The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1909-09-10
RACE IN ARCTIC REGIONS BE.
TWEEN COOK AND PEARY.
Man of Medicine Hurried Across the
Ice and to Telegraph Station Sew
eral Days Ahead of the Naval At
tache; Both Had the Prize in
Hand; Many People Expect That
a Controversy Will Result.

V1UnOuC uOuDC during Jne ldSG HuOllt
+ six weeks the dome of the wOrl
p in the narrowing circles, had bee
race course of which the low hangiI
olar sun had marked the start al
he first slender tip of the telegraI
wire in the northernmost frontier ,
the goal.
Down this swelIing curve of the
earth's shoulder FASTENED the two
racers for the prize of the worlds
adulation-Dr. Frederick A. Cook,
perhaps unconscious that his rival
behind him was pressing him so
closely, and Commander Peary,
fully, aware that there was man
somewhere ahead of him who was
going to put in the claim of the
poles discovery and receive the
fruits of praise.
Cook Wins By Five Days.
DR.. Cook won the dash for civ
ilization by just five days; at
Lerwick, in the Shetland islands,
he found the coveted cable end on
Wednesday last and through it
caught the worlds ear.
Today Peary got his message on
the wire at Indian harbor, away
up on the northeast coast of Lab
rador-the same message as that
which Cook had sent drumming
through the wire on Sept. |.
Two men dashed for the pole
Two dashed for the lands of men
below. The dash for the pole was
made with the energy of inspira
ton; that for the kindlier chimes
was urged by sternest rivalry and
the great worth of fame.
Struggle Back the Harder.
Perhaps, said these intimates of
Peary today, he struggled harder
to get back to civilization ahead of
Dr. Cook than he did to reach the
goal of his twenty years effort.
That Peary knew of Cooks claim
and of Cooks start ahead in the
direction of civilization is undoubt-
ed There is only one stepping
stone in the arctic regions, from
the world into the hitherto impene-
trable mystery of the polar seas,
and that is Etah, huddle of
Eskimo huts on the western coast
of Greenland by the shore. of Smith
sound.
TO Etah DIR. Cook returned after
his winter in the ice wilderness of
Ellesmere Land, and there he found
Harry Whitney, the New Haven
youth who had gone up with
Peary the year before and who re-
manned at Etal to guard the cache
of supplies that Peary had left be-
hind him when he made his sprint
northward.
Leaves Data With Whitney.
With Whitney he left some of
his data, according to the dis
patches from Copenhagen, and with
him he left the story of his north
ing, even to the pole, then he set
off for Upernavik, the southern
Danish settlement, there to get
aboard the little Danish govern
ment steamer and make for the
world below.
Then came along Peary-just
what time he returned to Etah can
only be surmised. At Etah he
heard from Whitney that the man
who said that he had beaten in
the race for the pole already was
started on the race for civilization.
The folks who sketched this
probable situation today even went
to the extent of figuring how great
start it was that Cook had on
Peary. Cook had reached Uperna-
vik in May, but there would be no
boat out of there until the i'm
pending autumn sent whatever
craft that were summering i'm the
bleak harbor downward.
Explorers Near One Another.
There is a strong probability
in fact, it must be, they say-that
: Peary returned to Etha and there
learned that his glory was inn
periled. Cook had not even left
Greenland and that less than 800
miles of the Greenland coast sep
arated the two explorers.
Under the great handicap of
doubt, and the undoubted jealousy
of man with whom he is not on
friendly terms, Commander Peary
had to head the Roosevelt south
through the channels of the ice on
the last lap of a race for fame
wherein every minute meant posi-
BILE defeat.
He could not know until today,
when he touched at Indian Harbor
in Labrador to file with the tele-
graph his claim to being the poles
discoverer, that he had lost the
race through the frozen oceans.
May Have Known He Lost.
And yet--here those who talked
today on Peary's achievement in
terjected qualifying clause-and
yet there is the possibility that,
before he returned to Etah even,
Peary had known that he had been
preceded.
If he followed the course that
he announced on his departure
from New York in July of last
Continued On Page Three.