A Richard Rohmer Omnibus. Richard Rohmer

an hour and a half! This is her first shakedown voyage, and we’re going to drop by.”

      Wypich asked, “How did she get up here so fast, Mr. President?”

      “Very simple, Mike. She was in Baffin Bay last week, pretty close to Lancaster Sound, the eastern entrance of the Northwest Passage. I thought it might be useful to show the flag this morning, so I instructed the captain to take her past Resolute Bay as close to shore as he could safely go, and then head east toward McClure Strait. That’s where the Manhattan got stuck in 1972. I’d like the captain to go right through McClure Strait. The underwater ice formations they call pingoes may make it difficult, but the Polar Star has two pretty sophisticated sets of sonar sounding gear which should make it possible for her to get through all right. The United States claims that the Northwest Passage is high seas, Mike, and I want to show Canada we mean what we say.”

      “There she is, sir,” Mike exclaimed. “Twelve o’clock and about five miles coming straight at us.”

      “Beautiful!” said the President. “Beautiful! Let’s have a good look.”

      As Air Force One approached the Polar Star from the west, the President let down to 1,000 feet and turned slightly to the south so he could pass by the ship and have a good view of her.

      “Beautiful” he said once again. “Mike, see if you can crank up the captain on the blower. His name is Anderson. You can probably get him on the emergency frequency.”

      Within forty-five seconds Mike had the captain on the radio. The President said, “Captain Anderson, this is the President. I want to congratulate you on a first-class job in getting that beautiful big ship into the Northwest Passage and over here as quickly as you have. Try to get in as close to Resolute Bay as you can when you go by. I don’t want anybody to miss the fact you’re here carrying the flag. I know you should probably keep twelve miles offshore to stay clear of Canadian waters, but I think you ought to bend it a little this morning. Do you think you can get the Polar Star through McClure Strait?”

      Anderson came back, “Yes, sir, no question about it. The pingoes have been charted and I have a channel through them, so that shouldn’t be any problem. And with my 75,000 horsepower, I’m sure I can get through that ice whether it’s ten feet or fourteen feet thick.”

      “Fine,” the President said. “Mighty fine. Now remember, Captain, it’s important to the United States that the Polar Star get through McClure Strait. It’s also important that she doesn’t sink, of course.”

      “Yes, sir.”

      “I’ll be keeping an eye on you once you get into the McClure, Captain. Good luck.”

      “Thank you, sir,” said Anderson.

      The President did one more circle around his prize polar ice-breaker — 14,000 tons of super-hard, ice-fortified steel.

      As the President watched, the gray-painted hull of the Polar Star sliced neatly through a three-foot pan of ice as if it wasn’t there. The President guessed she was steaming about 20 knots. He could see the two helicopters which she carried on board to the rear of the great funnel. The high bridge, located just slightly ahead of midships, was strewn with electronic gear and wires. Otherwise the great ship was completely uncluttered. Despite her vast bulk and weight, the Polar Star was as trim and sleek as a racer. She had an appearance of grace, lightness, and speed which belied her function as a floating battering-ram.

      As he finished his last circling turn over the bow, the President said, “She’s the best in the world, Mike. For the United States, that’s the way it should be.”

      With that, he put Air Force One on its course for Washington, and poured climbing power into the engines. “You have control, Mike. Head her for the barn; I’ve got work to do.”

      Ottawa / 8:59 a.m., EDT

      The Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development, Pierre Allard from Northern Manitoba, a tall, thin man with a long, sharp-featured face and grey-streaked straight hair, strode briskly to the lectern. On his way, he set his tray of slides on the projector and switched immediately to a map of Canada on which had been outlined the Mackenzie Valley Corridor.

      Obviously not a man to waste time, he began as soon as he reached the microphone. “Like the minister who preceded me, I have not held this portfolio very long — only about seven weeks — but I feel confident that the background knowledge I acquired before taking office, added to what I have learned since, will enable me to make clear the situation as it exists in the Mackenzie Valley Corridor, particularly as it relates to the rights of the native people.

      “The Mackenzie River, as you can see from the map, flows north from Great Slave Lake to the Mackenzie Delta, where it spreads and enters the Arctic Ocean. The wide river valley, called the Corridor, is a relatively habitable area as opposed to the barren Arctic tundra. That is because the river itself softens the climate, permitting trees to grow and providing food and shelter for men and animals. For centuries, Indians have lived in the treed area and Eskimos in the tundra at the north end of the river and to the east toward Hudson Bay. In ancient times, the Indian and Eskimo were mortal enemies. There were many bloody battles waged between the two races.

      “The Mackenzie River has been the prime route into the Western Arctic since its discovery by Alexander Mackenzie in 1789. In the early days, canoes carried trading goods and furs along its waters. In modern times, barges transport products north to Norman Wells and Tuktoyaktuk. Recently the aircraft has begun to play a major role in the Corridor as well as throughout the entire Arctic. During the 1960’s and into the 70’s, Pacific Western, a regional air carrier was securely established, running from Edmonton to Yellowknife and Inuvik. And Inuvik, a relatively new town situated to the east of Aklavik in the Mackenzie Delta, is now the regional centre for that entire area.

      “After 1968, when the Prudhoe Bay discovery was announced, the pace of exploration in the Mackenzie Delta region quickened. Then, with the first discovery of oil at Atkinson Point on the Tuktoyaktuk Peninsula in January 1970, the importance of the area as a source of hydrocarbons, both gas and oil, was firmly established, and drilling rigs really began to get to work. By the winter of 1972, there were thirteen rigs in operation in the Delta. Major finds had been made on Richards Island as well as on the Tuktoyaktuk Peninsula, and natural gas was being found in increasing amounts. By 1974 there were sufficient reserves to meet the minimum requirements for the creation of a pipeline from the Mackenzie Delta to the American market even without the Prudhoe Bay flow.