cap
as the first stage in an advance towards
the pole. and started with eight followers
TO make the Journey. But frtghtful storms
beset them, their dogs persisted in scores,
and they could only proceed twenty-six
miles IN TWO weeks. lney ndu 10 ABANDON
this attempt, four Of the party being FROST
bitten; and a winters preparation was
practically wasted. But Peary was undis-
mayed, and later. with two comrades, Lee
and Senson. he crossed the plateau again.
only to find on reaching independence Bay
that the beetling cliffs and rugged shores
forbade the possibility of launching an
expedition towards the pole from that base.
Valuable Explorations Made.
During other years Peary explored much
OF the unknown parts~of Greenland, practi-
cally delimiting Its whole western seaboard
and correcting many existing inaccuracies
as to the configuration.' He also found the
great meteorite at Cape York, and after
extreme difficulty succeeded in getting II
on shipboard and conveying it to the United
states. where 1t IL now In the Natural
History museum. He crossed Smith
Sound and accomplished considerable
exploration in Ellesmere Land, his
whole ~sojourn within the Arctic circle be-
Ing characterized by effective and unceas-
ing activity.
Peary's setbacks in early years served
but to increase his determination to sue
coed eventually. II he met checks and
losses, as he had often said, he counted the
gain in experience and information as more
than compensating for them. His decision,
therefore,, in 1897. to undertake the next
season a more ambitious effort than any
VI his previous ones, occasioned no surprise
TO those who knew his best, for they were
satisfied that while his physical powers re-
manned at the full he would never abandon
his attempts to solve the great polar mys-
terry.
Planned FIve-Year Trip.
Accordingly, the summer Of 1895 saw him
set out in the steamship wlndward for his
new polar campaign. The ship was pre-
sented to him by Alfred Harmsworth of
London and his plans provided for an alb
sence Of five years. He intended to take
the ship as far as possible up the north
water Cthe series of connecting channels
which stretch from Baffin's bay TO the
polar basin), and then, disembarking. send
it home, to return next year with more
supplies. He and his two companions. DR..
Dederiok and Matt Henson, were to make
their way polarward, establishing caches
at every prominent headland, through the
medium Of the Eskimos. and ultimately
making a dash across the great crystal ex-
panse which invites, yet ever repels, ac-
cess to the Arctic sphinx.
But once more Peary met I'll fortune.
The season Of 1898 was very severe; the
winter set in early and the ship was frozen
up for the winter in Kane basin, only sixty
miles beyond Cape Sabine. the entrance
gate to the polar Businesses. Unable to dc
better. Peary decided to and at Cape Dur
vile, and with the help Of the Eskimos
whom he had brought along make his way
up the coast TO Cape Heela. the farthest
point OF land known on that side OF the
channel. whence he could make his dash
across the shifting. cleaning plane toward
the ultimate north.
From Cape Hecla some $50 miles woult
separate him from the pole and 800. fol
lowing the coast line, from his base a
Durville, but he proposed to utilize for al
advanced depot the old Greedy station