The Omaha morning bee. [volume] (Omaha [Neb.]) 1922-1927, 1923-01-07
Stefansson
to Give Up
Expl Us H;'aa.''..'' ~'' '..,:: ~: : ;
World-Famous Arctic Tray
eler 10 Devote Life to
Developing the Polar
Regions.
Plans Trade Air Routes

New York. Jan. 6.-(By A. P.AVil.
hJalmar Stefansson. Arctic explorer.
announced abandonment of his car
eer as an explorer. to devote his eff.
forts to proving to a skeptical world
that within decade or two the north
polar ocean Will be crossed by a net.
work II commercial aviation routes
and that the Arctic regions. hitherto
known as mysterious, uninhabitable
0nds, will be the source of developed
resources unlimited in magnitude.
Il am through With exploring" he
declared to The Associated Press. 4
will devote myself seriously to the
abolition OF the polar regions. The
aura of mystery surrounding the north
IS pail of ignorance. The polar re-
gions are a state of mind. "
Mr.. Stefansson stId his decision to
give up the polar expeditions which
have made him internationally famous
was prompted by his conviction that
the age of exploration of the north
now was to yield to the age of COM
melCial development. He felt, he
said, that he should give up exploring
while he was still young enough to
develop his career as "propagan-
dist or enlightener Of the north. Ex-
ploring was young mans game, he
added.
Saw Unlimited Resources.
Ny expeditions to the Arctic" he
declared. were like those of Lewis
and Clarke in the early days of the
United States history. / saw as they
did that l WAS crossing country with
unlimited resources. country which
could easily be exploited and country
where men and women could live as
comfortably and as energetically as
they live in many ports Of the north
temperate regions of the world"
Development of the Arctic country
as path of commercial air routes
next generation, Mr.. Stefansson as
serted. The temperature 1000 feet
above the north pole in July, he said,
was about the same as that 1000
feet above France in April. Tho light
conditions were ideal. An Arctic
route from London to Toxic, he
pointed out. would be only two-thirds
the length of one eharted from west
to east.
Terr0rs Imaginative.
The popular attitude toward the
Arctic regions, Mr.. Stefansson said,
was much like the medieval attitude
towards the unexplored regions be.
yond the horizon-the terrors in both
cases might be largely imaginative.
Fire alone stands in the way of the
developing of a land area twice the
size of the United States" he de-
clared. "If you want the truth, as
sumo the opposite of a dozen or so
things you have heard about~ the
north.
"Oil, coal and other resources ;AYs
there. Climatic conditions are coif
querable. People are living and flour.
ishing in places where there are
colder winters than those at the north
pole. For example, the lowest tenn
perature at the pole is about so de-
grees below zero, while 20 below has
been registered in North Dakota,
where the winters are just as severe
as in the Arctic. AT Nerkhoyansk, in
Siberia. the mercury has dropped to
80 degrees below zero.
"The course of empire, of civiliza-
ton, must inevitably give a move
toward the north, and Americans
citizens of the nation of progress,
must realize this fact"