[meteorite-list] NPA 10-09-1897 Peary Decribes Cape York Meteorite Finding

From: MARK BOSTICK <thebigcollector_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Tue Oct 26 12:32:05 2004
Message-ID: <BAY4-F14tGYkNUTvl7P0000e41b_at_hotmail.com>

Paper: Daily Northwestern
City: Oshkosh, Wisconsin
Date: Saturday, October 9, 1897
Page: 5

PEARY'S METEORITE

The Arctic Explorer Explains the Nature of His Discovery

     Lieut R. E. Peary, Arctic explorer, wore a thin suit of clothing and a
frown, as he walking into the Wellington hotel, Chicago, early the other
morning, and wrote his name in a back hand. "This Indian summer a la Chicago
is too much for me," he said to the clerk. "I'd like to have just one breath
of an Arctic breeze." The lieutenant still felt the effects of his warm
sleeping-car ride from Lansing, Mich., where he lectured last night.
However, by nine o'clock he was hard at work on the lecture which he was to
deliver that night in Central Music hall. A question about the meteorite
which he recently brought down from Greenland caused him to stop his work
and to tug with both hands at his long red mustache.

     "Why, there isn't the slightest doubt as to these meteorites," he said.
"Every scientific man who has seen them pronounces them meteorites. The
trouble is that people who have heard about the so-called meteorites which
were discovered at Nordenskjold at once jump at the conclusion that the ones
I found are not real because both discoveries were made in Greenland.
People forget what a big country Greenland is, and that the point on
Melville's bay where I made my discovery is fully 1,000 miles from
Nordenskjold." The lieutenant grew enthusiastic as he described the
composition of his meteorites. "They are ninety-two per cent iron and eight
per cent nickel." he said. "Otherwise these is not a trace of any other
substance in them. They can be taken just as they are, put in a smelter and
made into armor plate."

     Lieutenant Peary described the discovery of these meteorites. "I was
the first white man who ever saw them." he said. "That was in 1894. I heard
about them during my cruise in the Arctic seas. There is a tradition among
the native Esquimaux that the meteorites are a woman, her dog and her tent.
The woman, it is said, was thrown out of heaven ages ago for some crime. In
1895 I took Prof. Rollin D. Salisbury of the University of Chicago with me
to see the meteorites, and he at once pronounced them genuine. He is one of
the recognized authorities on geology in the country. The largest of the
meteorites, which is supposed to have been the tent in the Esquimaux
tradition, weighs 100 tons. It is twelve feet long, eight feet wide and six
feet high. The others I brought back in 1895. Two of these weigh each 6,000
pounds and the third 3,000."

     Lieutenant Peary then produced a number of photographs. These showed
the original location of the big meteorite, the successive steps in its
removal to the seashore, a quarter of a mile distant, and how it was loaded
on the vessel which brought it to New York. "What do you think of the
proposition of the United States in purchasing Greenland?" the lieutenant
was asked as he replaced his photographs. "There's no earthly use why we
should want that country." he replied, again stroking his long mustache.
"Why that country costs Denmark annually a large sum of money. There are
only about 10,000 inhabitants in the country, 200 of these being Europeans."
"Are there any seal in Greenland?"

     "Yes, but not the fur-bearing seal. As to gold, of course, it is
possible that some might be discovered there. The principal minerals of
Greenland are cryolite, graphite and mica. Cryolite is used in making
bicarbonate of soda." He was asked his opinion as to the whereabouts of
Andree, who went in quest of the north pole in a balloon. "It's about even
that Andree is still alive," he said. "But the chances of his having reached
the north pole are not one in a thousand. He may be somewhere in Siberia
now; that is what the latest intelligence would point to." Lieutenant Peary
announced that he would go back north again next year prepared to stay five
years if necessary. He said his wife would not accompany him.

Chicago Journal

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Received on Tue 26 Oct 2004 12:31:45 PM PDT