Evening star., 1953-04-22
River Lost Since 1868
Is Found in Far North
Stream Is 'Rediscovered'
And Given Another Name
BY Thomas R. Henry


By Thomas R. Henry
A 200-mile-long river, lost for almost
century in the Canadian Arctic, has
been rediscovered.
This river. La Ronciere. was dis
covered in 1868 by q French Oblate
missionary. Father Petitot. It drains
the almost unexplored country between
Great Bear Lake and the Arctic coast.
This is an uninhabited land. It is tree.
less. There is no prospect Of gold there.
Indians seldom venture into the area.
But in 1875 Father Petitot published
an account of explorations there in the
bulletin Of the Geographical Society
of Paris He claimed to have visited
three rivers which flowed northward
and had their headwaters in the high
lands Just north of Great Bear Lake.
He recognized two Of the rivers as iden-
tical with ones described previously. The
third he named after Baron Ia Ronciere
lie Noury, an admiral in the French Navy.
He did not claim to have followed the
stream to its mouth. The heavy fog
constantly overhanging the land made
this impossible, he reported. He did,
however. conjecture its probable course
and the place where 1t presumably
entered the Arctic Ocean.
Discovery Unchallenged.
The discovery remained unchalleneed
until 1899 when a naturalist of the
American Museum Of Natural History
found large river emptying into the
Arctic Darnley Bay. 1t was not on
any map. He named it the Hornaday
River, after the director of the New
York Geological Society. He found no
trace of the mouth of the La Ron
ciere, as had been marked on Petitot's
maps. He pictured the Hornaday as
a short stream draining from a large
lake only few miles inland.
The mystery began to clear up with
air photographs taken by the r. AT.
and was solved with an exploration by
j. R. Mackay and j. r. Fraser Of the
Canadian Department Of Mines and
Technical Surveys. They found that
the La Ronciere and the Hornaday
were the same river. One man had mis-
estimated its direction, the other its
extent.
They followed it, according to a re-
port by Mr.. Fraser to the Arctic Insti-
tute Of North America, for 40 miles
from its mouth. 1t is wide river flow
ing swiftly through Steep-Sided can
yon cut in sandstone and at one place
plunges over fall 60 feet high. A
few miles from the Arctic coast,
they found, its general course is identi-
cal with that plotted by the Oblate
missionary, while its mouth corresponds
with that discovered by the American
naturalist.
The sweetest sugar." long little more
than chemical curiosity. may have Q
brilliant future.
This is predicted in the Industrial
Bulletin of Arthur D. Little, Inc, in
dustrial research organization, on the
basis of recent medical findings that
it is potentially an invaluable heart
fuel"
This sugar is fructose. It occurs in
most fruits, honey, chicory, dande-
lions, dahlias, and many other plants.
It was essentially unknown until few
years ago when pilot plant for extract
ing it from Jerusalem artichokes was
set up at the United States Bureau Of
Standards In spite Of the apparent
success no industrial development fol-
lowed the experiment. g..
Sugar Too Sweet.
The great disadvantage Of fructose
apparently is that it is too sweet. It's
properties and effects, however, are
quite different from those Of ordinary
sugar. -
1t increases the amount Of Tactic acid
in the blood faster and to a consider
ably higher level than glucose, accord
ing to the report.
"Lactic acid" it continues, "is the
preferred fuel of the heart muscles.
When the heart is damaged it will
function better when supplied literally
with Tactic acid. Physicians long have
recommended frequent small sugar
feelings for cardiac patients to keep
blood sugar levels uniformly above the
fasting level. 1t appears that it may
be only the Tactic acid that is essential
in this mechanism, suggesting that
fructoSe may turn out to be especially
valuable in cardiac treatment.
"Fructose is burned faster once it
enters the blood stream. When admin
istered directly into the veins it Is
utilized rapidly. It also is rapidly abb
sorbed from the liver. Since most
anaesthetics are somewhat poison
Gus, it now is routine to give sugar
intravenously before surgery. High
liver glycogen also helps the body with
stand the shock of surgery, and serves
as food reserve in the interval before
food can be taken. For these reasons,
the rapid uptake of fructose would
seem to give it a distinct advantage for
intravenous administration.