Page:Proposed Expedition to Explore Ellesmere Land - 1894.djvu/27

28 APPEAL FOR SUBSCRIPTIONS.

The North Pole is surrounded by an area 1,131,000 square miles in extent (more than one-third of the United States), which is entirely unknown. Schwatka has shown that the economic resources of the Polar regions are by no means inconsiderable, and the success of the whaling industry shows that these resources can by systematic methods be obtained with little risk. Especially, however, are all competent judges agreed that science can not fail to profit greatly by Arctic research; and it has long passed into an axiom that science never makes a conquest without giving to industry a share in the spoils. Enlightened opinion therefore demands that the unknown area be reduced as fast as can be done with safety.

A plan is here presented which has been pronounced "thoroughly safe and practicable" by every authority that has passed judgment thereon.. Having a well-supplied base with assured annual communication, the party will be, "humanly speaking," beyond the reach of disaster. It promises to diminish the unknown area by that portion which at present seems most interesting. Its field of operations is distinctively American, inasmuch as it proposes to trace the west side of those lands whose east side witnessed the labors of Kane, Hayes, and Greely. In particular, the outlines of Hayes Sound and Greely Fiord, those waters so peculiarly American, are to be completed by this expedition. If it proves that a permanent camp can be maintained at the entrance of Jones Sound, it will render a most valuable service to the whaling industry and to future explorations in that direction. No one can doubt that explorers will go forth again and again till all the Arctic mysteries are solved. It will be a comfort to humanity to know that at the main gateway of the Arctic there is a well-provisioned camp which renders disaster practically impossible within a radius of at least 200 miles.

No more striking illustration could be given of this fact than by the calamity which renders the present expedition a necessity. Had there been a station on Ellesmere Land when the two young