Evening star., 1935-01-20

q not improbable surmise in view Of
the fact that the Marie Byrd Land
party later came upon the remnant
Of q volcano cone in the EdSel Ford
Range.
The plateau, fiat as the plains of
Kansas, rolled its white cleaning roof
in all directions to the horizon, and a
sounding by altimeter, corrected later
to true barometric pressure, put its
elevation at 4,300 feet. The coast was
nowhere in sight, but throughout the
last stage of the flight the crew
marked on their port hand very de-
cided water sky, and, in view of what
We know, 1t Is quite likely that the
coast of Marie Byrd Land will be
found to follow the trend of the
mountains which lie between the
seventy-sixth and seventy-seventh
parallels.
A Hint by Radio.
November 10 Blackburn's geological
party, penetrating unknown areas 375
nautical miles south southeast of Lit
tie America, flashed us an important
hint by radio-the sighting of what ap-
peared to be high land to the east of
them. Weather held up flight opera
tions for while, but on the 22d, June,
Smith, Rawson, Pelter and Bailey took
of on the longest flight of all, a 960-
nautical-mile journey, which carried
them ultimately to latitude 8305 s.,
longitude 119 w.
This flight resulted in important
discoveries. AS they turned they saw
in the vicinity Of latitude IS between
the 10th and ll5th meridians
cluster Of ice-ridden peaks. presumably
eastern prolongations Of the Queen
Maud Range, approximately ITO nau-
tical miles east Of the latitude of the
last known peaks of that range
Commencing Just few miles SOUTH
west Of the depression, We had OBJ
served on the fight of the 18th they
found a plateau rising and rolling un-
brokenly to the feet OF these new peaks.
Like every effort directed at the So
luton Of unknown matters, the fight
did not so much settle familiar prob
lens as to raise new ones. Was this
depression only blight or bay in the
Ross shelf ice on the western margin
Of the plateau? Would deepest pene-
tration prove that these pleateaus
were one? At all events, the fate of
the transcontinental strait now lay in
a 60-mile gap between the 81st and 82d
parallels east Of the 147th meridian,
and could be settled one way or the
other.
A Problem Solved.
November %. with June, Bow
lin, Rawson and Peterson, I took of
in the William Horlick to close the
gap. Just a little bit south Of the
apex Of the triangular course of the
flight Of November Is, where we had
found the depression, We headed east,
sounding the elevation Of the ice by
altimeter as we went. When we
turned at longitude 140 west, latitude
81.10 south, We found that the sur
face under us had risen to 1925 feet.
On the return we sounded the north
ern border of the area and found that
the elevation was uniformly 1000 feet
or higher.
The results were conclusive. The
long-sought strait was non-existent.
The plateau of Marie Byrd Land rolled
mbrokenly from the South Pacific
Ocean to the Queen Maud Range.
The eastern margin of the Ross shelf
ice was at last defined by the coast
Of that plateau. The structural in
tegrity of Antarctica was verified and
troublesome ghost of doubt was laid.
Antarctica is one continent.
Now the trail parties, pressing
through cold, fog and billiards to
gain distant objectives, came into
their own. Blackburn's party. made
UP Of himself, Russell and Paine, with
three dog teams, pushed up the un-
Travelled slope Of Thorne Glacier to
run a geological cross-section of this
area Of the Queen Maud Range.
When they paused they had risen 100
miles up the blue ice of the glacier,
and, with 20 miles still to 60 to the
shining dome of the polar plateau. the
peaks above them had diminished to
mere nunataks. There, 180 miles
from the South Pole, in the vestiges
Of q sedimentary strata, they came
upon numerous beds of coal and plant
fossils.
Geographically, their discoveries
were equally impressive. The high
plateau escarpment fronted by two
high granite ranges and numerous