Iron County register., 1896-10-22
4 FIIeHT TO THE POLE.
u p'BEfr DUNCAN a11L-k

KegpE r. ~0P@DAc OF raising the
SIP 1eight far beyond that of the
tgsa mquntains On the earth, while
fbs arlz9ntal propeller could easily
dnssN ailead at speed of 200 miles an
beE-1t answered the helm more readi-
Is an any vessel that ever rode the
vsF3' anu IT'S course could be DETECTED
uPG deWn with equal readiness In
fl at last had ready to my hand the
Dshs o. accomplishing my great pro-
Nn the evening of the third day
hHr tne trial trip, drove up to my
rnen, nea- Knights Landing, where
pe alr-shsp had been built, unknown
2 an world save James Auchincloss,
ne scotch machinist who had assisted
nie in putting the parts together as
they arrived from the foundry in San
francisco. He had shared with me
the perils and triumphs of the trial trip.
Now, as / drove my light wagon up to
the door, after a trip to the ferry, Au-
Schincloss came out to help me to un-
load Having handed out supplies of
bread, crackers and various kinds of
canned delicacies, together with some
wine and spirits, 1 flung out six buffalo
rro5es, and the same number of heavy
blankets.
Halo, Mr.. Aitken!" exclaimed Au-
~chincloss. you've got wraps enough
for the north pole
''Glad you think so,' replied I; "that's
-sust where we're going.'
THE devil it is" returned he, blow
ing a cloud of unusual dimensions from
his pipe; "all right, if you say so.''
These robes and blankets were the
best I could do, Jim. I pretty well
,Ta Il 81,
], as we went into the house and sat
down. "We can make rough moccasins
out of the robes lined with blankets
that think will serve us; but propose
stopping at one CT the Hudson Bay
company's settlements, or else at some
Esquimau village, if we are lucky
enough to strike one, to get more suit-
able wraps. We couldn't have got any
thing better than these, even in San
Francisco, unless specially made 10
order. My principal reason for bring
ing such a supply of spirits was for pur-
poses of barter. Money is nearly value
less in those desolate regions, and as
nature in northern ATTITUDES Graves
alcohol, 1 decided that spirits would
procure us what we wanted more readi-
1y than anything else. Neither did
since we are just entering on the six
months polar night. By regulating the
time, however,we can, barring accident,
make the trip to the pole and back
under continuous sunshine. I shall
~only stop there long enough to locate
approximately, by observation, the
true position of that extreme point of
Sthe earth's axis where diurnal rotation
ceases, and to mark the spot by some
sign recognizable by future explorers"
"All right, boss" said Auchincloss.
~'I don't doubt you can do it. A man
that can build an air-ship can go to the
north pole in it. When do we start?"
Tomorrow morning, at daybreak
-half-past four"
''Tben let's go to bed"
Day broke dim over the hills and
plains of Stanislaus county as, after q
hasty breakfast, we slowed into the
vessel the things had bought on the
previous night. We also carried in our
stove and clamped it securely to the
cabin floor, piling in at the same time
half cord of wood for fuel. Two ten
gallon kegs of water completed the
.commissariat. / secured a small, but
beautifully fitted compass, with all
modern appliances, at the forward end
of the cabin, where it would be furthest
removed from the influence of the iron;
sand, beside it, a very fine chronometer.
This latter marked just IL minutes to
five as Auchincloss, standing by the
engine, turned on the air, and, under
the enormous draught of the horizontal
fans, our vessel with a singing noise
rose vertically into the air.
The moving panorama beneath US
now began to be beautiful in the
IRENE. L purposed keeping roughly in
the region lying between the 12Oth and
122d meridians of longitude, deviating
from a strict northerly course where
necessary to avoid mountainous coun-
try. We therefore passed in a north
westerly direction over Pennington
.and Linden; crossed the Calaveras
river at 5:O4; the MokeIumne at $40:
the Cosumnes at 5: II; and were scour-
ing about five miles to the east of Sac
ramento at $50. BY six a. m, we had
passed Red Bluffs and Cottonwood. and
were abreast of the Black Buttes Of
Lassen; while far away to the north.
20 miles across the intervening country
of Shasta, and in that of Siskiyou, the
white cone which gives its name to the
aforementioned district pierced the
.cloudless ether. Still keeping up the
main watershed of the Sacramento, a t
~6:20, we skirted the western base 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 of
latitude, or 800 miles, in an hour and
half The vessel was answering expec-
tatioD; the pressure IN the receiver was
only so pounds, and the discharges of
cartridges in the condenser had been
kept to IL a minute. Auchincloss con-
tinued to smoke imperturbably, and
went methodicaIly round with his oil
can.
We now and again made divergence |
to the northeast to avoid the Cascade |
range of mountains. At 7:45 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 Aiks were success
fully left behind us during the next |
half hour. Here, the mountains be- 1
coming more broken, we had to rise 10 /
a height of nearly 5000 feet to avoid /
@ba;- r;Soes At $40 we crossed the