The National tribune., 1909-09-09
THE DISCOVERY OF THE NORTH
POLE

LIE DISSot ERR of The NORlH
POLE.
The startling story of DIR. Cooks dis
covery of the North Pole has many in
teresting features. The world has been
trying to find the exact northern axis for
ty of effort, accompanied by an equal
infinity of human daring and suffering
and an immense expenditure of money
in preparation. All .hese have from
decade to decade occupied the atten-
ticularly have been thrilled with the
story of the fate of Sir John Franklin
and the stories of the expeditions fitted
out by public-spirited Americans to res
cue him or bring back his remains. The
story of the Greeley expedition with its
wonderful heroism and endurance, and
of the efforts to rescue the imprisoned
Americans from their icy gaol, is fresh
in the minds of this generation. Public
attention has been strongly directed 10
other expeditions which are being fitted
out at present for reaching the North
Pole, and in the midst of this comes
the news that an expedition of which
no one had heard had been successful
DIR. Cook, with party of Eskimos.
seems to have quietly slipped away
without attracting attention, reached
the pole and returned This is a severe
blow to other explorers who have made
great efforts to reach the POLE and
failed, and who have been attracting
public attention by their heroic deter
mination to return to the quest and
the great preparations that they were
making. Just what DR.. Cook found at
the pole remains to be told in detail.
In a certain way the exact position of
the pole should differ in no marked
degree from any other point on the
meridian or any point on the equator.
The earth being a sphere, the extreme
points on the circle passing arouac the
earth north and south would not differ
from those on the great circle passing
around it east and west. The North
Pole differs in being in some way near
the center of the magnetic and elec-
trical forces as we understand them.
and being the point which is constantly
presented to one spot in the heavens.
The perpetual and intense cold which
reigns there makes certain physical
phenomena, just as the perpetual and
intense heat on the equator makes other
physical phenomena, with this differ
ence that the heat on the equator
reaches clear around the globe. while
the cold concentrates at the poles. As
the earth is not perfect sphere, but
Is fattened some 13 miles at the poles,
matter there is much heavier than 1t is
nearer the equator on account of its
nearness to the center of gravity. There
are some important phenomena cor
nected with this, as has been discovered
In the shipments of gold from Alaska
Gold loses weight in being brought
from Alaska to this country, the loss
being stated sometimes as high as one
pound in ton. This is a specimen of
some of the important physical facts
that may be developed by study of
polar conditions. DIR. Cook seems TO
have found what may be called an easy
way to reach the pole, with a long por-
tion of the route lying thru a region IN
which there is great amount of game.
This being the case, other explorers
will doubtless take advantage of the
route. and. going better prepared. reach
the pole. make longer stay and more
careful observations than DIR. Cook was
able to do. Consequently we can ex-
pect that the next few years will bring
US about all the information regarding
this pole that it is worth while having.