DESERT OF ICE

Wairarapa Times-Age, 6 February 1939, Page 6

DESERT OF ICE

MR LINCOLN ELLSWORTH’S DISCOVERIES

HOPES OF FINDING OIL & OTHER MINERALS.

WYATT EARP AT HOEART.

By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright. HOBART, February 5.

“In a great desert of ice, extending hundreds of miles to the south. I saw areas where one day may be found rich minerals and oils, as in the United States of America,” declared Lincoln Ellsworth, upon arrival in the Wyatt Earp from the Antarctic today, witty the injured chief officer, Liavaag, whose knee was crushed in floating ice. He will undergo an operation in Hobart. 'His condition generally is satisfactory.

■ Regarding the flight, Mr Ellsworth said: “When I left on this expedition, I ■expected to find rugged mountainous land. Instead, I found this desert of ice. resembling a vast plain. Gradually rising to 7500 feet, our aeroplane continued as far as 72 degrees south latitude, and the land I saw was totally different from that flown over on the South American side of the Pole on my 1935 expedition.”

Mr Ellsworth has claimed for the United States of America 81.000 square miles north of Princess Elizabeth Land. His two visits to the Antarctic have gained for America more than 430,000 square miles.