Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1926-01-10
Will Settle Old Points.


airy flights TO the south of his proposed
route, he may fly over the geOSraph-
ical points within which each OF these
lands was once supposed to lie. IL ne
does. he will settle many moot queS-
lions, regardless of what he finds. lie
may put Keenans Land and Crocker
Land on all the maps again. he may
put them off the maps permanently
And he may supply evidence which
will enable the world to return nnal
verdict in the Cook case.
Storker T. Storkerson, who carried
on Stefansson's work after the com
mander of the Canadian Arctic EXpedi-
ton became i'll with typhoid fever.
made a sledge trip to the supposed
position of keenans Land and came
back to report 1t a myth. He said:
we have definitely proved that
Keenans Land does not exist. The
drift of our ice foe was right through
the territory where keenans Land Is
marked on the map published in 1912
by the American Geographical Society,
and instead of finding land We found
q depth of 500 fathomS without
reaching bottom
After Storkerson's return. keenans
Land was stricken from the American
Geographical Society's maps.
Peary's Report.
Peary. while trying to reach the
mathematical pole in 1906, thought he
saw land between the SD and Sith
parallels of north latitude and between
Tooth and 10th meridians of west ION
gitude He observed it with his glasses
while standing on Cape Thomas Hub.
hard at the western extremity OF |
Grant Land.
For a time this Crocker Land was
a fixture on the maps. But when
Macmillan returned from the Crocker
Land Expedition he reported that he
had journeyed far out on the ice TO-
ward Pearys Island without sighting
any land. But he, too, he has SAID.
saw what looked like land while he
was at Cape Hubbard. Consequently
many geographers came to believe
that Crocker Land was and is a
mirage.
Cook Finds on Maps.
When DIR. Cook landed at Copenha-
gen. announcing that he had reached
the North Pole on April %. 1908, he |
also reported that he had discovered |
two new bodies of land. One of these |
he named Bradley Land: the other |
he described as a glacial island. They !
Immediately appeared on maps pub |
Nshed by proponents of his expedition !
and later on he published a photo |
graph which purported to show his |
dog teams with Bradley Land in the
distance.
The positions of Bradley Land and |
the so-called glacial island. as DR..
Cook defined them, are both nearer |
Capt. wilkins proposed line Of flight !
than either Keenan, Land or Crocker |
Land If Capt Wilkins should fly |
would have a direct bearing on Cooks |
entire story.
DIR. Cooks own report of what he |
called the discovery of Bradley Land |
reads as follows:
soon the western heavens, ever a |
blank mystery, cleared. Under them, |
TO my surprise. lay a new land.
LAS we'll as l could see. the land |
seemed an Interrupted coast extending |
parallel to the line of march for about |
SO miles, far to the west. 1t was |
snow-covered, iCe-sheathed, and desc |
late. But it was real land with all |
the sense Of security solid earth could |
offer"
Did Not Make Study.
After protesting that he was too |
eager to reach the North Pole to |
make westward detour so that he
might explore the land, Cook went on |
TO say:
Gus land was never clearly seen.
A low mist, seemingly from open
water, hid the shore line. We saw the
upper slopes only occasionally from |
our point of observation. There were
two distant land masses. The most
southern cape of the southern mass
bore west by south, but still farther |
to the north there were vague indica-
lions of land.
There was a distinct break for 10
or 20 miles, and beyond the northern |
mass extended above the S5th par.
allel to the northwest The entire
coast was at this time placed on our
charts as having a short line along
the 102d meridian, approximately par
allel to our line of travel At the
time the Indications suggested two
distinct islands,
Was West of Peary Route.
Cook declared that he took a noon
Sight the day he saw the supposed
land and fixed his position at longi-
tude 1886 west and latitude $3.50
north. He was west of Peary's route
to the pole if he was in this position
and east and little north of the
estimated position of Crocker Land.
Indeed. from his description Bradley
Land was in almost the same location
as the Croker Land which Peary
thought he saw from Cape Thomas |
Hubbard two years before.
Cooks critics have pointed out that
1t was strange that he should be able
to see 30 miles Of coast line six and a
half degrees OF longitude to his west,
especially when this new land was
never clearly seen
Most Of the living explorers agree
that it is exceedingly difficult to see
land from the surface Of the polar ice.
Capt. Wilkins. travelling by plane,
will have, Of course, the advantage of
a great range of visibility. He feels
certain himself. he says, that If land
exists along his proposed route, 1t
will offer jagged ridges blown free of
snow and will be relatively easy to see
from the air. IL
Difficulty Apparent.