Opening Up World Under Snow

Manawatu Times, Volume 61, Issue 10, 13 January 1936, Page 9

Opening Up World Under Snow

RACE OF THE NATIONS To tho average man, mention of the Arctic means very little; at most, a bleak, snow-clad waste dotted here and thero by tiny colonics of ignorant Eskimos who exist on fish and occasional seals and clothe themsolves in bearskins, writes Harvey Day in tno Capo Times. The fact ttiat tho Arctic is a land of tremendous potentialities, tho fringes of which have, not yet . Jen exploited, will probably ccune as a surprise.

Yet this is so. A tremendous Arctic race is in progress at present between the Soviet and British Canada, for the country completely successful in taming the Arctic will be tho greatest commercial force in the world.

. Already the Russians have covered 50,000 miles by sea, 40,000 by land, and 16,000 by air, in their endeavour to open up those drab wastes. They have established towns near the Kara Sea, have set up a system of regular immigration, and have linked together the various posts by a network of radio stations.

But the Canadians aro not far behind, though their methods are somewhat less spectacular. ■ Already the Government has given a grant for 1000 geologists to prospect in the extreme north for gold, iron, and minerals. Every whito man of the 13,000 population in that vast area of 1,158, 217 square miles is linked to civilisa tion by wireless, and maps made of the coast are extremely accurate.

If progress has not been so rapid as on the Siberian side, Canada has at least consolidated that which she has tamed.

We have learnt within the past ten years that wheat has been grown in tho Arctic, and that owing to the intensity of the sun and tho fact that daylight is practically continuous for three months of the year, two crops can be garnered instead of one. Reindeer farms havo been opened, and plans have been drawn up to breed the moose for meat, milk, and labour. Electricity.

But it is not radium, minorals, wheat, gold, or mooso that will make the Arctic prosperous. Tho secret is electricity. The day the Arctic streams and rivers aro harnessed will bo the start of real progress. Trup, rivers and streams are frozen for the greater part of the year, but so prodigal are nature’s resources in that part of the world that electricity could bo generated in such vast quantities that during the winter it could bo stored.

At present, with batteries of limited capacity, it is difficult to store great quantities, but within a fow years’ time this should not bo impossible. What electricity has done for Lapland, it can surely do for Canada. We are apt to regard the Laplaudcrs with . a feeling somewhat a akin to amused contempt. But modern Lapland is a country of which most of us know nothing.

Like Canada and Northern Russia and Siberia, it is a country rich in natural wealth. Now, vast hydro-elec-tric schemes have made it into a twen tieth-century Klondike. The lovely Porjus Falls, on the Lule River, were selected to be tho electrical heart of the country. A dam 4100 ft long, with a head varying from 180 ft to 190 ft, was built. The waters were run to the various generators through an intake tunnel 173 ft long. As it is closed in it never freezes, though tho mercury often falls mq-ny degrees below zero. Quite Possible.

More modem methods would make this quite feasible in Canada. The Porjus electric plant generates more than 300,000 horse-power. Houses, factories, and roads 300 miles away are lighted from this one source, and as the wholo of Lapland is dependent upon electricity, the plant has to be absolutely fool-proof. As far as electricity is concerned, the towns and villages in Lapland arc more up to date than most of those -t London. Gas for lighting, heating, and cooking is almost unknown. Current is so cheap and plentiful that even the smallest household tasks are done by small machines. Tho months of almost perpetual darkness, which formerjy made the life so monotonous and stopped practically all outdoor work, have been changed. Flood-lights aro use«, and work still continues as if the sun were shining. Similar conditions exist in Norway and Sweden, though Lapland has shown herself more progressive within recent years; thirty years ago tho entire country was almost a wilderness.

The Government of both Canada and Soviet Russia have made a close survey of their respective portions of the Arctic, and are convinced that no richer prizo exists anywhere in the world. Tho rivers aro stocked with fine fiish. .There is oil, gold, silver, lead, zinc, coal, copper, and radium, m abundance. Game is plentiful, and there are vast forests of timber.