The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1911-03-03
COOK DECLARES
CLAIM IS TRUE
Explorer Confident That Public
viii Yet Accord Him Due
Credit.
BACK FROM RETIREMENT
TO FIGHT "P0LECATS"
Has No Use for Armchair"
GeOgraphers Who Never
Fought the Ice.

"I went away because through the
pressure Of lectures, addresses and pub.
lie functions | fonnd il impossible to
get time to rest, eat or sleep. ! went
away without taking the press into my
confidence, but came back when J
found that | had some polecats TO deal
with. | am going TO stay here and WIZ
out The public will yet acknowledge
the truth of my claims
So said Doctor Frederick A. Cook,
arctic explorer, claimant TO the honor
of having first discovered the north
pole, who will present his side OF the
Cook -Peary controversy in lecture at
the Salt Lake theater tonight.
81 do not claim that | have set my
foot upon the exact point upon winch
the earth spins. said the explorer.
when seen al the SeInloh last night. |
do insist that | was so near the pole
that my observations, taken with all
possible care, showed that | was
there.
Possibility of Error.
''What is the range OF error under
the conditions you encountered ~
.'That might range from five TO fifty
miles, but | am confident that | was
within a fraction of mile OF the alb
solute pole. - was the reply.
''The purpose Of my lecture, con
tinued Cook, ''iS to present my case
to the public. ] shall take my audience
with me into the arctic regions and tell
briefly of my experiences IN the far
north ] want them TO see, as ] have
seen, the difficulties confronted and the
problems involved. -
Cook speaks softly, modestly, but
with quiet assurance, conveying the inn
preston Of sincerity. Questioned as to
his equipment. he said: 81 believe IL
was Just as good or better than any
body else had. The problem of reach
ing the pole under favorable conditions
is simply one of reducing weight to a
minimum,
In response to questions the explorer
turned TO discussion of temperatures
in the polar regions. AT the pole, y
he said ''ii was only 3s below zero,
but at Schley land we encountered 81
below. This may seem incredible, but
it is not so, as % below has been re-
corded in northern Siberia. In the re-
gion Of the pole the higher temperature
is accounted for by the marine climate,
YOU have there nc land at all only
moving sea of ice, broken here and
there by patches of open water
Captain Evelyn b. Baldwin of the
National Geographic society, who is
travelling with DR.. Cook on this lecture
tour, here explained that the observa
tions of the bestknown explorers dur
ing the last twenty years had borne
out the theory that a belt of extreme
cold surrounds the polar region but
does not overshadow it and added that
Cook IS observations had confirmed this
theory.
Does Not Discredit Peary.
DR.. Cook was not inclined TO discredit
the claims of Peary. that he, too, had
reached hc Dola n.arlu voar 1o+o
than the date upon which Cook says
he stood on the axis of the earth. sit
Is quito probable that we reached prac.
tically the same point, although taking
entirely different routes, he ex-
planned And he added that his quarrel
was not with Peary, but with the "arm
chair geographers, who had discred-
tied his claims and approved those Of
his rival Captain Baldwin pointed out
that Admiral Schley, General A. W.
Greely, Roald Amundsen and other
noted explorers who were familiar with
arctic conditions. had indorsed the
claims of Cook as well as those of
Peary, and that men who had never
had any experience with the conditions
that confronted the practical explorer
had no call to pass final judgment.
. How about reaching the pole with
the aeroplane or dirigible Balloon 90
was asked.
9 regard the aeroplane as valuable
adjunct to arctic and polar explora-
tion, said Cook, "but it is yet TOO
early-the science of aeronautics is too
young TO rely upon the airship In any
form with confidence
Captain Baldwin said that he expect
ed to take both aeroplanes and bal.
looms with him in his next Arctic ex-
pedition, which he hopes to have ready
for starting in September of 1912.
In conclusion DR.. Cook said that he
had been fairly treated by the western
press and reaffirmed his belief that
the impression that he was seeking un-
deserved credit would soon be dissi-
pated.
salt rheum, or eczema, with its itch