The Birmingham age-herald., 1917-02-11

t16NOIlO JU DllleS distant, IS l1lttle
 Diomede Island which is about 25 miles from East Cape, Siberia Boring strait is SO shallow that if the Wash
 ington monument were dropper into it, twothirds of the shaft would show above the water. The bottom of the channel is solid rock covered with sand and silt, and tunnels might be made running from North America to Asia, connecting with the two Diomedes and Pathway rock. The tunnels would have to be in four sections. The first would be 20 miles long, the second about 10 miles long, the third, between the two Diomede Islands. comparatively short. while the fourth, ending in Asia, would be only little longer than the first. The first two tunnels would be O.. American territory Pathway rock and Little Diomede belong to the Uni ted States. The third would unite us W ith Russia to which nation Big Dio- mede belongs, and the fourth also would belong to the Russians.
 There have been those who have talked of bridging the strait or of run ming railroad ferry across from con unent to continent. It is claimed that there are many places in the channel where the water is not over 20 feet deep, and pillars could be erected to SNtpPOA thS OIldSGS W HIGH nllBHL De SD built that they would swing to allow tho floating icebergs to pass through. This seems ridiculous to any one who understands the great ice floes of the Arctic region. It is doubtful whether the bridges could be made on account of the depth of the strait, and they would certainly be destroyed by the ice. It connects Boring sea with the Arctic ocean, and there is a strong current which P1noo yrrI, fa rorth. This keeps it open in winter, but there are ice floes on each side of IT, and the waters carry such masses of ice that it is navigable only in sum
 ner.
 Today about the only ships that go through the strait are a small steamer or so and the whalers which ply the Ardc ocean to catch the right whale single one of which will often net as much as s1o.000 Some of our reve- nue cutters also go through and there are regular steamers from Seattle each summer which carry supplies to Kotze- pue sound and the northern ports of The Seward peninsula
 moreover, it is questionable whether bridges could be built from shore to shore on account of the difficulty of connect ing the mainland and the islands. Cape Prince of Wales and East Cape, Siberia, are both bold and rocky headlands con- nected with the mainland by low neck of rolling tundra. Cape Prince of Wales has on one side walls about 1000 feet high. and these rise into uplands a half-mile above the level of the sea. When the weather is clear you can see this cape almost anywhere inside the strait. The Diomede Islands have steep shores which rise to flat-top summits that occupy nearly their entire areas; and Fairway rock looks like a mighty haycock rising out of the water.
 Bering strait was not discovered until more than two and one-half centuries after Columbus first crossed the Atlan- tic. and there was no positive knowl. edge that the North American continent came so near Asia until almost 100 years later. The first record of any man going through this strait was that of Simeon Deshnef. Russian, who rounded East cape, Siberia, and wintered at the Anadir river about 13 years after Boston was founded. The strait is usually foggy and Deshnef did not see North America About 60 years later another Russian vis- ited the East cape and brought back ru- mors of continent to the eastward This was Popof, cossack. who was sent out to make the Eskmos of eastern Siberia pay their tribute to the Czar Popof de- NSAiDSo tAO 3Cloliictc' ulSidIluS. ana must have seen North America. as Cape Prince of Wales is plainly visible from them. When the news came back to Peter the Great who was then Czar. he wanted to know more about the new continent and ordered Vitus Boring, Danish captain of the Russian navy, to go there and explore. Later on Catherine of Russia carried out this plan. Boring crossed Si- beria and built two small vessels on the To sT~1 strait, but came back without having siehted the American continent. and it was not until 50 years later. when Captain Cook passed through. that the strait was explored and named Boring strait
 The railroad from Nome to Siberia would probably run along the coast. touching at Port Clarence, which is a It. tie south of Cape Prince of Wales That port would be the great supply point for railway materials. It is about the best harbor on Boring sea It has an im- mense inner basin. walled with steep slate precioices, and vessels of good draft can lie there at anchor. This was the port from which the engineers of the Western Union Telegraph company expected to stretch their cable across Rering strait to Asia. The scheme origina ted in 1s6s when expeditions were sent to both AiasSa and Asia to lav out the route George kennan was connected with the work in Siberia, and Robert Kennicott was the leader of the party which did the work in Alaska. Kennicott and his men ascended the Yukon and crossed the Seward peninsula. Some of their old stakes are still visible at Unalaklik or the eastern shore of Norton sound and near that place are the ruins of one of the stations with a few poles and some wire. The wire was distributed here and there along the route. and much of it was taken by the Eskimos and Indians and used for iewelry The survey was going