River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1896-10-29
A FLIGHT TO THE POLE

Tor them than for Baby the First
Judy.
A FLIGHT TO THE POLE.
by ROBERT DUNCAN MILNE
Ny air-ship was a complete and per
feet success. An extended trial trip
had demonstrated that the vertical
propeller was capable of raising the
ship to height far beyond that of the
highest mountains On the earth, while
the horizontal propeller could easily
drive il ahead ~ speed of 200 miles an
hour 1t answered the helm more Teadi-
Is than any vessel that ever rode the
waves. and its course could be detected
up or down with equal readiness. In
fact, az last had ready to my hand the
means of accomplishing my great pro-
ject. On the evening of the thi-d day
after the trial trip. drove up to my
ranch, near Knights Landing. where
the air-ship had been bIilt, unknown
10 all the world save James AuchiBclOss.
the Scotch machinist who had assisted
me in putting the parts together as
they arrived from the foundry in San
Francisco. He had shared with me
the peTils and triumphs of the trial trip
Now, as I drove my light wagon UP to
the door, after trip to the ferry, Au-
chinclOss came out To help me to uu-
load. Having handed out supplies Of
bread, crackers and various kinds Ct
canned delicacics. together with some
wine and spirits, flung out six buffalo
robes. and the same number of heavy
blankets.
"HalIO. Mr.. Aitken," exclaimed Au-
chincloss. You've got wraps enough
for the north pole"
''GIad yout think So" replied 1; that's
just where were going"
'The devil il Is" returned he, blow
ing a cloud of unusual dimensions from
his pine; "all right. il YOU say So"
'Thtee robes and blankets were the
best l could do. Jim. / pretty well
cleaned out the store at the Ferry" said
j, as we went into the house and SIT
down. I'VE can make rough moccasius
out % the robes lined with blankets
that think will serve US; but propose
stopping at one of the Hudson Bay
cOmpany's settlements, or else 1T some
Esquimau village. If we are lucky
enough to strik. one, to get more suit
able wraps. We couldn't have got any
thing better than these. even IL San
Francisco, unless specially made 10
order. My principal reason for bring
ing such a supply &C spirits was for pur-
poses of barter. Money Is nearly value
-, r-rfa
nature in northern ATTITUDES Graves
alcohol, l decided that spirits would
procure us what we wanted more rcadi-
~ than anything else. Neither did
wish to postpone the voyage any later.
since we are just entering on the SIX
months polar night. by regulating the
time, howevcr,we can. barring accident,
make the trip to the pole aud b~ck
under continuous sunshine. / shall
only stop there long enough to locate
approximately. by observation, the
true position Of that extreme point If
the earth's axis where diurnal rotation
ceases, and to mark the spot by some
sign recognizable by future explorers. -
"AlI right. boss" said Auchincloss.
81 don't doubt you can do il. \ man
that can build an air-ship can so to the
north pole in f. When do we start?"
Tomorrow morning. at daybrealI
-half-past four"
'Then lets go TO bed"
Day broke dim over the hills and
plains Of Stauislaus county as. after q
hasty breakfast, we slowed into the
vessel the things I had bought on the
previous night. We also carried in our
stove and clamped it securely 10 the
cabin floor, piling in at the same time
half n cord of wood for fuel. Two ten
gallon kegs of water completed the
commissariat. I secured a small, but
beautifully fitted compass. with all
modern appliances. ut the forward end
of the cabin, where il would be furthesi
removed from the influence of the iron (;
and. beside il, a very fine chrOnOmeter.
This latter marked Just II minutes Ia
five as AuchincloSs, standing by the
engine, turned on the air. and. under
the enormous drnught Of the horizontal
fans. our vessel with a singing noise
rose vertically into the air.
The moving panorama beneath us
now began % be be9utiful in the eX-
IRENE. I purposed kee ping roughly in
the region lying between the 120th and
12Sd meridians of longitude. deyiatine
from a strict northerly course where
necessary 20 avoid mountainous coun
try. We therefore passed in north
westerly direction over Pennington
and Linden: crossed the Calaveras
river at 5:Of; the Mokelumne at $40:
the Costumes AZ 5:f4; and were scour-
ing about five miles to the east of Sac
ramento at $500. by six 4. m. we had
PASSED Red Bluffs and Cottonwood. and
were abreast of the Black Buttes Of
Lassen; while far away 10 the north
20 miles across the intervening country
OF Shasta, and IN that OF Siskiyou. the
white cone which gives its name to the
afore- mentioned district pierced the
cloudless ether. sin keeping mp the
main watershed Of tine Sacramento. Al
6:20. we sl<irted the western has OF
Mt. Shasta. which lowered 1900 feet
above US. Ten minutes later we were
Just crossing the Oregon line. having
passed over more than four degrees o,
latitude. or SEQ miles. in an hour aud a
half. The vessel was answering eNuec
tatiOn; the pressure in tile receiver was
only 50 pounds. and the discharges oi
cartridges in the condenser had been
kept 10 u a minute. AuchinclOss con
tinued TO smoke impeTturbably. and
went methOdicIlly round with his o..
can.
We now AMI again made a divergence
to the northeast TO avoid the Cascade
range of mountains. tT:45 we sight.
ed the Columbia river, and crossed into
Washington territory at The Dalles
Striking still eastward into the valley
Of the Yakima, Mount Adams. Mount
Rainier and Mount Axis were success
fully left behind US during the next
half hour. Here. the mountains be
coming more broken. We had TO rise "a
a height of nearly 5000 feet 10 avoid
their ridges. At $50 we crossed the
fOrty-ninth parallel and entered British
territory The next three hours were