Smith Sound
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
a passage of water leading to the Arctic regions, at the N. extremity of Baffin Bay, between Prudhoe, in Greenland, and Ellesmere Land. Its S. entrance was discovered by Baffin in 1616. In 1854 it was surveyed by a United States expedition under Dr. Elisha Kent Kane. A gulf 110 miles long was found at its N. E. end. See GUN- SMOKELESS POWDER. POWDER: EXPLOSIVES. SMOKE NUISANCE. Smoke is caused by the incomplete combustion of fuel. It consists of finely divided particles, either of carbon or of hydrocarbons, the latter being, as a rule, liquid and oily. Under ideal conditions, there will be sufficient oxygen present to burn the carbon completely to oxides of carbon and also to decompose the hydrocarbons. It follows that with the right conditions of draught and temperature, no smoke will be produced, and with a good type of furnace under the control of a skilled and intelligent fireman, it is possible to burn even soft coal with the production of no more than a negligible quantity of smoke. Soft coal is more liable to produce smoke than hard coal because it contains a much larger proportion of volatile hydrocarbon, and for this reason its use in many cities is prohibited. Since smoke consists of unburned fuel, it follows that its elimination would be a saving to the coal consumer, provided the cost of elimination did not exceed the value of the coal. In did not value of calante to Failing in this, has become serious in cities in all parts of the world, and in most cases special legislation has been needed to combat it.
What Has Changed in the Last Century
The geography Collier's set down in 1921 still holds: Smith Sound runs between Greenland's Prudhoe Land and Ellesmere Island, and the "gulf 110 miles long" beyond it is Kane Basin, named for the American surgeon-explorer whose 1853-55 expedition Collier's credits. What has changed is everything around it. The sound proved the doorway to the pole for later parties, including Peary's 1908-09 push, and it now marks the maritime boundary between Canada and Denmark; a long-running dispute over tiny Hans Island further north in Nares Strait was finally settled by splitting the island in 2022. The waters at its mouth are now known as the North Water polynya, or Pikialasorsuaq, the Arctic's most biologically productive open-water area and the basis of Inughuit hunting from Qaanaaq, while the seasonal ice arch that used to plug the strait each winter has repeatedly failed to form in recent decades, flushing thick old ice southward.
Written for this edition, 2026.