The Fargo forum and daily republican. [volume] (Fargo, N.D.) 1894-1957, 1913-06-03
MORE DISCOVERIES
IN FAR NORTH.

Copenhagen, Denmark, June BY
his discovery that the so-called Peary
channel at the northern end Of Green
land does not exist, Knud Rasmussen,
the young Danish explorer, has solved
a problem of great Importance to the
geographical world. Besides this, the
explorer and his companions mapped
the region connecting Greenland with
Perry land, and made fresh discoveries
of land which they baptized Christian
x land.
Additional details have been receiv-
ed here Of the brilliant feats of the
Danish expedition which has just
terminated a scientific task that has
attracted many explorers since Nam
sen, by crossing the icetlelds Of the
interior Of Greenland, proving that
only unusual endurance and hardness
were required for successful eXplora-
ton in those regions.
Knud Rasmussen started On his ex-
petition on July 10, 1910, when he
embarked with his companions on the
schooner Motor and sailed from
Copenhagen to the Melville coast in
northwestern Greenland.
Rasmussen vas peculiarly well fitted
for the task he had undertaken. He
is a native of Greenland, having been
born at Jacobs Harbor in 1879. His
father was a Danish clergyman, who
was thoroughly acquainted with a
number of Eskimo dialects, and his
mother was a pure-blood Eskimo.
Knud himself spoke Eskimo from his
infancy and later studied the language
p~hilologically so that he knows it at the
present day perhaps better than
other person.
Knud Rasmussen has been through
out his life intensely interested in ex
ploration, and as a youth undertook
voyages in Scandinavian, the Farce is
lands n Iceland, all the time maxi
ing scientific observations. 3
When this expedition reached the
Greenland coast the explorer estab-
lished a station there for the benefit
of the scattered Eskimo population,
The expedition was equipped with
sufficient provisions to last six years,
and 1t vas part Of Rasmussen's plan
to establish a commercial depot near
Cape York, on the northern side Of
Melville bay, where there is a COM
Eskimos, who hitherto had been
virtually out Of communication with
the civilized world. This was to be
under the auspices Of the Danish
Royal committee for the privilege
commerce of Greenland.
According to the kilograms received
from Thorshavn in the Farce islands,
Rasmussen not. only succeeded in car
rying out these plans, but also the Sec
ond part of his programme, which in
Guided the ethnographical and ethno-
exploration of the practically
unknown regions of northern Green
Ia nd TT WAS PoEn1lcsan'S ipfaptinn fc
map Melville bay, to cross the glaciers
of the inland icefields, to explore the
Peary channel, and also Croker island,
discovered by Peary in latitude IS,
Mr.. Freuchen, another Dane. was
the principal companion of Rasmus-
sen in his explorations and on his
great sledge expedition across Green
land continent, sharing with him in
the honor of deciding the question of
the existence of the Peary channel.
When Peary made his discoveries at
the northern end Of Greenland during
voyages in 1922 and 1893-95, and
when he explored Independence BAY,
which stretched from east to west, he
was inclined to believe that the bay
continued farther westward and ter
minated it's course in the supposed
Peary channel. He baptized the final
point of his attainment Navy cliff.
ILooSHaoA tiio pAoilio1loiy IL huge Rld-
cier, the Academy, projected into the
sound.
During his voyage of 1881
Peary reached the northern point OF
Peary land in latitude $3.50, which was
the limit Of Greenland proper. He. and
most Of the Polar explorers who fol-
lowed him believed Peary land to be
an island separated from the CONT
nent by independence bay and Peary
channel.
Some doubt still existed as to this.
and other explorers made efforts to de-
termine the facts. Mr.. Koch. Of the
expedition. reached Cane
in 1907, following up Peary's
In the meantime, how
ever, the Danes, Myths Erichsen,
Hoegh, Hagen and Brondlund, had lost
their lives in trying to establish the
existence or non-existence Of the
Peary channel.
Einar Mikkelsen also tried to pene-
trate the region while he was search
for the diaries of his head com ),
Myths Erickson, but had not
time to attain his goal and
narrowly escaped death. |
The news of Knud Rasmussen's dis
coyery has settled once for ali this
much debated question.
Take Plenty Of Time TO Eat.
There is a saying that rapid eating
8 SLOW suicide If you have formed |