Evening star., 1925-08-23
POLE FLYERS FIND
DESOLATE COUNTRY
Maze of Jagged Peaks Met
in Search for Base for
Final Hop.

"A maze of jagged, snow clad
peaks; deep. narrow g1acier-fllled
valleys; and huge ice-covered fiords
such is the section of Ellesmere
Island over which the Navy planes
of the Macmillan Arctic expedition
have been making their initial flights
in the Far North. seeking a site for
their first advance base" says a bull
letin from the Washington head
quarters of the National Geographic
Society.
This is the terrane to which
radio dispatches from the expedition
are now referring.
"Etah. the main base, at which the
two ships are anchored. lies on the
westernmost tip of Greenland" con-
tinues the bulletin. From this point
the shore line of Greenland turns
back toward the east and runs in a
general northeastern direction for
some 600 miles TO its most northern
point.
Smith Sound Ice-Filied.
THE projection on which Etah lies
is at the very head of Baffin Bay
Ellesmere Island bulges eastward at
Cape Sabine practically opposite
Etah helping almost to close Baffin
Bay. The narrow neck of water so
formed is Smith Sound over which
the planes first fly in striking west
ward from the ship base. This sound
has been found to be filed with ice.
After the first advanced base is es-
tablished the planes will shuttle back
and forth across Smith Sound, carry
ing gasoline and supplies from the
ships.
The coast line of Ellesmere Island
which the planes reach after crossing
Smith Sound is little less jagged hori-
zontally than the interior is vertically
fiords, some of them biting SO deeply
into the island that they almost meet
other fiords from the west coast 1t
was one Of these west coast fiords.
Cannon Fiord, in direct line between
Etah and Cape Hubbard, for which
the planes set out on their first recon
notssance trip; but fog and unfavor-
able ice conditions in the fiords which
they passed over made Il necessary
to turn back.
Day Fiord, looked upon by the
explorers as a likely site for a base,
Is not, shown on any map Of Elles-
mere Island, and 1t is probable the
message referred to Bay Fiord. large
tongue Of water extending inland from
the west to within almost 80 miles of
the head of Flagler Fiord. which
strikes in from the east coast Just
back of Cape Sabine. and almost due
west of Etah.
New knowledge of Interior
Although Ellesmere Island has
been known at it's southern point for
several centuries. and although in the
last 50 years several of it's fiords and
inland valleys have been explored by
dog teams-flrst by Greely and his
party, and later by Peary, Macmillan,
Sverdrup--little is known of the noun
tain masses of the interior In their
initial fights over the interior, Mac
MILAN and the other observers in the
planes have gained a new impression
of the extreme ruggedness of this
region.
The failure to find a landing place
on the first fight does not mean that
the entire island is too rough to afford
a satisfactory site for a base. Well
north of the Etah-Cannon Fiord route,
Gen. A. w. Greely in 1882 found an
open, grassy valley. Other such val
leys may exist near the route first
reconnoitered, while by flying first due
west, landing field probably can be
found on Bay Fiord. This ford Is not
730 miles from Etah as an error in
transmission stated, but more than 1870
miles. The entire distance from Etah
to Cape Hubbard, the northwestern
most known land, is only about $50
miles"