Rensselaer Union, Volume 9, Number 8, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 9 November 1876 — The Northeast Passage. [ARTICLE]

The Northeast Passage.

A navigable Polar route between Europe and the heart of Asia Is the latest and greatest achievement of geographical exS' tion. . Thia work, far surpassing in wt and practical value anything that eyhaa accomplished, the world owes igtrtpid '-qwedfeh' explorer. Prof. NoTdersklold. Prof- Nordenskiold had a theory that the Gulf Stream, after striking the coast <w Eurdpe, pasted around to the north of Bdandlnayia, and Opened a way with its warm currents through the Polar Sea, north of Russia and Asia. The Professor sailed from Sweden in August, and has already. if thia report does not exaggerate hi* shcoete, proved his theory true, and made a geographical discovery that will Change the course of trade between Europe and Asia and powerfully effect the destinies of millions of human beings for all time to come. He found a clear passage through the Polar Sea, reached the mouth of the Yenisei, and through it penetrated Into the' heart of Asia, almost to the very frontiers of China. The country bontorlijg the Yenisei is vast,, fertile an J* uncultivated. The wdten About its inouth are warm, By this route vessels of light draught can he taken within 150 miles of the head waters of the great Amoor River,’And the commercial distance between Europe and China is shortened thousands of miles. This discovery has the greatest interest to Arctic explorers. It looks now as if the search for the northwest passage was a mistake. A northeast passage we know now there is, Out as that is " opened by the Gulf Stream, which does nbt floW' to the north of the American Continent, there can ba no sqjeln title grpuad. 'for believing that there is a northwest passage. The cdpqnercial respite of the new route are obvious. Excepting Indian trade, which must go through the Mediterranean and the Suez'Gaaal, commercial intercourse between EarOpe'and Asia will sobh begin to use the new northeast passage. The shortness of the route will add correspondingly to the comforts of mankind. New communities, new cities,'perhaps; wilt be founded on the fertile banks of the Yenisei, and England will haie more cause than ever to rejoice that the almost-im-passable Himalayas bar her Oriental provinces from the. growing Asiatic dominion of Russia.— Chicago Tribune.