The Owosso times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1897-1926, 1911-08-11
WORLDS NoRTHMosT TOWN

on Vac alton Tour-Is Able to
Draw Money on Letter of
Credit Even Though
North Of Arctic
Circle.
Following is letter received from
Arthur j. Tuttle, of Lansing, who il
spending his vacation visiting places OF
interest in Norway:
This town of Hammerfest was found
ed in 1857. 1t has 1890 inhabitants
and is the porthmost town in the world
(70* 40 II" N. Lat. 23* AS 25' e,
Long,. The sun does not set here be.
tween May 13 and July 30. Neither
does it rise from November 1S to Janu.
ary 2a No railroad runs to this place
or to any other place 80 far north.
However, this port occasionally sees
ships from various parts of Europe.
The most frequent ships are from Rus.
sia. The exports are fish and oil, while
the imports include practically every
thing necessary for the inhabitants
existence. From this place the fishing
fleets are dispatched to the polar seas.
They tell me the most valuable COM
modify produced here is cod-liver oil.
AS result-of the large number of fish
ling boats filed with fish and numerous
refineries OF oil, the town has an "an-
cient and fishy" smell. The hills and
mountains are practically barren of
trees or vegetation of any kind.
At the "Hammerfest Sparebank" 1
drew 80 kroner ($s5, 5,OO) on my letter of
credit, although this town is not men
toned in the list of banks furnished
with the letters of credit. If am cor
rectlv advised, there is no other bank in
the world so far north. 1t seems al.
most increditable that the:system of ac-
counting should have reached such per-
fection that here away north of the
Arctic circle, in this little town l could
draw the actual cash of this country
and haye it charged to my account in
u. s. dollars at the Leslie bank, and
this, too, at an expense and loss Of only
one krener {26 cents) -
! sent the firm cabiegram at II
o'clock in the forenoon today. I am
wondering just when the messenger
boy presented it at the Office in Lans-
ing. It cost one kroner and So ore for
each word. including the address and
signatures. The message proper con.
tanned only seven words, yet it counted
all told at 16 and cost "a kroner and 80
ore ($6 49, write these unimportant
details because l assume my friends
are as inquisitiye as am and would be
curious to know about all those little
things.
Invent fishing again today and made
good catch. There were dozen men
standing among as many small fishing
boats. called out: ''Can any of you
speak English? One promptly answer
ed: "Yess, got my woman in Wiscon-
sin 4" he went to Wisconsin six years
ago, worked on farm for three years,
then married the farmers daughter
and brought her back to his home here
where he is fisherman He says his
wife cannot talk Norwegian so he has
to use his English at home all the time.
Well, we went fishing and had good
visit. l asked him more than a thou
sand questions and he seemed glad to
answer them all. His wife wants to
60 back to America and he says he
thinks he will come over and work my
farm. 1t is these experiences out Of
the ordinary that l enjoy more than
seeing the usual sights shown to
tourists.
We have just left Hammerfest and
are now on the way up to North Cape,
where there is nothing but a post Office,
a rock, few fishermen and the mid
night sun. We will reach there at two
o'clock tonight, wander around over
the rocks or go fishing until two a. m, /,
then away again on the sea. The next
point at which we land after North
Cape will be Lyngen, which, like North
Cape, is only q postoffice. North Cape
is IL TO- "a" N. Lat, 25# AS so" E.
Long.
1t is surprising to me how warm the
valleys are at this latitude, and with
the snow only few feet away on the
side Of the mountains. However, when
we consider that the sun shines all the
time at this season, 1t is palmer why in
certain places protected from the wind
and continually in the sunlight for
weeks, that even here it could be COM
fortably warm IL one is thickly dressed.
Today has been about like a warm day
in April in southern Michigan, in the
valley where Hammerfest is located
Another thing which / did not under
stand before is that while for weeks
the sun does not rise in the winter sea.
son. yet for few hours each day it ID
light, not bright light, but like the
dawn at home before the sun rises, OF
the twilight after the sun has set Oh
course, the ocean currents keep this
part of the world warmer than the