NEW LAND FOUND

Evening Post, Volume CVIII, Issue 139, 9 December 1929, Page 11

NEW LAND FOUND

BYRD'S FLIGHT TO EAST

VAST MOUNTAIN RANGE

SECRET OF THE ROSS SEA

United Press Association—By Electric Tele-

graph—Copyright.

(By Russell Owen Special to "New

i"ork Times.")

BAY OF WHALES, Gth Dec. Commander Byrd flew back to camp last night, having discovered a vast new mountain range running north and south beyond King Edward Land. It was mapped with the aerial camera, for 150 miles. It is this land which holds iv the great ico sheet at tho eastern end of lioss Sea. ico which explorers havo attempted to penetrate since it was first found by ltoss in IS4O. It extends far to tho north, and apparently turned eastward within the range of visibility from tho 'plane, so that it is probable that this great unknown coast has actually been delineated to its northern boundary. That can be determined after tho pictures have been developed.

GEOGRAPHICAL IMPORTANCE,

The importance of the find geographically can hardly be over-emphasised, as this mountain range, with the high plateau behind, seems to compare with the similar range on the western side of Ross Sea, and may bo the eastern Bide of the great barrier, ill which the .Rockefeller Mountains and King Edward Land are part of the archipelago. "It's much more thau I ever hoped to find," said Byrd, who was delighted with the success of the flight. "I supposed thero waa land there if we could only reach it, but this magnificent range waa unexpected. It lies well within Marie Byrd Land on the other side of the meridian dividing the Boss Sea Dependency from the land discovered last year, and runs out of sight towards tho south. Where the mountains go and what lies between their southern end and the country to the west is still to bo learned, but in themselves they provide much material for speculation, and have added many miles of coastlino to the great unknown sector of the continent between here and Graham Land."

ROSS SEA BARRIER,

Existing charts show that from King Edv^ird Land the ice in tho Ross Sea runs in a great curve to the north and east. Ross, the daring pioneer who first forced a way through the peak into the sea which bears hia name, and who found the Great Ice Barrier, bumped into that barricade, and turned back. Scott and .Shackleton tried to make their way along the coast, and were baffled by tho ice islands and drift ice which closed about them, and forced them to turn back. Whalers have hovered along the edge of that great ice shelf for years, and wondered what held it there. Byrd himself tried to get up there in the City of New York three times last year, and was turned back by fog and storm and new-forming ice. He tried to fly there, and was headed off by clouds and snow. That part of the Antarctic has been one of its most tantalising mysteries. Even its northern boundary was only known approximately. It has fascinated many men and lured Byrd irresistibly. Unconquerable by ship, it has yielded to the aeroplane.

IDEAL CONDITIONS.

The flight itself -was as unexpected as its results. With the promiso of ideal flying conditions, almost hot in brilliant sunshine, Byrd hopped off with Parker, June, and M'Kinley. The Alexandra Mountains were passed, and after penetrating a short distance inland the commander turned north, flying between the 150 th and 151 st meridians. He was then over the shelf ice extending out from the shore line which was marked by a barrier wall similar to the usual barrier cliffs. Between it and the broken pack-ice was a plain of shelf ice about 15 miles wide, dotted with ice islands, their tops broken and erevassed. The ice was thin in places and water was seeping through. At one place there were a lot of seals.

It was a mean place over -which to fly, but the only way to map the coast or the barrier line. I looked down at that and thought, 'Well, if we go down here we just go right on through, like nobody's business,' " said Parker. Tho air was bumpy also, and the plane was bouncing about. It was a. current caused by the warmth of the sun."

VISIBILITY PERFECT.

The mountains had begun to loom up at Scott's Nunataks, for the visibility was perfect. It was possible to sco a hundred miles. The mountains stretched far to the north and as the plane cruised along fast with a following wind they rose head after head from the north-eastern horizon. The commander followed them for more than an hour, covering more than a hundred miles in that time. The 'plane was still far out from them however, and flying parallel to tho range, while M'Kinley got tho coastline. The snow-covered land rose from the barrier edge toward the mountains sloping upward in rolling and smooth undulations.

_ The mountains were in long groups rising from small peaks at each end to the towering summits in the centre. Some of them were 10,000 feet high judging by the way they rose above the level of the 'plane, which was then flying nearly a milo high. Thero were breaks between the groups, so they appeared Jikc long, serrated ridges. Between them were great slopes of ice and snow, leading up to the plateau behind and to the east, so that they had that characteristic of all coastal mountains around the barrier of seeming to hold in that almost limitless, snow-covered plateau. There was no doubt that they formed the- western coast of Marie Byrd Land.

CAPE TO THE NORTH.

When it seemed advisable to turn toward home the 'piano was 350 miles north-east of Little America. Tar ahead could be seen the northern end of the range, and at some distance out irom it what appeared to be a solitary peak or island. Another island also lay on the horizon to the northward. The horizon was then nioro than ninety miles away. There seemed no doubt that, a vast cape was what was held in that astonishing accumulation of ice around which ships have had to find thoir way to the west-whoa sailing out of the Ross Sea from the Bay oS Whales. It is anchored by a line of ace islands off the coast and grounded ice masses which hem in tho shelf of ice.

From hurried calculations mado on the return it is estimated that the range has been mapped for 150 miles north of the 76th degree of latitude. The mountains run in a general north and south line in about 147 west longitude. In the midst of the mountain chain was a remarkable glacier. "It was the most beautiful glacier I have ever scon," said Byrd. "It was eight miles wide and perfectly smooth as it ran up to the plateau above. At the bottom of. tho glacier and exactly in the centro was a square stone mass rising like a monolith out of the snowy slope."

The .'plane flew southward against

the wind nearly half-way to King Edward Land. Then ;i shift in the air provided another tail wind, which helped the explorers on their way. They ilew to a point where tho land running east from King Edward Land runs into Marie Byrd Land, and found those a sort Ci valley leading be tween th b new range and tho eastern end of the Alexandra Mountains.

OPEN WATER FAR INLAND,

On tho eastern side of this depression was a largo open space of water far in from the sea. Cracks ran out from the sides as if there were a strong current underneath. On the south of the pool the ground rose sharply upwards to an elevation of about 4000 feet. There were several of those pools in tho valley, some of them in the lowest part of the depression, showing that there was an inlet Howing in from the sea under tho ice. It has started much speculation in camp "whether this is the. beginning of the theoretical connection between the Moss and AVeddell Seas. Only further exploration eastward will clear up this point.

The 'plane passed north of Signal Mountain over the deeply-crevassed sea area just east of tho Rockefeller Kange, which was shown in photographs taken last year. Tho wind headed the 'plane here and it dropped down to fifteen feet above the surface, whero there was not so much resistance. On reaching camp Parker made a perfect landing.

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