The Glenwood post., 1924-03-27
uacie Tets Bed Time Stories
Current Events for the Chtldrsu
and orown-ups, Too
WILKES LAND, A LITTLE
KNOWN U. 8. POSSESSION

W4Ankso 1AkANO, "A 1ATTk6-
KNOWN U. 8. POSSESSION
Jack had brought his geography
home from school, and had been study
ing it while his mother prepared din
ner. He was especially interested in
the maps in different colors that ap-
peared all through the book, and had
been looking intently at South Ameri-
ca, Australia, and New Zealand. Be-
low the pink and yellow areas that
showed the land on those maps there
was a wide stretch of blue ocean, and
right at the bottom Of the maps Jack
saw an irregular line that looked as
though it might be the shore Of some
more land to the south. But it was
not colored like the other lands on
his maps, and Jack was at loss to
know what it meant.
After dinner was over the children
called their Uncle Ted and gathered
about him for their usual evening
story. Jack brought out his geog-
raphy and asked his uncle if he could
tell what the queer lines at the bot
tom of some of his maps meant.
81 was just reading today, Jack,
about that very thing" said Uncle
Ted, "and 1 think I can give you
some information that nobody else in
your school knows about. Perhaps
even the teacher has never heard of
it before.
Most of the world as we know it
today had been discovered and mapped
within a hundred years after Colum-
bus landed on the Western Hemi-
sphere. The lands had all been
claimed by various nations, and there
seemed to be no new territory to find.
1t was not until about hundred and
fifty years ago that adventurous ex-
plorers set out in their ships to the
north and the south to find out what
was at the two ends of the earth. Capt.
Cook made the first voyage of i'm
portanee to the South Seas in 1772 and
discovered some islands that lie south
of South America Following him
other sea captains visited the far
south and found land. 1t is one of
these whom / want to tell you about
tonight.
"In 1888 Commander Charles
Wilkes of the United States navy was
placed in command of an exploring
expedition. He had four ships, the
Vincennes, Peacock, Porpoise, and
Flying Fish. With them he sailed
down the east coast of South America,
visited most of the islands in the
South Pacific ocean, and the Pacific
coast of what later became part of
the United States. He was gone four
years, and when he got home he print
ell the story of his discoveries in nine
teen volumes.
"In January, 1S40 Commander
Wilkes was on the east coast of Aus
tralia, and in that month he set sail
to the south to search for new islands
On January IL he found himself about
1000 miles directly south of New Zea.
land, and there discovered land. What
he saw were high rocky bluffs, mostly
covered with snow and with barrier
of ice extending quite distance into
the ocean. AS he could go no further
south he turned his ships west and for
almost six weeks followed the shore
line of the new continent that he had
found for 1,500 miles. On February
21 he had reached the beginning of
Capt. Cook IS discoveries many years
before, so he turned north again and
sailed back to Australia.
Photography was unknown in those
early days. but Commander Wilkes
made sketches of the shore line as he
sailed along, so one today has good
idea of what he saw. The course that
he followed is shown on Chart Num-
Der 70 published by the navy depart
ment, and on that chart is also printed
some of his sketches. They reveal
huge mountains rising into the sky,
with great table land between.
"Now, wnen your geography was
printed neither Wilkes Land nor any
of the other lands near the South Pole
discovered by other explorers had been
actually claimed by nations to the
north as part of their possessions.