The Washington times., 1912-03-08
Limitless Quantity
Of Coal at the South
Pole, 1t Is Believed

RUE, IL Is DeII6V6u
A limitless quantity of coal-enough
to supply the world for an indefinite
length of time-has been discovered by
Captain Scott and Captain Amundsen
on their dashes to the South Pole, Off
Gals of the United States Geological
Survey believe. If present indications
are not misleading, by the time the
present accessible mines are exhausted
these unlimited fields of the south can
be reached by routes yet to be deter
mined upon, they say.
George Otis Smith, director of the
United States Geological Survey, said
this afternoon that indications are that
coal mines of ineStimable depth exist
south of the Antarctic circle. If con-
ditions which prevail in the Arctic
regions, and about which the scientific
world is more familiar, are indicative
of anything, the South Pole regions
contain a wealth of coal, the value of
which the mind of man cannot Compre-
hend This assumption is based, he
said, on relative comparison.
Samples Brought Back.
Lieutenant ShaCklcton, who came
within 100 miles of the South Pole,
found many evidences of coal, and
samples were brought back to civiliza-
ton with him. These, when tested,
were found to have been of the purest
quality.
DR.. Smith said that while Cook and
Pcary saw but few indications of hid
den minerals in the vicinity of the
North Pole, yet their descriptions of
the country, upheavals in the surface of
the EARTH caused evidently by minerals
of some kind hidden hundreds of feet
beneath, have convinced biologists that
coal and possibly platinum can be
found there.
tional Geographic Society, said:
There now seems to be no doubt but
that the South Pole is located on terra
firma. While the descriptions of the
journeys of ShacklctOn. Scott, and
Amundsen are meager in certain 70
'Spects, and regarding the geological
formation, yet everything points to Il
wealth of minerals of some kind there
Cold Is Handicap.
"Whether the coal mines, If there be
am there, will be accessible or not re-
mains 20 be seen. 1t will not be during
our time, however The South Polar
regions, where there are so many EVIL
denccs of coal, arc 50 situated as 10
make it practically impossible to reach
the mineral. 1t is so cold there that it
would be next to impossible to mine It,
ana transportation 10 an accessible
point would he an undertaking which
modern day methods cannot cope VITA.
yet, when the big mines Of North
America and The British Isles are
cleared of their product, by that time
man will have found himself the mas
ter of the entire EARTH including the
now inaccessible Polar regions. Man
Will have devised some method of get
ting in constant communication with
those regions by this time, and the coal
supply probably will save the earth.
AS II is now, the Antarctic region Is
nothing more tina ma storage room for
the coal upon which the world, in after
years, will depend entirely"
Views of Peary.
The possibilities of there being an
unlimited coal supply in the Antarctic
regions are great Commander Robert
L. Peary, the North Pole explorer, be-
lieves, and it would not surprise him
to learn that Captain Scott and Cap
tain Amundscn both have uncartllcd
mines of incstimable wealth on their
recent voyages. Commander Pcary
said, however, that he was not a geo.
logical expert, and his assumptions
were based on the reasoning powers
d and observations made by a layman
explorer. He continued:
"1n the Arctic region I found large
quantities of coal. Extending across
lDe northern part OF Int continent south
OF the Arctic Ocean there is a deep
vein of rich coal which some day can
be mined.
"FrOm observations made by the eX-
plorers of the Antarctic regions shOUld
Judge that in that part Of the cartn
similar geological formations haV"
taken place. While there is more earth
within tho Antarctic circlc than can
be found in the Arctic circle, yet the
amount of exposed spaCc-anG I mean
by that, earth not covered with SNOW
or icc-is larger in the northern re-
giCnS than in the SOUTH
North More Accessible.
Commander PcLry said that the coul
regions of the north are more avGc ssble
than those of the south. Thcv are
nearer Europe and the Americas. he
said. Conditions in the Arctic regions
are 'mOre hospitdblc, more amiablc,
than those in the SOUTH" he sail, and
for that reason it will he easier to reach
the north than the sOIth polar mineral
fields.
There is no douhl, Commander Pearv
said, that discoveries in the EOTthlaud
have opened up new mineral fields .:pon
which the world will, in some future
time, depend for 1uci and such like.
"ThCro is every likelihood that similar
>-GonditOns prevail in the SOUTH he