Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1912-04-22
The Climb to the Pole Startling Facts Concerning ds Wonderful Feat

The instrument on which they prln'
cipally depended to ascertain their loea
ton was the sextant The way II In used
is shown In the picture. To understand
this II Is necessary to remember that the
height Of the sun above the horizon al
noon and on any given latitude may be
known from astronomical tables calcu.
lated long in advance. At the poles tho
latitude Is 70 degrees and there. during
the six months day which prevails alter
nately at each pole. II is always noon
because throughout the course OF twenty
four hours the sun keeps at virtually
the same elevation.
When, then the explorer finds that the
sun remains at the same elevation. as
measured by his sextant. for twenty -four
consecutive hours. he knows that he must
be at one or the other OF the poles be-
cause nowhere else would the sun remain
for twenty four hours at an unvarying
altitude The sextant is provided with
mirrors so arranged that while looking
direct at the line OF the horizon the OBJ
server can cause the image Of the sun
to move down until II touches the hori-
zon. Then graduated circle shows him
at a glance the angle through which the
suns image has been moved and that
gives its elevation above the horizon. At
sea the visible horizon can be employed
for this purpose. but mot on land There,
the explorer. like Captain Amundsen.
must use an artificial horizon, which
consists Of dish filled with mercury.
which is carefully leveIed and in which
the image Of the sun is reflected. In this
case the angle between the sun as seen
direct through the instrument and its
image reflected in the mercury is Just
twice the altitude Of the sun above the
real horizon.
Another way in which an explorer
could determine roughly whether he were
at the pole or not would be by erecting
a vertical rod in the snow and measuring
at frequent intervals the length Of its
shadow as the sun passed around the
sky. If the shadow always retained the
same length he would know that he
was at pole, but II the length varied dur
Ing the twenty-four hours he could not
be at the pole and the side on which
the shadow was shortest would show
him which way the pole lay.
1t Is a curious fact. which may possibly
have something to do with the slight I'M
steadiness of the earth on its axis, that
while the south pole lies in the midst Of
plateau OF land nearly two miles high.
the north pole is situated in the center
OF the basin OF a sea, which is. In places
at least about two miles deep. Why this
precisely opposite state Of things exists
Il is impossible to say. One result of IL
however, is that although 1t will be DOS
sble to erect at the south pole a pnonu-
ment that might stand for ages IL its
foundations were dug down through the
snow to tn. solid rock. nothing Of the
Kind could be done at the north pole, be-
cause there the actual pole is at the bot
tom Of the sea. and the explorer stands
on a roof Of floating fee which Is con-
tinually in slow movement. and gradually
travelling away. while new ice takes its
place.
One Of the most significant things Of
all is the fact that round the south pole.
Just as around the north one. wherever
thed naked rock can be reached
vestiges are found of former age, when
plants and animals in abundance flour
ished close about the ends Of the earth's
axis. There must have been a time, then,