[meteorite-list] Race for the Cape York Meteorite

From: TMS/TNS/HRC <musnat_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu Apr 22 10:18:31 2004
Message-ID: <000b01c2ddd8$afd5e420$f58c70d1_at_museumst>

$50,000? Think they'll take a check?!?!? Anybody in on it with me?

; )

Jeannie

> RACE TO THE NORTH
> PROF. DYCHE AND LIEUT. PEARY IN A UNIQUE CONTEST.
> METEORITE THE PRIZE.
> Both of the Explorers Want the Honor of Bringing It Here. Weighs Forty
Tons
> and is Worth $50,000
>
> If two noted Arctic explorers should happen to meet at the same place
> in the frozen North there is apt to be a big scrap and if it oncce begins
> there will be no dangers of police interference. There two explorers are
> rivals and enemies, and moreover they are both now on their way to
Melville
> Bay for the express purpose of bringing back a gigantic meteorite which
lies
> half buried in the ground on the shore of the bay. It has been there for
> ages, and the native Esquimaux call it the "great iron stone." Both of
> these explorers claim the meteorite as his particular property, but the
one
> who gets there first will gain the prize.
> Lieutenant R. E. Peary is one of the rival explorers and Professor
> Lewls Lindsay Dyche, of Kansas, is the other. Lieutenant Peary is more
> widely known than Professor Dyche, but in the scientific world the latter
is
> held in the highest esteem. He has made several trips to the Arctic
region
> in search of the Pole, and on one occasion journeyed north with Lieutenant
> Peary. Something happened on that occasion which caused an estrangement,
> andnow they are anything but friends. When Lieutenant Peary returned a
year
> ago from his eventful trip to the North Professor Dyche wrote a long
article
> in which he showed that had it not been for a series of blunders made by
> Peary the North Pole would have been discovered. This of course, did not
> lessen the breach between the two.
>
> START OF THE RIVALS
>
> When it was annouced a short time ago that Lieutenant Peary was going
> to start on a journey to Melville Bay to bring back the great meteorite,
> Professor Dyche said nothing, but immediately packed up and left his home
at
> Lawrence, Kan. A week later the news was given out that he was going to
> bring back the meteorite. Dyche left about the 1st of July. whereas Peary
> did not leave untill July 16. On that date he sailed in the steamer Hope
> from Sydney, C. B., accompanied by a number of scientists. Henson, the
> famous black servat of Lieutenant Peary, is one of the party; also Hugh
Lee,
> who accompanied Peary in all of his trips to the north. The scientists
are:
> Professors Alf Burton and George H. Barton, of the Massachusette Institute
> of Technology; Russell W. Porter, a student in the architectural
department
> of the Institute of Technology, goes as artists and photographer, and John
> C. Phillips, a student of Harvard, as assistant geologistl Geologist G. H.
> Putnam, assistant in the United States Coast and Geodstic Survey, has been
> detailed to take penduium and magnetic observations. Three scientific
> parties will be landed at Labrador, South Greenland and Melville Bay,
> respectively.
>
> DYCHE'S MYSTERIOUS TRIP
>
> There is considerable mystery about Professor Dyche's trip. None of
> the details of his plans has been given, but he is known to be a man full
of
> resource who can make plans in one minute and carry them out in the next.
> There is nothing very terrible about a trip to Melville Bay, as it does
not
> require the long preparations which a more protracted journey to the North
> does. Melville Bay has been known to navigators for more than 300 years,
> and it used to be a common stamping ground for the old whalers.
> The last heard of Dyche was at Boattle where it was said he was to
> said for the North. He was to go through Behring Strait and the Northwest
> passage to Greenland. This is a much longer route than that taken by
Peary,
> but as the Kansas had a start of nearly two weeks, this should even things
> up.
> A year ago Professor Dyche said that he was going to try and reach
the
> North Pole this summer, and it may be that after disposing of the
meteorite
> he will push on to the North. He is not a rich man, and could not afford
to
> defray the espense of such a journey, but it is well known that a number
of
> wealthy men have stood ready for years to supply the money he would
require
> for a trip.
>
> THE PRIZE METEORITE
>
> Some time ago when talking about the meteorite, Professor Dyche said;
> "This meteorite was first seen by Franklin, to whom the natives showed it,
> The Esquimaux have known it for ages. They call it the "great iron
stone."
> It weighs forty tons and is composed of solid iron mixed with a little
> nickel. It probably fell out of the heavens centuries ago and has lain
> among the rocks on that inhospitable coast seen by only a few men.
> "When the Kite, on which I went after Peary, was returning, the
> Esquimaux told us repeatedly of the 'great iron stone,' and prevailed upon
> us to stop and see it. Peary and I saw it at the same time, but Peary
> claimed it for himself by 'right of discovery.'
> "I do not know of any law by which he can claim it over me or any
other
> man who will take the trouble to go after it. I recieved a letter from
> Lieutenant Peary a day or two ago in which he warns me that the meteorite
is
> his, and that he is going to go after it in a ship in the spring. I
> understand a syndicate in Chicago is also thinking of outfitting a ship to
> go after it. It I should take a notion that I wanted it, and my ship was
> the first to reach there, I don't think anyone would prevent my taking it.
> "It is a peculiar grayish bit of metal lying half out of the ground.
> It is very hard. We found it impossible to break a piece from it with
cold
> chisels and sledges. We managed to bore a hole in it for a short
distance,
> after wearing out several cold bits. Of course it is chiefly valuable for
> exhibition purposes for while the iron is remarkable pure, iron is too
cheap
> to go to Greenland after it. We consider it worth $50,000. If I get it
it
> will help pay the expenses of the expedition."
>
> PROF. DYCHES CAREER
>
> Professor Dyche is a remarkable man. When he was thirteen years old
he
> didn't know the alphabet; at seventeen he could not read; at thirty-eight
he
> probably knows more about the mammals of North America than any living
man,
> having observed, shot ad stuffed every one of them except the musk ox and
> the white sheep, which he will go after into the country north of Alaska
> when he gets the meteorite.
> Dyche was born in West Virginia and missed being a native Kasasn bu
> only a few days, because five days after his birth the family moved to
that
> State. Dyche worked his way through the Normal School and then through
the
> university. He has the finest collection of stuffed wild animals in the
> country. This collection excited the wonder of America at the World's
Fair,
> and made Dyche a friend of all the great scientists of the country.
> Dyche is short and slight. He has a large head coverd with an
immense
> mop of thick; strong, crisp hair, and a small nervous face. He is
powerful
> and wiry and lives on beef and water. He has never used tobacco in any
> form. Hehas energy and enthusism enough for ten men. He has camped and
> rouged it over the West, on mountain and plain. He has traveled over the
> deserts of Old Mexico, New Mexcio and Arizona. He has hunted the whale,
the
> walrus and the polar bear. He has shot moose and elk and gizzly bears.
He
> has studied the beaver and the fox.
>
>
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Received on Wed 26 Feb 2003 03:50:20 PM PST