The Redwood gazette. [volume] (Redwood Falls, Minn.) 1873-1940, 1894-11-08
mo THOROUGHFARE"

mo TH0ROUGHFARE."
A General Survey Of the Situation Followed
by . Decision to Take to the lee.
copyright, 1904 by Walter Wellman. All
rights reserved.]
SUNDAY, May 2O.-Oficer of the day,
Professor French.
A sledge party, with Mr.. Dodge in
charge, started little after noon today for
the Parry and Marten islands, 10 miles to
the east, for the purpose of ascending the
mountain there and examining with a
glass the ice to the east and north. In the
event of continued delay here at Walden
island we hope to find a better route to the
northeast over the fast ice which lies be-
tween the Seven islands and the northeast
land. OF the condition of the ice here we
are we'll satisfied. 1t is favorable for tray
ell, except as the rising temperature makes
it's surface soft and slushy. The question
is what lies farther north-whether
screwed up drift ice or solid pack in heavy,
smoother foes. Captain Petersen and
the sailor Boervig were assigned to the
journey, and Captain Bottelfsen volun
teered to go also, of which we were very
glad because of his skill in the judgment
of ice. The party took an aluminium
sledge, three man sleeping bag, a small
cook machine, with bottle of spirits, food
and guns. After an hour spent in cross
ing the pressed up ice and hills of Walden
island the party struck out over the smooth
ice lying between the islands. This ice is
about four feet thick, covered with six inch
es of snow, and it is smooth because it has
been fast to the shore all winter and has
not been driven to and fro by the wind
and screwed" into fragments piled high
upon one another. The party made good
progress and reached the Parry island
about 6 in the evening, as we could see
with glass from the heights of Walden
island.
Today we lost two of our best dogs.
Pluribus proved to have been so badly hurt
that it was necessary to shoot him, and
within an hour Dodge, an ugly looking
but very serviceable dog, was brought on
deck suffering from frightful wounds in
flicted in combat with his fellows. A bull
let from a revolver put all end to his ca
reer. Pluribus was the largest and hand
soonest dog in the pack, of nearly pure St
Bernard breed, and his loss was deeply
deplored by all on board. Some of the
men wanted to hold funeral services over
his remains, but this proposition did not
meet with our favor, and old Pluribus was
buried in the ice pack without ceremony.
We made an excursion today on skis TO
the far end of Walden island, distance of
about three miles. Ascending there an
elevation, a most impressive panorama
was spread out before us-tO the east, the
Seven islands, where with glass, we
could easily see our sledge party climbing
the mountain of the Parry island. To the
north, Table and Little Table islands, both
now prominent in the chronicles of arctic
effort, rose clear and prominent from
amid the desert of ice. Far to the east
Cape Plateu, 35 miles distant seemed SO
near that one could easily imagine himself
able to walk thither in few hours. Be-
yond could be seen the faint outlines of
the Outer Rep and other small islands
which but few men have ever visited.
To the northeast one looked in vain for the
ellis Land, which has been twice seen,
but never explcred; to the SOUTH Spitz-
bergen's lofty peaks and deeply indented
coast, with its great glacier plateau on
Northeast Land and an ice wall rising
precipitously 1900 feet high, affording
a line of demarkation between the low
| lands and the eternal ice caps Farther
we could trace out the coast as far as Yer
bleaching bones of hundreds of thousands
Of walrus, which the Norwegian hunters
used to slaughter wholesale upon the land,
and with the graves Of Dutchmen, Nor
wegians and Russians who had persisted
| in the hunt, most of them, however, from
natural causes. On that coast, too, may
be seen a pile Of rocks which marks the
last camp of Matthias, veteran who
| hunted in the Spitzbergen region for 35
years, at last to be caught in the late au-
| tumn and to die before spring in his i'm
| proviscd hut. With anxious eyes we looked
far to the north, toward that region of
effort and of sacrifice and of SO many vain
aspirations, and saw nothing but white
| horizon, Ominous with the innumerable
elevations with which nature, by means of
storms and cold, had written the words,
"No thoroughfare.
With a gentle breeze from the south and
west and temperature only few de-
grees below the freezing point it was
much too warm for heavy clothing, and
mittens and gloves were cast aside.
Exciting Adventure With a Bear.
MONDAY, May 21.-Officer of the day,
DR.. Mohun.
Our sledge party returned little before
| noon after "a hours of hard work and
| exciting sport. Shortly after reaching
Parry's island they saw herd of four
reindeer near the shore. The animals were
| almost as white as the snow itself and
very poor. But any sort of rein is good
enough for an enthusiastic sportsman, and
our sledgemen are all enthusiasts in the
chase. Without pausing to consider wheth-
g., a~A. g ~A
" E|.:KI<::Aal<X>
READY TO START.