Commercial architecture, hotels, shops, railway stations, financial and office buildings, remain to be considered. In view of the vast expansion of American wealth between 1905 and 1920, commercial architecture was of importance, and the standard was of the highest. During this period, thanks to such men as Warren and Wetmore, York and Sawyer, Trowbridge and Livingston, Bonn Barber, Robert D. Kohn, John Russell Pope, Starrett and Van Vleck, and to many others, hotels became exhibitions of architectural refinement and good taste, however sumptuous; railway stations became imposing and august monuments (witness the magnificent Grand Central by Warren and Wetmore and the Pennsylvania by McKim, Mead and White, both in New York), while an endless number of shop-fronts and office buildings were delicate and scholarly essays in pure design. Individualism, rampant and uncurbed, largely on the part of the many owners, prevented any approach to unity and consistency in street frontages, but taken each by itself the shop-fronts of Fifth Avenue, in New York, for example, formed an epitome of the best (as well as the earlier worst) to be found in the architecture of America.
The conclusion that must be drawn from a survey of architecture in the United States during the 2oth century is that the great regeneration initiated during the eighties of the 19th century went steadily forward until architecture became almost of vital interest to a general public that demanded the best that the profession could give. American architects had an advantage over European in the large demand for their services. Good architecture became the fashion, and this was due largely to three factors: the influence of the American Institute of Architects, the training of the École des Beaux Arts, and the dozen or more great schools of architecture in different parts of the country. Behind this, however, lay the fact that apparently American architects as a whole were drawn from the class that possessed the finest traditions and the soundest standards, and that they were able by sheer force of character and excellence of attainment to impose on the public their own ideals and their own standards of value. The World War was an interlude of non-production, but not, apparently, of non-development, and by 1920 a recovery was being effected, while there was evidently an unfailing supply of younger practitioners to carry on the movement that had already achieved such notable results. (R.A.C.)
ARCTIC REGIONS (see 21.938).—The discovery of the North Pole by Peary in 1909 put a check on sensational endeavours, and turned exploration of the Arctic regions along more strictly scientific lines.
Greenland.—The exploration of Greenland has been continued, with few exceptions, by Danes who, besides throwing much light on problems in physical geography and Eskimo ethnography, have practically completed the map of the coasts.
In 1910 Knud Rasmussen founded the station of Thule in North Star Bay, Wolstenholme Sound, as a trading station and a base for researches. On April 6 1912, accompanied by P. Freuchen and two Eskimo, he set out with dog sledges from Inglefield Gulf to cross the inland ice in search of E. Mikkelsen, from whom nothing had been heard for three years. Rasmussen reached the head of Danmark Fjord on May 9, travelled down the fjord and up Independence Fjord to Navy Cliff, which he left on Aug. 8 to return across the inland ice. The greatest alt. in the march across the interior was 7,300 ft. This expedition confirmed by cartographical evidence the non-existence of Peary Channel, a fact established by M. Erichsen in 1907 but not known until his records were brought home in 1912. In order to recover M. Erichsen's lost diaries a small expedition in the sloop “Alabama” went to East Greenland in 1909. After wintering at Shannon I., E. Mikkejsen, the leader, and I. Iversen made a journey of 1,400 m. which in length and difficulty was one of the most remarkable Arctic journeys on record. Their course was over the inland ice to Danmark Fjord, where Erichsen's records were found. These included his discovery that Peary Channel does not exist and Mikkelsen therefore had to abandon his plan of returning via the W. coast. After mapping Danmark Fjord he and Iversen returned S. by North-East Cape and the coast, eventually reaching their base, where they had to wait nearly two years for a ship to take them home. In 1912 a Swiss expedition under Dr. A. de Quervain made a successful journey across the southern part of the ice-cap, travelling with the help of dog sledges from Torsukatak. Fjord on Disco Bay to Angmagsalik in about 30 days. Their greatest alt. was 8,364 ft.
In 1913 another traverse was made through the heart of Greenland by Capt. J. P. de Koch, Dr. A. Wegener and a Danish seaman. After a winter on the E. coast near Danmark Harbour, during which they mapped Louise Land, they left their base on April 20 with ponies to draw their sledges, and reached Lakse Fjord near Proven on Aug. I. The greatest alt. on the crossing was 9,500 ft.
The second Thule expedition was led by K. Rasmussen in 1916 for the exploration of the N.W. coast of Greenland. Rasmussen was accompanied by Lauge Koch, Dr. Thorild Wulff, H. Olsen and several Eskimo. After an arduous journey of over 700 m. across the ice-cap from Thule, work was started in the neighbourhood of St. George Fjord. Surveys were carried out to De Long Fjord, where they linked up with previous work of Peary. On the return journey Dr. Wulff and Olsen succumbed to the privation of scanty food and bad weather, and the survivors had difficulty in reaching Etah. This expedition found that Nordenskjold Inlet, the supposed western end of Peary Channel, is only 14 m. long. The inland ice in the N.W. of Greenland was found to extend nearly to the coast: consequently the hunting grounds are poor and there are few traces of Eskimo migration. Rasmussen considered it very doubtful if Eskimo ever succeeded in reaching the E. coast via the N. of Greenland.
A third Thule expedition started in 1920 under the leadership of Lauge Koch, who proposed to explore the interior of Peary Land and to fill in certain gaps in the chart of the N.W. coast of Greenland. The expedition established its headquarters in Inglefield Gulf, and it was expected to stay in the field until 1922.
The American Crocker Land expedition, from its base at Etah, surveyed part of the coast between Etah and Hall Basin in 1914–5 and made an hydrographic survey of Foulke Fjord. Its principal work, however, was in Ellesmere Land.
The American Crocker Land Expedition.—This expedition was sent in 1913 by the American Geographical Society and other bodies in the United States to search for Crocker Land, which had been reported by Peary in 1906 as lying to the W. of Grant Land.
D. B. MacMillan, the leader, had with him W. E. Ekblaw and M. C. Tanquary, naturalists, and Lt. F. Green, cartographer. Failing to reach either Pim I. or Flager Bay in Ellesmere Land, winter quarters were established at Etah, where a meteorological station was maintained throughout the duration of the expedition. In March 1914 MacMillan and Green crossed Smith Sound on the ice, traversed Ellesmere Land, and, passing by Bay Fjord and Nansen Sound, reached Cape Thomas Hubbard. Thence a journey N.W. over rough sea ice for 150 m. failed to reveal any trace of land, and the party returned to Etah by the same route. The farthest point reached was lat. 82 30' N., long. 108 22' 30" W. The members of this expedition made several other long journeys. In 1916 Ekblaw crossed Ellesmere Land from Cape Sabine to Bay Fjord and, passing by Nansen Sound, Greely Fjord and Lake Hazen, reached Fort Conger, Greely's former station on Robeson Channel. He returned to Etah across Kennedy Channel and along the shores of Kane Basin. The same year MacMillan made a long journey to Amund Ringnes I. and Christian I. In 1917 a detailed survey was made of the coast of Ellesmere Land from Cape Sabine to Clarence Head, which considerably altered the charts based on the rough surveys of Inglefield, Kane and Hayes. Several expeditions were sent to relieve the explorers at Etah. The first in 1915 met with an accident, and had to winter in North Star Bay; the second in 1916 failed to get through Melville Bay, but the third in 1917 brought back safely those members of the expedition who had not previously returned via the Danish settlements in Greenland.
Beaufort Sea.—Much exploration has been done in and around the Beaufort Sea, although the greater part of that sea is still a blank on our maps.
The ambitious Anglo-American Arctic expedition of 1906–7 achieved relatively little real polar work except a journey from March to May 1907 by E. de K. Leffingwell, E. Mikkelsen, and S. Storkersen from the coast in long. 149° W. across the sea ice to lat. 72° 3' N., long. 149° 44' W. where they got a sounding of no bottom in 620 fathoms. V. Stefansson, who was nominally a member of the expedition, spent his time with the Eskimo in the Mackenzie delta, learning their habits and language in order to equip himself for future explorations. During 1908–12 V. Stefansson and R. M. Anderson were studying the Eskimo in and around Victoria I., where they discovered the so-called blonde Eskimo, who had never previously encountered white men. Stefansson's successful explorations must be attributed largely to his methods. He lived in Eskimo fashion using only Eskimo diet, which enabled him to travel light and avoid the necessity of falling back on a base for supplies. Similar methods have been employed with equal success by Rasmussen and other Danes in Greenland.
In July 1913 Stefansson sailed from Nome with a large expedition, supported by the Canadian Government, for the exploration of the Beaufort Sea and the N.W. shores of Arctic Canada. Capt. R. A. Bartlett was in command of the chief ship, the “Karluk,”
