Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-03-31
Lure of the Arctic Ice
Continued From First Page.)

to know the 400 years of international
rivalry that went into the polar race to
appreciate Peary's conflict at the zao-
nent.
There were now in the party Peary,
Henson and four ESkimos. Henson
was eolored servant who had been
with Peary since 1884. Curious to
relate, he is still alive and hardy, re-
spected and busy as an employe of the
United States Custom Service in New
York. There were also five Sledges and
40 dogs, the pick of the Smith Sound
tribe.
The remaining 1873 miles to the Pole
were covered in five relatively easy
marches over ice that consistently i'm
proved. And at 10 am, April 6, 1909,
Peary and his men reached the North
Pole. He found it located in the center
OF vast sea of floating ice, in striking
contrast to the South Pole, which lies
on the summit of a great plateau. 1t
is interesting that Peary'S sounding at
the Pole gave $500 fathoms, or about
5000 feet. while the altitude of the
South Pole above sea level is about
10000 feet.
After so many years of prodigious eff
fort Peary might have been expected
to give way to some profound emotional
Naction in this moment of his triumph.
Ee had reached at last the point he had
SEen his lifetime to win, and yet he
Wrote:
1.-THE accumulated WEAKNESS of those
days and nights of forced marches, in
sufficient sleep, constant peril and anxi-
ETY., seemed to roll across me all at once.
I was actually too exhausted to realize
at the moment that my life's purpose
had been achieved"
Note Tells of Triumph.
After few hours sleep and several
wide traverses about the Pole to make
sure he encompaSsed it with his sledges,
he added another note In his grimy
record.
1.-The Pole at last! The prize of three
centuries. My dream and goal for 20
years. Mine at last! cannot bring my
self to realize it. 1t seems all so simple
and so commonplace"
And yet, even as he wrote, fate was
clenching her fist for a crushing blow
such as few men have ever had 10 bear
For at that moment there was being
perpetrated the greatest hoax of all
ages, and Robert Peary was the victim.
Success, like a mirage, moved away just
as the explorers fingers touched it.
This hoax was DR.. Cooks claim to
have reached the North Pole in 1908 a
whole year in advance of Peary.
Cook had actually gone north two
years before, poorly equipped with sup
plies, but with substantial experience in
both the Arctic and Antarctic behind
him. He had the confidence and friend
ship of Peary'S Eskimos. Having been
with Peary on an expedition, he knew
the latter'S methods He was a good
Arctic traveller a man of resource and
intelligence and highly competent in
many other ways.
In the Spring of 1902 Cook left his
Greenland base, crossing Ellesmere
Land, turned south when he reached
the Polar Sea and wintered in Jones
Sound. With him were two Eskimos.
AS the author of this article Travelled
over nearly the same route with the
same two EskimoS, and later checked
them in many ways, he is positive of
Cooks route. The natives had nothing
to gain or lose by lying; and were east
~. able to identify the route by which
Cook Travelled. Further, their stories
were the only ones compatible with the
resources at Cooks command. OF course,
later events brought final proof Of the
hoax by showing that Cooks moral
character was such that he was capable
of making a claim as preposterous as
the one he made in 1909.
Public Favored Cook.
The net result was that Cook and
Peary returned almost simultaneously
in the Summer of 1909. The public,
knowing nothing of polar technique,
and caring less, were inclined to favor
Cook. The impostor cleverly declared
that there was glory enough for both"
The public rebuked Peary for his self
ishness when he Indignantly insisted
that bis rival was nothing but first
class Scoundrel.
Three grievous years followed, all
marred by an unacceptable scandal to
which Peary was always a polemic
party. 1t was not until every nation IN
Europe honored Peary that his own
country grudgingly recognized the JUS
tice of his claims. But in the end, and
mostly after Peary's death in 1921,
destiny and human justice closed the
whole regrettable incident, so far as
retribution went.
The Cook-Peary row had at least
one specific effect on polar exploration.
The public became SO fed up on ice
and snow. dogs and sledges, latitude
and longitude, Esgimos and pemmican
that the very mention of another Arctic
expedition was enough to nauSeate the
man in the street, who never did see
the sense of all this freezing and starv-
likely to pay dividends.
So with the exception of few enthu-
siasts and those who were still anxious
to see the abstract problems Of the
Far North cleared up, little important
work was done inside the Arctic Circle
between 1909 and 1926.
What was done confined itself to two
lines of effort: First, there was much
curiosity as to what lay within the
100000 square miles Of polar basin
between the Pole itself and the north
ern shores of Siberia and Alaska. In
1914 Macmillan and the author entered
the eastern edge of this area, but
found only a continuation of the
chaotic ice-pack. Stefansson, working
from Alaska, penetrated the southern
edge of this unknown area with no
better success. The Russians Skirted 1t
from the west and later Amundsen's
ship, the Maude, drifted away through
1t off Wrangel Island. StefansSon's
steamer, the Karluk, entered the pack
near Point Barrow and was crushed,
most of the crew finally escaping to
land as a result of the courage and
resourcefulness of Capt. Bob Bartlett,
who had learned his lessons in the
Peary school.
Flights Proven Practicable.
The other line Of effort confined
itself to the spectacular aspiration of
a transpolar flight. Amundsen actual
ly took a plane to the North Alaskan
coast; and his associate made short
flights from Spitzbergen. But it was
not until Byrd based at Etah, North
Greenland, and flew total of 5000
miles over Ellesmere Land in few
short weeks that Arctic flying was DEM
onstrated to be practicable.
In that same year Amundsen and
Ellsworth hoped of from Spitzbergen
in two large seaplanes. bound for the
Pole itself. Thick weather was met,
which prevented accurate navigation.
Finally Amundsen signaled a landing