600 YUKON POLAR N^rilTllTr KPRARY a7~'^/- c^u Uniycrsity Lihrary Uniwrsity of California • Berkeley Y^A INTERM/TnONAL ^u^, ^ YUKON POLAP A^'^^r-i I N 5 r I I' II \ I:, it-74-/ >;*^ -!C5i>*^ ^^^ DJ^WSON, YUKON 1EPI5ITORY. r-ouNDCD auaiisT s, iikki /^s^^ -J^ THE PROPOSITION. The International Yukon Polar Insti- tute was formed at Dawson, Yukon Territory, and had a membership at the time its constitution was signed, of over five hundred, including the highest fed- eral and territorial oflicials, leading bus- iness men, and all the foreign consuls of this territory. Among its honorary members are the noted Arctic and Ant- arctic explorers, and it is already in correspondence with geographical bodies and scientists who are interested in j^olar expeditions. The Institute has for its object the exploration and development of the Pol- ar R(3gions on scientific, commercial and industrial lines, appreciating the fact that great wealth has lain dormant in the frigid zone for centuries, and that but a very small portion of this wealth has yet been retrieved. Believing that the ends of exploration and development will be best attained by a systematic pursuit of the work by people vitally interested in the frozen regions, the Yukoncrs deem themselves peculiarly fitted and situated to initi- ate and carry forward such work, and to this end have formally organized an Institute which will seek the assist- ance of the scientists oi" all nations willing to co-operate in this large un- dertaking. The immediate purpose of the organi- zation is to send to the North Pole during the year 1906 an expedition of experienced and trained Yukoners and Alaskans, who, by virtue of their fam- iliarity with Arctic conditions, are un- doubtedly the most likely candidates in the race for the goal of centuries. But this expedition is far from being all that is contemplated in the purposes of the Institute. Other expeditions will be necessary to learn all there is to be learned regarding the physical condi- tions and commercial and industrial ad- vantages in the Arctic. The Antarctic also, being a country of similar frost- locked conditions, is looked upon as an- other legitimate field of exploitation for people of the same spirit and experi- ence in frigid lands It is the hope of the Institute to bring to the attention of men in re- sponsible positions in the governments of the world, and to the great scientific societies, the benefits that should be de- rived from a thorough knowledge of these regions, and through access to them, and thereby secure their endorse- U'cnt, sympathy, support and co-opera- tion in the work. Such societies will be asked to appoint special committees to correspond with the Yukon Institute and to exchange data and contemplated plans of oiieration in Polar regions on the lines mentioned. The knowledge thus far gained by the intrepid explor- ers, whalers and others who have sailed the Arctic seas, has been gathered at great expense and on no general world- wide plan of co-operation, and has been compiled in detached and often unsatis- factory form instead of being readily exchangeable for the benefit of explorers to come. It is the hope of the Insti- tute to create a channel for the ready transmission of such information to the hands oi those who are determined to make early efforts to open the Arctic regions on more practical lines than ever heretofore attempted. With the discovery of gold in the sub- Arctic Klondike, the first serious atten- tion was directed to gold mining in such regions. Since then the world has been enriched by gold from these frigid belts to the value of two hundred mil- lions. It is believed that gold and min- erals exist even on the islands of the Polar seas, and that the opening of those lands to the prospector may be of infinite value to the world in time to come. The Yukoner has demonstrated the practicability of life and work in the Arctic regions, and now a new empire is ready to be opened up. On commer- cial lines the Institute deems whaling, walrus hunting and the capturing of the fur-bearing animals of the land among eriticing objects of ])ursuit for profit. Already millions have been realized from the Arctic on each of these lines, and the field is probably without limi- tation. Incidental to all these is the sale of merchandise to the natives of these regions and the whites who may be induced to enter this field of activity. On scientific lines the Institute sees a vast field for research in the study of oceanic currents, the movement of ice floes, the depth of the ice in the Polar seas, full topographical conditions of the whole frigid zones ; and the pur- suit of science in geology, zoology, botany, astronomy and other important divisions on which very little reliable data has yet been obtained. All these interests, scientific and com- mercial, will be served by expeditions into these countries under the leader- ship of trained men and trained dog teams ; men accustomed to journeys of from five hundred to two thousand miles in the depths of Arctic winters, carrying all their necessities with them,; men who have made such travel their trade and who have proved by years of experience what is the best food, the best clothing and the best equipment. Thes9 men, whom wo have in Yukon and Alaska, have dispelled the terrors of life in the Arctic ; have proven that travel can be done in .this whole noi*th land in winter better than in summer ; have proven that frozen ground is eas- ier to mine than unfrozen, and have re- deemed already a large part of these frozen solitudes anrl made them produc- tive and habitable. In the first expedition now being I^lanned by the International Yukon Polar Institute, it is the intention to fit out and equip an expedition that is bound to reach the goal, and the Insti- tute has full confidence of this result chiefly because : First — In charge of men familiar with Arctic travel, men who have made much longer trips over fully as rough country and with a much lov^er temperature to contend with ; Second — Being equipped with known and tried apparatus which has served Yukoners in the niost trying of their tiips and is a known quantity. Third — Because of knowing, by virtue of Arctic life and training, the weak points which have caused much of the failure of former expeditions and how to avoid them. As all the world is so deeply interest- ed in Polar research, and as no project has ever been put forward with such demonstrations of what may rea- sonably assure ultimate success, the In- stitute has every confidence in calling upon governments, scientific associft- tions and scientists all over the world to give to it a hearty moral and financial support. For the present it is proposed that an expedition leave early in June, 1906, and proceed to Grant Land. There the }»arty will be left by the steamer and when the Polar plateau is frozen the dash to the Pole and to Franz Joseph Land, will be made. An auxiliary party will proceed wMth the Polar party one hundred miles or so across the pla- teau, to assist in transi)ortation, and then return to the observatory on Grant Land and explore that territory and jcd.iacent islands. They will delve into the frozen earth (and they are the only men who ujider- stand the working of frozen ground), unearthing its treasures in minerals, and in fossils showing the vegetation of prehistoric times. The next summer a steamer will return them to their homes. For the future there are many points in the growth of such an Institute. Wireless ,'telegi-a])hy may be employed from Dawson to Herschel Island, thence to other islands and to the observatory on Gra^nt Land, keeping tlie whole world in touch with the operations of the Institute. Special ships may be built on lines dictated by actual ex- perience, to follow in the ice flow from the Pacific side to the Atlantic, and, in fact, there are no limitations to the in- creased usefulness of such an institution year by year in regard to the explora- tion and exploitation of the present unknown lands of the two Poles. Thk YiTKON \VoRr^D Prkss. r>AW80N, lOOR. orncEiRS. Honorary President — Hon. W. W. B. Mc- Innes, Governor of Yukon Territory. Honorary Vice-Presidents — G. Bie Ravn- dal, Esq., Coiisul of the United States ; R. Auzias-Turenne, Esq., Vice-Consul of France ; Walter Wen- sky, Esq., Consul of Germany ; T. Dufferin Fattullo, Esq., Consul of Norway and Sweden ; Pierre Ledieu, Esq., Consul of Italy. President — l)r. Alfred Thoni])son, Esq., Member of parliament for Yukon. Vice-Presidents — Col. Donald McGregor; N. F, Plagel, Esq., King's Counsel. Treasurer — Donald A. Cameron, P^scj., Manager of the Canadian Bank of Commerce. Secretary — J, Almon Vali- Es(i..- Supreme Court He-