Page:Proposed Expedition to Explore Ellesmere Land - 1894.djvu/34

6 establishment of the primary station. Eighty days will then be spent in exploring the west coast of Ellesmere Land. If circumstances permit, a secondary station will be established at the west end of Jones Sound. Should an overland party be organized to penetrate into the interior of Ellesmere Land, it might be possible to establish another secondary station at Hayes Sound (which might make connection with Fort Conger in 1895). More than this will in no case be undertaken next year at a distance; any additional work will be confined to the immediate vicinity of the primary station. The majority of the party will return to the United States in the fall of 1S94, to report results and prepare for the campaign of 1895.

It is possible that Col. Gilder's expedition for the survey of the vicinity of the Magnetic Pole may go out in the same ship, and that the two expeditions may co-operate in other ways.

It will be noticed that this plan bears great resemblance to the "Polar Colonization" advocated by Howgate in 1S77, which met with so warm approval in this and other countries. The present plan, however, is thought to be an improvement on Howgate's in several respects.

(1) Howgate's main object was the Pole. The present plan Considers the attainment of the Pole merely an incident to the exploration of the whole unknown area.

(2) Howgate's plan involved the chartering of a special ship. The present plan uses the steam whalers whose ordinary track lies precisely in the desired direction.

(3) Howgate proposed to establish his base of operations at Lady Franklin Bay, which was proved by subsequent experience to be inaccessible to a ship except at great risk. In the present plan the base of operations will be 391 miles farther south, at the entrance of Jones Sound, which is reached by the whalers with perfect safety every year, and yet is in the immediate vicinity of the unknown area, whereas the land and water around Lady Franklin Bay have been explored to a distance of some 230 miles in three directions and 107 miles in the fourth.

(4) Howgate's colony was to number 50 men—far too many for the limited resources of the country. In the present plan the