The Mellette County pioneer. [volume] (Wood, Mellette County, S.D.) 19??-1971, 1919-12-12

frozen wastes of the polar regions is being ar
ranged, and the airship will, no doubt, be on lines
that will command "A big radius OF action and per-
nit large petrol storage.
The tropics created another set of difficulties.
The airplane fabric and glue fixtures were found
to be of q perishable nature in the climate. and
new substances of greater resistance TO the In
tense heat were introduced. But today an AIR
plane, adaptable for any hemisphere, is within
the range of science, and soon the flying explorer
should be on most routes leading to the unknown
beyond the regions Of civilization. His story will
be an imperishable and thrilling chapter of the
history of nature in her widest haunts.
Aerial Exploration Costly.
But aerial exploration is not TO be lightly un-
dertaken. There is the cost of airplanes, hangers,
landing places and maintenance OF personnel. Ex-
liberation is a stationary thing at times, and bases
must be erected. 1t is one thing to fly over an
untrodden region and quite another to explore It.
Science demands much knowledge from the modern
explorer. Possibly a nation, or nations, could
only furnish the necessary means TO provide the
material for the aerial highway and stations which
are Indispensable to satisfactory exploration In
remote quarters of the earth. Hundreds OF miles
of Arabia which no westerDer has seen have been
flown over by European officers during the war.
Members of these military expeditions have dis
covered most interesting ruins of half-buried
cities. But this work was done from properly
nltt utDOlS. ibiNsha oa'ND $3.50 o>HN' PN1>
stations may prove the jumping-off points for fur
ther expeditions under state aegis. Desert flying
would lead to the linking up of the old caravan
routes b. tracking successive GASES; and then.
from the beaten paths, the wastes adjoining would
be searched for historic ruins.
The fact remains that the aerial pioneer will be
the first i'm many virgin fields of science and his
tory. and will I'm his quests find the wine of ad.
venture I'm bumper d%raughts.
This Strand Magazine writer is right. These I'M
explored regions Of the earth are full of fascina.
tion for the explorer. For example, take the head.
waters of the Amazon and Orinoco-a region Of
mystery that has bafied every explorer from the
commissioners down to Theodore Roosevelt. The
airman. armed with wireless, quinine pills and fly
screen. ought TO succeed in this centuries-old
quest. Other explorers have died Of fever because
they had no auinine or succumbed to the rapids OF
the rivers, or got lost because they had no wireless
or had been infected and died from the bites Of In.
sects.
Undoubtedly there is much OF importance to the
world to be gained by thorough exploration of thi:
region. And by way of mystery there is the legend
of the White Indians. the Guahariva of the upper
basins. The Spanish explorers of 1850 mentioned
them; an Englishman in 1853 and a Frenchman In
1886 reported them; and others have been tolt
about them by traders and Indians.
The Brazilian, Venezuelan and Colombian gov.
ernments have done little i'm exploring this vast
region which Is full Of unknown riches.