Daily inter mountain. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1881-1901, 1899-08-29
Has Returned From Its Far
North Trip.
ITS LEADER IS CRIPPLED
Fell Into a CrevaSSe That Was Hidden
BY SnOW-.FaithfullneSS of Nor
Wegian Member of the Party
Many New Discoveries Made.

Hull. Eng. Aug. 29.-Walter Welman.
ton, who returned to Tromsoe, Nor
way, Aug. II, after having successfully
completed operations in Franz Josef
land. has arrived here. He walks with
the aid Of crutches, his right leg, which
was seriously injured by a fall into
snow covered crevasse while Mr.. Well
man was leading his party. still being
useless. The explorer was accompanied
by the American members of the expedl-
| ton, who are we'll. In an interview with
the Associated Press correspondent Mr..
Wellman said:
"rhe object of the expedition was two
fold--to complete the exploration of
Franz Josef land. of which the north and
northeast parts were practically un-
known, and to reach a high latitude or
even the pole itself. The first object was
successfully accomplished. The second
! would have been achieved. at least to
greater extent than by previous expor-
ers, but for the accident to myself"
J Mr.. Wellman recounted the starting OF
the expedition from Tromsoe, June 26.
1898. how they reached Elwood. the head
| quarters of the jackson expedition, July
| 20, and hoisted there the Stars and
Stripes underneath the Union Jack,
WtllcH ldu DeGIl HyllS over tHe ueSeI teu
settlement for nearly two years. The
provisions left for Professor Andree, the
missing aeronaut were found by Mr..
Wellman untouched. After leaving the
letters about his expedition and taking
collapsible house with him. Mr. WeIlman
proceeded due east for Cape Tegethoff.
and arrived there July 30, 1898. There the
party landed all the stores and the
steamer returned to Norway.
We established our headquarters in
the little house brought from Jackson's
| headuuarters," continued Mr.. w Gilman,
lover which flew the Stars and Stripes.
Desiring to push further north with the
| greatest speed. l dispatched Baldwin on
August s. with the Norweg ans, sleds,
dogs and boats, myself and others in.
| tending to follow in a few days. Shortly
| after Baldwins departure | discovered
that, owing to sudden break-up Of
the ice, l was unable to proceed. but
sent two Norwegians TO inform Baldwin
| to build his outpost, leave two men in
charge of it and return to my headquar-
ters.'
Here Lieutenant Evelyn b. Baldwin Of
the bureau told of the doings of his ex-
pedition. He said:
September q my party reached Cape
Heller. in latitude 81, where we decided
| to make an outpost. From the very out
! winds and ice. and there was a constant
/, fog. The ice underneath us parted with
terrific crashes, leaving us adrift on
small foes Here we built a station and
called it Fort Mckinley. We stocked it
with blubber and meat, and leaving those
two volunteers. Ventzen and Rjortvig, l
started to return October % to Mr.. Well
| mans headquarters arriving there Oc-
tober 30 in safety, in spite of great hard
ships, cold. darkness and ice. The party
spent the winter comfortably in Harms
| worth house, which was completely
buried in snow. They killed many bears.
Mr.. Wellman, on February IS. 1899. with
| Norwegians with sleds and dogs, started
north"
Mr.. Wellman, continuing, said:
"Fe Fehruary &c, 1899, l arrived at Fort
Mckinley. Bjortvig, rifle in hand, stood
at the mouth Of the snow tunnel. He
wrung my hand and, with tears in his
eyes. said:
"'Poor Ventzen is dead
"'Of course you have buried him. ]
said.
".No,' Rjor:vig said. He lies there.
pointing to the house. I have kept my
promise
"The two men had secret compact
that in case of death the survivor should
keep the body until help came. In the
little hut the quick and the dead had slept
side by side through two months of Arctic
darkness Bjortvis said he had managed
to keep up his spirits by reciting Ibsen' $
poetry. The next day we gathered stones
and under tEeSe we Dufleu our uedd COM
rade A few fitting words were spoken
as we stood around in 20 degrees of frost.
After a delay of ten days the party. in
cluding Bjortvig, pressed north in
sledges, and by March we reached 50 de-
grees east of Rudolph island. The pros
poets then We're reassuring. We had
three months of the best season bafOre
us and were confident of reaching 81 de-
grees. Though. of course, we had suf-
fered from cold, we were all in fine
form.
"Then. seemingly trivial accident
turned the advance into a precipltate re-
treat. While struggling with the sledges
in rough ice, my right leg was bruised
and sprained by my falling into hid
den crevice. For two days l went on.
and, unless. other circumstances had not
occurred should have pressed onward
so far that would never have been able
to return alive. At midnight, March %.
we were awakened by the crushing of the
ice under our feet. 1t swayed and deep
crev:ces yaWned about us. Several dogs
and sledges were crushed. In the dark
ness and storm it was impossible to see
a path of safety. Expecting to be over
whelmed at any moment by the ice, we
scra mbied over the field of ice and saved
most OF our equipment except the dog
food, reaching a place Of safety in half
an hour. Our brave Norwegian COM
radeH did not express the slightest fear
while it was possible to go on for a
time, my leg now demanded retreat
For two or three days l stumbled along
(COntinued on Page Sikh.