The North Pole.- | AdventAI

Pacific Press Publishing Association · Mountain View, California · Sep 22, 1909

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 36, No. 37.

The North Pole.—

It is a wonderful coincidence that there should be two announcements within five days of each other that two Americans had discovered the North Pole. We noted in our last that Dr. Frederick Cook reached the North Pole April 21, 1908. The last announcement is from Commander Robert E. Peary, who reached the Pole April 6, 1909, almost a year later. Dr. Cook seems to have started out on a hunting trip, with the idea of making a dash for the Pole if it were possible. Commander Peary went out fully equipped, the seventh expedition which he had undertaken in exploration of the North. Most scientists believed that Peary would reach the Pole this time, but the announcement made by Dr. Cook came as a wonderful surprise. The fact that he was not so thoroly equipped, or did not have that as an object, has caused many to doubt his story, but scientists generally, believing him to be a man of his word, have accepted his statement. The next thing in order when both men reach civilization will be a comparison of notes. Commander Peary reports no details. Those which have reached us from Dr. Cook would indicate that he found drift ice at the Pole. The detailed scientific accounts of observations will be diligently studied. It has set the world to talking during the last week, and has in that way kept them out of mischievous gossip. Very little profit will come to the world, however, from the discovery of the central northern spot. The principal thing is to show the bravery and diligent endeavor of the men engaged in the expeditions. The ship in which Commander Peary sailed was named the “Roosevelt.”