Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1909-09-17


on sledges and cache 1t for me. Wher
/ come back I shall need some fresh
meat and l shall expect to find 4
here"
The meat was there when Peary re,
turned. After he got back to CamI
Peary he thought l. was highly desir-
able to take home with him a coupls
Of live musk oxen. He said to some
of the Esquimaux:
There are plenty Of musk oxen ovei
there" indicating place that was
about sixty-five miles away. 1.-THE
grass is green there now and you will
find them grazing. I want two live
musk OK calves. expect you to &c
there and capture them in any way
that you please and to bring them tc
me safe and sound. I know you will
not injure them in any way"
The men started with their sledges
and in due time reappeared with two
fat calves in perfect condition. They
had carried the little animals on their
sledges, cutting grass on the route
for their provender, keeping them In
their tent at night safe from dogs and
wolves, and on the last stage Of the
journey home, when they were cross
ing ice, where vegetation did not -four
ish, they fed the calves with grass
which they had packed into their ka-
miks, or boots. This was the first
stage of Peary's experiment, thus far
successful, in the introduction of musk
oxen into this country.
The explorer says that on a sledge
journey when he had occasion to turn
back sledge with its team and driver
the load It carried having been con-
sumed, he could send the native back
with his dogs and empty sledge in per-
feet confidence that the man and dogs
would get home all right. The native
would be able to kill all the game he
needed on the way. The explorer
however, took the most scrupulous
care to provide against suffering and
accident on all his routes. In every
food cache that he planted on the long
route in Smith Sound there was ra-
ton for every man and dog that pass
ed 1t going north, to be used on the
return journey If necessary.
Many persons have the idea that
Peary has done little else than hunt
for the north pole. 1t should not be
however, that it was Peary
who proved the fact that Greenland
was an island. Many years ago Pc
termann's Mitteilungen contained an
article by its editor, the great DR.. Pc
termann, giving his reasons for be-
lieving that Greenland was Of almost
continental extent, stretching probably
across the pole and down the other
side to the neighborhood Of Asia. The
same publication was the first to an
nounce that Peary had proved that
Greenland was an island-a very large
island, to be sure, for 1t is nearly
three and a half times as large as
France.
He was not searching for the pole
when he surveyed more than 600 miles
Of coast line along the shores Of north
Greenland and 300 miles Of coasts
along the northern shores Of Grant
Land. When he was seeking to find
the true outlines Of Greenland he trav-
eled $500 miles over the ice cap Of the
His journeys on this tre-
mendous ice mass were four or five
times as long as those Of all the 9TH
er explorers Of its surface. He has
reached the pole, but this achievement
will never dwarf the value of his great
pioneer services to geography in other
Peary never lost faith that the Smith
Sound channels were the best route to
the pole. After the Mares expedition
of 1875, the Smith Sound route as a
means Of approaching the pole fell into
disfavor among Arctic explorers.
Peary, however, has always regarded
1t as one Of the most feasible routes,
with the distinctive advantage Of Of
fering the land base that is nearest
the pole. His faith in this route has
been justified and he has won the
prize by passing through these long
channels to the Ice covered sea on
which he journeyed to the earth's
northern axis.
People have generally little idea of
the tremendous amount Of physical
exertion that the Peary parties have
expended in these channels. In one
season, for example, Peary cached
10000 pounds Of provisions at fifty
mile intervals along the $50 miles OF
the channels in spite Of the terrible
confusion and obstruction Of the Ice
masses choking these narrow water
ways.
Pages might be filled with funny or
statements that have been
made in newspapers, and particularly
foreign publications, about Peary and
his work. In one Of his reports he
said, for example, that the itinerary OF
a journey upon the inland ice might be
with nearly the precision with
which freight trains are run on rail-
roads. This innocuous remark was
cabled to the foreign press in skeleton
form, and the dispatch after being fill
ed out appeared in the English press
In the following remarkable manner:
Lieut.. Peary is Of the opinion that
his expedition has shown that an itin-
erary of a journey upon the inland Ice
Of Greenland may be followed with
precision and that railroads may be
laid down and worked"
One Of the London editors made this
the text of an editorial article in which
he solemnly inquired: "Is it possible
that Lieut.. Peary has overlooked the
fact that ice which is moving down
the sea could never be made
stable basis for railway track?"
More than once Peary has used his
faithful natives as mail carriers to de-
liver letters from his northern camps
to whaling vessels far south, which In
the course Of time have taken them to
Dundee, Scotland, to be mailed to their
destination in this country. One OF
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