Wrangel Land, Conflict with the Ice-A Struggle to Reach Shore. The Corwin in an Arctic River-Acquisition to the National Domain. Steamer Corwin, Off Point Barrow, August 16, 1881.

• Main Author: Muir, John
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: Scholarly Commons 1881
• Subjects: Environmentalist; naturalist; travel; conservation; national parks; John Muir; history; pamphlets; journal articles; speeches; writing; annotation; Arctic; Point Barrow; Siberia
• Online Access: https://scholarlycommons.pacific.edu/jmb/179; https://scholarlycommons.pacific.edu/context/jmb/article/1178/viewcontent/126.pdf

Written, Aug. IS, 1881 Pub. Sep. 29, " ,-p 3V* CoBfiiet with the Iee—A Struggle to Keaeli Shore. Xixe Coiwin in an .Arctic Xirer—Acquisition to tlie National Domain. utffo" Steamer Corwin, ) Off PoiK'r Barrow, August 16,1881. f Four days ago a notable addition was made to the national domain, for on the i|.2tB} of this month Captain C. L. Hooper laudeu on Wrangel Land and took formal possession of it in the name of the United States.-, . 2rhe extent of the new territory thus acquired is not definitely known, nor is likely, to be for many is century, or TSntil some considerable change has taken place in the polar climate, rendering tSe new land snore attractive and more accessible. Tor at present even its south- mast portion is almost ecsirtamiy beset with iee of a kind that renders it all but inaccessible disriag both the winter and: sttoimjer, while to the northward it extends far into- toe heart of the frozen ocean, hopelessly etjyood the reach of the navigator. This mysterious country, wbwh wjs so long and faithfully searched for in -ramkjyears ago by_Wraagel,-~hJf command of the Emperor of "Russia, arj'd which was dimlv and uncertainly seen by Seilet in 1849, and by whalers from time to time under favorable conditions 0$ the ice and weather, and even by the nativesat long interval?,, from high ground near Gape Jakan, on the coast of Siberia, was first laaded on by a party from the Corjvin. Also- during her present cruise about 130.miles of titm coast has . already been traced and definitely located jl\ ——karerfBU- froaa the southwest caps to' the eastward and northward, while the iaad,, has been seen stretching indefinitely -northsiaa-d beynd this surveyed portion for perhaps.ISS"miles or more, thus staking about 220 mites- of coast line that has been seen thus far. "We Saiided near tlie southeast caps,, at iJic mouth of a liver, in latitude 71° -1" loisgitade 1?-,° 40' 30". BA-StXEB-EY-SHORE-ICE.- On the day after leaving Herald Islaasii fee fine weather we had been enjoying for a week- began to vanish, ...