Courier Democrat. (Langdon, N.D.) 1891-1920, 1894-04-05

49, - ~~ -
s. -; IS: H9S
G5ll1lEsll.sszIs
Hudson Hay Sle.lge.
use Of axes and shovcls we hope to
find advantage in the possession of
bridges ready made and carried with
us.
Possibly this device will avail us
nothing, but 1t is an experiment WORT,
trying. It will not work ideally, of
course-few things do, even In civiliza-
ttOn-but 1t saves US more energy than
Is required to carry 1t, and leaves a
balance In our favor, well and good.
We shall need it most at the outset;
and If it prove yalueless beyond the
region of broken foes it will be easy
to throw it away. So. also, with some
strong steel wire which we shall take
upon the ice with us to usep il the oc-
casion arises, as an aerial tramway
over difficulties of an extraordinary ma
ture. Some of this we shall want as
tow lines and for other purposes, but
the most Of it may be left by the way
side when the need for it no longer ex-
lists or 1t has proved inefficacious.
At the beginning Of our journey our
loads will be heaviest and our road
the toughest. Then. If ever, we need
the greatest number of men, for here
our dogs will be of small service. So
we add supporting party of seven
men to our main party of the same
number. We shall have total weight
OF more than five thousand pounds
at the start-three boats. five or six
sledges, devices, provisions, general
equipment. To each man we shall
have a weight Of nearly 400 pounds,
little less than the sledging party of
Markham and Parry carried, but still
too heavy for rapid progress when we
cannot apply our animal power, which
Markham and Parry did not have.
These weights, however, are being con-
stantly reduced by consumption of food
and fuel, and our devices may be of
some assistance to us.
Struggling for ten, fifteen or twenty
days, or as many as may be necessary,
through the rough ice, we finally reach
the smoother fields. Here we expect
to travel more rapidly, with four or five
dogs and one man to each sledge, and
the same number Of dogs and two men
to each boat. Our unit of weight is
fixed at 600 pounds. No boat or sledge,
with load, is to weigh more than that;
and if this does not give us distinct
advantage over expeditions which have
had 1900, 5000, or even 1000 pounds
in q single mass, indivisible without
great labor and loss of time, we shall
be much mistaken. Between Parry's
boats of LOO pounds, De Longs Of
$500 to $500 pounds and ours of 400
to $50 pounds, there is striking diff
ference
In our type Of sledge we have a nov
city. It Is patterned after the Hud-
son Bay sledge, used for many years in
Northern America, and prototype Of
the pleasure toboggan. Most Arctic
travellers use sledges with runners, the
McClintock or the st. Michael They
are the best for some conditions of trav-
,el. Lieut.. Peary took fiat-bottomed
sledges on his, first journey to Green
land, but now has runner sledges.
Doubtless the latter are best for the
hard crust of the snow Of the ice-cap
over which Peary makes his admirable
journeys. There is less friction with
"a runner sledge than with a Hudson
Bay. But in rough usage the former
breaks down quicker; the runners turn
in or are wrenched off; their shoes
break. For heavy work, for all kinds
of deep snow, slush, drifts, pockets,
the toboggan is undoubtedly superior.
Our sledges, therefore, are made with
fiat bottoms. They are Of aluminium,
with rims turned up at the sides to
give stiffness lengthwise and holes be-
low the rims for lashings to pass
through. Our aluminium sledges weigh
only 26 pounds and could carry 1000
to 1,5OO pounds. Payers sledge weighed
$50 pounds. The lightest sledge used
by the English weighed 115 pounds
and the heaviest 1870. Lieut.. Peary's
sledge, with capacity of 1000 pounds,
weighs 4S pounds. We do not see how
one of our sleds can break down. We
do not know Of any consistency of
snow of slush that it will not pass
over. Moreover, our sledges are boats
as well as sleds. They may be face