Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1909-09-08
THE NORTH POLE.
Anseffcsh Flax Planted There After
Long Quest.

Long Quest.
II the reports that came flashing over
the wire LAST week that Dr.. Frederick A.
Cook has reached the North Pole, are true,
then the race to the pole has been settled
forever, with an American breaking the
wire, for Dr.. Cook is an American prod
net, born in Sullivan county, N. ", in
1855.
There will be some disappointment in
this State that our own Maine man, the
intrepid Peary, has not achieved the great
distinction that he has worked so hero
ically and ceaselessly to win, but this will
be lost in the general rejoicing that it is
not the flag OF Great Britain, or Of France,
or of Italy, Sweden or Denmark, that flies
farthest north, but Old Glory itself-our
own Stars and Stripes.
DR.. Cook, according to the very meagre
particulars yet received, and judging from
his original plans, made q dash for the
pole from the northern part of Greenland,
using Esquimaux dogs, and being accom-
panied by Esquimaux.
While to many the game Of Arctic re-
search has not seemed worth the candle,
none can deny the heroism and daring Of
the men who have risked their lives to
gain the fame Of penetrating to the pole.
For more than half a century men of many
nations have essayed the task, using every
possible means OF conveyance, from boats
and sledges drawn over the ice, to balloons.
| The American expeditions for Arctic re-
search start with those of the early SOS,
| when the enterprises incident to the Sir
| John Franklin search were undertaken.
| In 1902 and in 1SS1-4 were the expedi-
tions promoted by the United States gov
eminent, while for the past eighteen years
Commander Robert E. Peary has contin-
ually essayed to reach the pole.
| Sir John Franklin, whose name is in
dissolubly associated with Arctic research,
was a well-known English navigator,
born in Lincolnshire in 1888. In 1919 he
was appointed to head an overland expe-
dition from Hudson bay to the Arctic
region, and in 1925 he made another trip
| to the frozen north.
| 1t was, however, his third expedition, in
which he lost his life, that brought Sil
John Franklin most prominently before
the public. In 1945 franklin set out on
his expedition with two ships, the Erebus
and Terror. He passed his first winter in
cove between Cape Riley and Beechey
island, making preparations for a dash
northward. From this time on there were
no tidings of franklin and his compan-
ions until 1854, when the news arrived in
England that all had probably persisted in
| the winter of 1851.
Lady Franklin, the wife of the explorer,
was not, however, willing to accept this
intelligence as final, and expedition after
expedition went north in the search I'M
! til in 1859 Capt. McClintock, in the yacht
Fox, found many articles belonging to
| franklin and his companions. Later
! Lieut.. Schwatka found the bodies of the
franklin party in his expedition of 1879
| so.
| American explorers participated extern
! sively in the search for Franklin, the first
| expedition consisting of the Advance and
Rescue in command of Lieut.. DeHaven,
which in 1850 fruitlessly searched the
Greenland coast, penetrating as far north
as was practicable at that time. In 1853
came the Grinnell expedition, equipped by
| Henry Grinnell, a New York merchant,
who sent northward the brig Advance in
command of Elisha Kent Kane, U. s. N,
who was surgeon of the DeHaven expe-
| dition.
| The Advance wintered on the west coast
of Greenland and was detained a second
winter in the ice. Finally, in May, 1855,
| the party with their boats left the brig
and at length reached Upernavik. Will
liam Morton, member of the expedition
and leading one of the sledge parties, re-
grees north, he had seen the open Polar
sea, statement that caused wide discus
| sion.
| In 1850, DIR. Isaac l. Hayes, who was sur
geon of the Kane expedition, undertook a
trip north in the schooner United States,
and penetrated by sledge to Cape Lieber,
| Grinnell land, 81 degrees north. Next
came the Polaris expedition, the steamer
Polaris being fitted out by the United
States and placed in command OF Capt.
Charles Frederick Hall in 1871. Going
into winter quarters in latitude 81 degrees,
3S minutes, Capt. Hall went north on a
sledge trip and reached 50 degrees, but
was overcome by his efforts and died on
| board the Polaris Nov. s.
In August, 1872, the Polaris started south
in command Of Capt. Samuel buddington.
| During the night of Oct. 10 the ship was
parted from the foe to which it had been
fastened and party of nineteen men,
women and children drifted over 1,50O
miles, being finally picked up by the New
foundland sealer Tigress.
In July, 1881, the United States dis
patched an expedition in command OF
Lieut.. Adolphus G. Greedy in the steamer
Proteus, which established a station in