The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1915-09-25
HOW sTEFANssoN TRAVELLED
Arctic Explorer Proved He Could
Live "on the Country"

Live "On the Country"
An estimate of Stefansson's achiy
vement in discovering new land
north of the American continent is
contributed to the New York Times
by Cyrus C. Adams, president of the
| Association of American Geograph-
ers. 1t is as follows:
The new land that, Stefansson has
discovered is about 100 miles to the
north of Prince Patrick island. The
most southerly part of the land which
he visited is considerably to the east
Of the most eastward extension of
Prince Patrick island. The island, as
far as he saw it, seems to be nearly
bisected by the 115th meridian west
of Greenwich. The lands nearest to
it, as far as we know. are the Poly
MIA islands, little group to the north
Of Prince Patrick island, discovered
by McClntock in 1858. They appear
to be about rs or so miles from the
new land.
The island is over 100 miles due
west Of the northern part of Ellef
Ringnes island, discovered by Sver-
drup, but its most northern part. as
far as Stefansson saw e, appears to
be farther north than any other land
in the great Parry archipelago to the
north OF our continent. It probably
marks the extension thus far to the
north of TIE comparatively shallow
waters that surround the islands Of
the Parry archipelago In othe rwords
it rises from the continental shelf in
shallow water
The view is now generally held
that all the lands OF the Arctic rise
from shallow water excepting a few
volcanic islands. Stefansson's discov
cry, therefore, seems to show that in
this part Of the Arctic ocean the sea
is comparatively shallow, though Nan
sen found abysmal depths in about
the same latitude to the north of the
New Siberian islands.
Stefansson has abundantly proved
what he believed he would be able to
show, that he would find all the ami
NAL food he needed on the ice and in
the waters Of the ocean Most Of the
time he had more than enough for
men and dogs 1t is remarkable
fact that, after many months Of the
hardest kind of work he had many
dogs left in good condition.
His theories have usually worked
well, Since he first went to the Are
tic he has believed that he could live
on the resources Of either the land or
sea He has proved it, He is a man
of enormous strength and endurance.
The whalers on the north coast of
Alaska have long said that no other
man in the north could make the
mileage that Stefansson could cover
in day
A few years ago when his supplies
were becoming scant he started south
from his camp TO get meat, and game
being scarce, he was 40 miles away
before he secured a pack load of the
provender; and he packed homeward
with 30 pounds of food and made the
journey to camp in a day.
On his recent travels over the sea
in boat which could easily be trans
formed into a sledge, he had with
him two of the best men in his party.
One of them, Storkensen, he had
known since the days of the Letting
well-Mikkensen expedition with
which Stefansson had his first Arctic
experience. His comrades undOubt,
eddy did their full share in the ire
mendous task in which the explorer
was engaged
We now know that the whalers
who went up the west coast of Banks
land and reported that they could not
find Stefansson were many scores of
miles south of the point where he Iiv-
ed on the fat of the land during the
winter. AS he expected he found
animal life very abundant.
Another notable achievement was
Stefansson's completion of the chart
ing of the northeast coast of Prince
Patrick island. There was a stretch
of some 80 miles of this coastline
which McClntock and Mecham did
not cover in their survey. The gap