228
THE WEST SHORE.
nanza district, the probabilities are that capitalists will
bo moro than usually timid about investing in its pros
pect holes, and will pass by Coour d'Alene to place their
money in some one of the many older districts, whose
ledgos have boon worked sufficiently to remove the ele
mont of speculation as much as it is possible to elimi
nate that element from the business of quartz mining.
If this very natural result should follow, the owners of
this choice collection of prospect holes can lay the blame
upon the shoulders of the newspapers published in the
mines and adjacent towns, the too eager business men,
tho cloud of real estate speculators, and every one who,
for a financial consideration, or to create a temporary
business activity, aided in promoting the gigantic fraud
by which so much physical suffering and financial dis
tress wore caused to thousands of deluded people. It is
to bo hopod, but, alas, hardly to be expected, that the
history of this excitement will serve as a useful lesson, to
bo hooded by nil who may bo brought within the influ
ence of another mining crazo. A fatal charm attends
it, whoso power is utmost irresistible when exerted
ujxm tlioso strango to its influences, and is absolutely so
with tin wo who have surrendered themselves to it for years.
Man is n roosoning animalso it is said, though there
often Houms a dearth of evidence to support tho state
mentbut at times this ixwor is manifested in peculiar
and unuccountablo woyB, so peculiar, in fact, that its
manifestation at all may well be questioned. Mining
exciUmienU and all forms of speculative allurements,
whore the desire to acquire wealth quickly creates an
abnormal action of tho roosoning power and diverts it
into strange nnd erratic channels, should receive the
prompt nnd earnest discouragement of evory one inter
ested in the stability of business and permanent welfare
of tho country. Wo hopo to see less of them in the future.
,
SCIENCE IN THE ARCTIC.
At last the full extent of the sacrifice demanded by
tho grim Moloch of the North Polo has been made known
to tho millions who hnve anxiously waited for the result
of Gimmnndor Schley's efforts to roscuo the unforbnute
jNirty of Lieutenant Greely. He has boon robbed of
five of tho victims already in his clutches while yet they
luul sufficient vitality remaining in their famished bodies
to bring them back to health nnd strength. And what
ha Umn nccomplished of sufficient value to compensate
for tho score of lives that were laid down in tho effort to
gain it? The verdict of the great majority of humanity
will be, "Nothing in the least degree worthy so great a
sacrifice." Ou the contrary, the scientific enthusiast will
point to what, iu his eyes, are glorious achievements.
Gnnnoll Lnnd was found to bo a comparatively narrow
atrip, to Uie west of which lies another, now Waring the
name of "Arthur." North of Grinuoll Land they ap
proachod within m miles of tho point whore all liue8 0f
longitude are supposed to meet, and from nn elevation of
2,000 feet on Lockwood Island discovered Umt to the
north and west was a vast ho. of ice, while to the north
east the continent of Greenland still extended northward
beyond the line of vision. At two points, in 1883, neither
of them as f nr north as Lockwood Island, the opoa
ocean was encountered, the sea whose rolling billows had
been before observed, though only at a distance, and the
existence of which has been a mooted question among
scientists for years. Full and accurate meteorological
astronomical and botanical observations and researches
were made and the records preserved intact. From a
scientific point of view Lieutenant Greely has accom
plished much. We know a little more about the geography
of a region universally conceded to be uninhabitable by
human beings relying entirely upon the resources of the
country for subsistence, and valueless to the world for all
practical purposes; and this has been learned at the
sacrifice of much human life and suffering and the ex
penditure of large sums of money. Yet it is not to be
presumed that these facts will serve in the least to prevent
the further waste of life. On the contrary, new interest
in the Borean regions will be aroused; the zeal of would
be explorers will be whetted; other vessels will sail
Poleward, to be crushed in the ice and engulfed with
their load of human beings in the frigid waters of the
Arctic; disease, famine and exposure will claim their
victims by the score. Thus it has been from the first,
and will continue forever among enlightened nations,
The desire to accomplish something never before at
tempted, to achieve success where others have failed, or
to discover something " new under the sun," is one of the
most potent motives to exertion among a progressive
people. When it ceases so to be; stagnation sets in and
advancement towards a higher plane ceases.
There is one feature of these latest developments
which is of peculiar interest The open polar sea was
encountered by two parties in different longitudes. One
of these drifted for a day upon that mysterious ocean,
and only regained the land by abandoning nearly its
entire outfit It is evident that the advocates of the
"Symmes Hole" theory will receive fresh encourage
ment from this proof, not only that an open sea exists in
the vicinity of the theoretical pole, but that a current
sets in towards that great longitudinal center. The dis
cussion of the question, "Is the earth solid or hollow?"
will probably be resumed with much enthusiasm by
those who hold opposing views on the subject This
expedition, much as it has learned, has discovered noth
ing to prove there is not a continuous waterway into the
interior of the earth by way of the North Pole; but on
the contrary, has established the existence of that open
sea which has been pointed to as one of the greatest evi
dences that such is the case. The existence of a mi&
climate and a sea devoid of ice, north of that region
which is perpetually bound in icy chains, has yet to be
satisfactorily explained. This is now the riddle for
future explorers to solve, and there need be no anxiety
felt lest there be no one willing to attempt its solution.
Sufficient cause for anxiety will appear when the tim
again comes for half a dozen' of these venturesome ex
plorers to be rescued from the perils into which they
iy rusn.