The Benson signal., 1917-09-22
American Explorer in Frozen
North Makes important
Discoveries.
DIDN'T KNOW ABOUTTHE WAR
Party Was Cut off From Civilized
World for Four Years-Rescue
Ship Appeared When Food
Ran Very Low.

explorer, brings to a successful close
one of the most remarkable stays in
the ice of the roof of the globe record
ed in the annals of Arctic exploration.
Unusual good and unusual bad luck
marked the expeditions history. No
less than five ships were used to get
the party into northern Greenland, and
on the two unsuccessful and one sue
cessful attempts to bring Macmillan
back home again, but not a single
person involved lost his life, and
there was no more serious casualty
than the loss of frozen toes. This is
unique record for an Arctic expedi-
tion lasting four years.
Although the enterprise cost about
$250,O00 and was one of the most, if
not the most, costly ever known, sci
entists of the American Museum Of
Natural History here are~frankly de-
lighted today with the wealth Of new
information and the specimens of min
erals and the fauna and flora of the
frozen North which Macmillan brings
back.
Worked All the Time.
Most uninitiated persons think an
Arctic expedition consists of periods
of intense labor interspersed with long,
aggravating waits in absolute ldleneSs,
while the weather prevents travelling
far.
But this is a mistake. Macmillan
was working all the time. Even when
forced to stay near hts main base at
Etah, he kept busy, very busy. That is
why, says Macmillan, he found the last
four years the shortest of his life
Many times he went 36 to 40 hours
without sleep, pursuing his scientific
studies. And he had considerable time
to devote to these studies, for actual
exploring can only be done in three
months out Of the twelve.
Macmillan is eager to return to this
bleak but interesting region of the
north pole and will undoubtedly do so
as soon as he can find sufficient f1nan-
cial backing.
Will Fly Over Ice.
His next trip will be something en-
tirely novel in Arctic exploration, for
he proposes to use an airplane to widen
his radius of action. Il expect to do
as much in a day with an airplane as
can do in 20 days with the dogs" he
explained.
Macmillan was greatly pleased to
learn of the progress in aviation
which, has taken place on account Of
the great war during his stay away
from The world. He thinks airplane
construction has now been carried to
a point of perfection where he can
rely on certain types Of flyers as fully
as he does on his "huskies" and his
snowshoes.
Macmillan left Sydney, N. s.. aboard
the Diana in July, 1913. The ship was
wrecked off Barge Point, Labrador, but
was finally pulled off and taken to st.
Johns. where the supplies were trans
ferred to the Erik.
Three Rescue Attempts.
In the second ship the party reached
Etah, on the west Greenland coast,
August 20.
It was more than two years ago that
the first relief expedition was sent out.
Doctor Grenfell's Labrador missionary
schooner, the George B. Cluett, started
in July, 1915, for Etah, but was unable
to go through the heavy foes of ice en-
countered.
DR.. Edmund O. Hovey of the Ameri-
can museum then fitted out the Den
mark, but this ship failed also and is
believed to be still frozen in the ice
off the Greenland coast. 1t was Capt.
Robert Bartlett, companion of Peary
on the trip when he reached the north
pole, who finally succeeded where the
Others had failed. He used the staunch
sealing steamer Neptune, and by his
feat he adds considerably to the repu-
tation he made on his several voyages
with Peary. Bartlett says the ice on
this trip was the heaviest he had ever
met. Macmillan was also one of
Peary's lieutenants on the polar trip.
Many of the things Macmillan has
accomplished in the far North will be
appreciated only by the scientific
world. But even the layman can un-
derstand his work in mapping great
stretch of the coast of Ellesmere
Land, across Smiths sound to the
west or GreenlanQ; discovering the
second biggest glacier in the northern
hemisphere; locating two new islands
and disproving the existence of two
more, showing that Crocker Land, seen
by Peary from the summit of an i'm
mense cliff, is only mirage, and pene-
trating many miles over the frozen
ocean beyond the point where Crocker
N
Reached Just in Time.
When rescued by Bartlett at Etah,
Macmillan and the members of his
party were living on dog biscuit and
ducks eggs, but were in good health.
They would probably have endured
severe hardships next winter, however,
If they had not been reached in time