Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-11-19
WOMAN TO TRY FOR POLE.
Mrs. ougman Thinks She Can Accom-
plish the Trip.

A dispatch from New York says:
Somebody has got to find the north pole.
The men who have gone searching for 1t
have failed I'm going to try and l think
shall succeed"
This is the confident assertion Of Mrs.
Ella Ougman, explorer and anthropologist,
who is making ready at Nome, Alaska, for
an expedition "farthest north" Photo
graphs Of this plucky woman and some Of
the interesting retinue that will accom-
pany her on the hazardous trip have Just
reached New York.
Mrs. Ougman is we'll known at Smith
sonian Institution, Washington. for her de-
termned exploits in Alaska and other parts
of the northwest, where she has for sew
eral years been studying the habits OF the
Eskimos. She is regarded as an expert on
the Innuits, as the Eskimos are known, and
her collection of Eskimo curios is consid
cred the finest eXtant.
Mrs. Ougman expects to start within a
month and believes she will return to Nome
well inside of two years.
This newest of the explorers will have
Eskimos her only companions. She un-
derstands the Eskimos thoroughly, speaks
their strange language as fuently as she
does her mother tongue. and considers that
they will be best able to withstand the
temptation to dig for gold in the Klondfke
and stick to the object of the expedition.
Il would have recruited a few sterling
white men, said Mrs. Ougman, "if l could
have found any proof against their falling
victims 10 the gold fever. l have not pro-
jected this trip for the sake of making
money out of it. 1t is not gold we shall
seek, but the elusive north pole-that and
nothing else. 1 cannot afford to take any
possible deserters with me. ! know the
Innuits. They are faithful.
'"rhose who will go with me have sworn
that they will stay to the end of the trip,
and l know they will do 1t. Besides this, no
white man has the endurance that the In
NUTS have, and of all things endurance
counts in trip to the arctics.
Mrs. Ougman Is known to the Eskimos
as a man. Although she wears skirts, the
unsuspecting Innuits have always been led
keep her warm. The Eskimos do not trust
women as they do men, and II they suspect
ed that the leader of their bold expedition
was of the weaker sex they would not fol-
low her
'The Eskimos grant me courtesies they
would not think Of allowing women" said
Mrs. Ougman. For instance, they allow
me to enter their burying ground-a thing
no woman not native born is ever permitted
to do. In this way have gathered all man.
ner Of things from the treasure buried with
the Eskimo dead.
ION the trip to the poe this will be of
much importance to me. 1t will be my OBJ
ject not alone to look for the pole, but to
study the habits of the different Eskimo
tribes We meet.
The expedition will start on sledges drawn
by Eskimo dogs. At the Eskimo settlement
farthest north in the journey the sledges
VIII be loaded with food. There will be
enough. Mrs. Ougman says, to last twenty
four months. Should the commissary supply
by any chance give out there will be some
extra dogs that can be spared.
Mrs. Ougman has the distinction of being
the only woman who has seen Mount Nc
Kinley. on the heights of the snowy Alas
kan range. With a party Of explorers she
pushed to the Yukon valley two years ago
and stood at the base of the mountain. The
n, f1,crr, II 0R I'll
II 600 feet.
There won't be any chance of fatigue on
this trip" said Mrs. Ougman. 81 have had
experience in the awful cold of the Alaskan
country, and know how to keep warm. This
time we will pass Mount Mckinley and con-
tinue north until we have found the POLE"