Evening star., 1923-10-21
Factors in Amundsen's North Pole Flight

with death. But the Norwegian .ex-
piorer is accustomed to flirting with
the Grim Reaper; he has been doing
IL Tor twenty years. Fired with am
pltlon by his comparatively easy con-
quest of the Northwest Passage,
which had been the goal of Arctic ex-
plorers for nearly three hundred
years, Amundsen next essayed to
Pole
Amu9dsen's luck In other expedi-
tions, coupled with efficiency. endur-
ancefand a fortunate choice of com
panions, has been proverbial. If he is
fortunate enough to have clear
weather, and if the engines of his
three airplanes. flying in relays, can
be Kept droning steadily for from
twelve to eighteen hours, it is houed
and believed that he Will come out on
top this time. But the fact that he is
undertaking an extremely hazardous
rash adventure, such as the flight
of Capt. Alcock and Lieut. Brown
across the Atlantic. with as little
utility to recommend it; a dangerous
| stunt"
Scores of stout ships have disap-
peared into the Unsuitable white nav
OF the Arctic, and the lives of hun
dredS OF good men, and true have
| been snuffed out since man first began
seeking a northwest passage to China
! hundreds of years ago There are a
million square miles that have never
| been explored. This is the Unknown
Region" shown on maps
Expert geographers and students of
i tidal phenomena believe, from obser-
walton and study, that a vast land
mass lies somewhere between Alaska
/ and the Pole. In support of this
, theory. Eskimo now living on the
north coast of Alaska tell weird tales
of whole villages of their forebears
having been swept out to sea on
drifting ice fields. never to be heard
from again. Whalers inform us that
bowhead whales cruise northward
i through Bering Strait, past Wrangel
, Island, and are not seen again until
they emerge along the coast of Banks
: land. thousand miles to the east
ward.
And white men living at Point Bar
row, the northernmost tip of Alaska,
say that each year millions of water
fowl fly from the land straight out to
sea, and that when these return they
come directly out of the north At
dicate that land does exist in the
Unknown Region" The bowhead
whale, for example, must find sus-
tenance in comparatively shallow
water.
Does he find his way northward
blocked by land, and is he forced to
cruise along it's southern edge to
Banks land. feeding as he goes? AS
Tor the ducks and geese, which come
in millions, what is their habitat for
the several months they remain in the
Arctic? Surely it can not be the ice
fields.
X X X ~
Whether or not land does exist in
the area mentioned Amundsen may
and may not-find out. For such land
is likely to be covered by snow, and
therefore hard to distinguish from
the surrounding ice. 1t may also be
covered by an impenetrable blanket
of fog. But if Amundsen does de-
termine the existence or non-exist-
ence of land between Alaska and the
Pole, he will have accomplished a feat
of incalcuable value to science. For
it is of quite as much Importance to
scienee to know that land does not
exist in a given area as that it does
exist.
Amundsen is to undertake his
flight from base on shore. Whether
he will reach his goal will depend
mainly on how well his engines func-
ton His three airplanes are of the
all-metal monoplans type, with a type
of engine that has been tested on
flights from New York to San Fran
cisco, from San Francisco to Mexico
City, and from Chicago to Fort Nor
man, just beneath the Arctic Circle.