Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1922-02-07
GEOGRAPHY OF THE ARCTIC
Land Extends to within Short Dls.
tance Of the Pole
ice FLOEs add TRAVEL DIFFICULTIES
ereely Found Vegetation and Animal
Life High Up in, the cireIs-opl
Stream Warns the Arctic Watsfs.

| ~seV 'Ss"o soSeeabuH auo rWnfAs
Life High Up in the cirols--apIf
Stream Warns the Arctic Waters
'The top of the world, the region
around the North Pole, which islcen.
stantly Turing adventurouse spirits
through the frozen Arctic waters and
now daring ambitious pilots OF 3 air
planes, vies with Mount Everest for
being the most inaccessible place In
the world" says bulletin Of the: Ma
tional Geographic Society from its
Washington, d. c., headquarters.
Where Siberia, Alaska, northern
Canada, Greenland and Arctic Russia
dodge hither and yon on the Arctic
Circle they practically enclose a Sgreat
area Of ocean more or less covered
with ice. Greerlands most northsrn
area, Perry Land, and Grant Land,
which lies to the west, push them
selves out nearest the Pole. r sGs +.
Why Polar Travel 10 Hard. -,
IF, from Cape Columbia, on the
northern shore of Grant Land, the
Arctic ocean would freeze ever I'M q
solid smooth block during the months
Of dead winter. intrepid explorers could
probably push their dog 'sieds over to
the Pole with less difficulty and dan
ger. The area of the ocean. Instead,
is covered with innumerable foes Or
cakes Of ice. These surge backaanq
forth. buclSing up and 'pIling upon each
other until they form ridges fftY: Or
sixty feet high. which crack nd7bfeak
with the current of the water and the
velocity Of the winds. ltet ~
Though there is always water pres-
ent, the lanes between the Ice blocks
are not wide enough for ships 70 sail
through. but they often make Il ,sirf-
possible for men walking orr making
their way by. dog sled to get tback:to
safety after they have left their poate
This condition lis encountered even IN
midwinter months when the iteunpera-
ture runs to 80 and so degrees below,
zero. Stefansson says that II these
strips of water are more serious than
the deepest masses OF the softest snow
or the most craggy and siippsry ice
ridges. ssl,IF's'y,7li.sg;,5 Z
cslf stssssp ,slssa Z Esplstsss s.
The Gulf Stfeams however. whose
magic breath, brings heat and life 70
regions which otherwise would be cold
and barren, thaws out some OF the, Ice
in the northern Atlantic where 1T
merges with the. Arctic ocean. thur
permitting boats In the waters of
Greenland and the Scandinavian counT
tries to penetrate further north than
Is possible on the Pacific side. Polar
explorers have taken advantage Of this
fact by pushing northward on this side
rather than in the vicinity. Of Bering
strait. :,g,g 81 tts,.< ~ :,
"Peary, when he oyercame almost
insurmountable difficulties In pushing
out over this more than six hundred
miles of floating icebergs, mar q ont
a route which future explorers can
follow, as well as established the fact
that determination and enthusiasm
combined with a knowledge OF the
problems of the undertaking can con-
quer most, IL not all, Of the difficulties
attendant upon exploring the, worid'f
geographical features. .1t.t. ~ -
In the area through which Peary
pushed he found much Of interest,"
From the northern coast Of Greenland
whore the willow and birch trees grow
only from Is inches to three feet, and
the mosses more than foot high she
skirted the western coast of this
country through Davis strait and BAT
fin bay to Etah, an Eskimo village on
Smith sound in Greenland. He .knew,s
as other explorers knew before him,
that current frequently ran in that
series of straits between Northwestern
Greenland and those great islands OF
Arctic America known as Ellesmere
Land, Grinnell Land and Grant Land,
which might enable him to push his
vessel northward to Cape Columbia in
latitude SO degrees. the point Of hand
nearest the North Pole. Due to the
knowledge and skill CT the party, their
vessel reached its destination. which
was the farthest northward that Any
ship has ever steamed.
What Greedy Found. ~ %iE,
ITO the west along his route lay
Grinnell Land, the interior Of which
General A. w. Greely explored and re-
ported that he found there fertile val
leys, a beautiful lake and abundant ami
NAL life. Grant Land lies still farther TO
the north. Robson channel, the last
stretch before he reached the Arctic
ocean proper, separating Grant Land
from Hall Land on the nosthern shore
of Greenland, is just feWmiles long
er than the Dardanelles. r.,
1.-The famous Northeast Passage,
,hro,,,b which Nanaan WAS abla to