Courier Democrat. (Langdon, N.D.) 1891-1920, 1909-10-28
COOKS DASH TO
NORTH POLE,
Explorers Own Story of Finding
the Big Nail"
LIVED LIKE TIE EsKIMos.

Lief. Two Days Later.
William Il. Stead. the English jour
nalist who interviewed DR.. Frederick
A. Cook at Copenhagen for the New
York American concerning his marcel
to the north pole. said that there arc
certain things upon which DR.. Coos
insisted. withou; variation or without
the shadow of a turning, from first tc
last.
The statements he persisted in were
these:
First. he discovered the north pole.
Second. he had his data in the shape
of scientific observations. 2 diary and
the like BY which he could convince
any competent scientific authority as
to the truth of his assertions.
Third. that until he had made good
his claim by the production of these
data he asked for nothing more than
to be left alone TO complete his book
and present his case rs Il whole to the
scientific world.
1.tNA - ~ = III iOi lliliuiG tOIll-
bination OF circumstances that brought
him 10 the edge of the arctic circle at
Il time when good dogs, plenty of Es-
kilnos altI lots of food were there Dr..
Cook told me the story of his polar
march AZ follows:
Il started away from .A~nn0otok.
near Etah. OF Feb. 10. which was the
sunrise of 1865. ] had ten EsEimos.
eleven SleG&es heavily laden with sup
plies and NIB dogs. 1t was the cold
est part O. the winter. The thermom-
eter registered s. degrees below zero
as We passed over the heights of
Ellestnerr strait. We We're bound for
Lands END. TO the west, whore we
We're 10 BEGIN our ice Journey. During
he "trip We struck several fine game
trails and secured 1O1 musk oxen. 325
hares and seven hares. We reached the
II of the land and the beginning of
the ice on March is. 1905.
Started Dash 400 Miles From Pole.
There We established a supply sta
ton, and picked out the best two
men and twenty-SiX Of the best dogs
for the dash across the ice. The I.s-
kim0s were Eutikishook and Ahwelsh.
bravest and strongest of the tribe. We
We're then ut latitude s.. 500: 333 or 400
miles from the pole. We started our
advance three days later. on March 2l.
During the first days We made long
marches. The cold persisted. ard there
We're strong winds.
u lived as the Eskimos did and man
aged to get some comfort by sleeping
In snow houses which we dug out, eat
ing tallow and drinking tea. The sky
during these days was overcast by
smoky mist, so that no observation
could be taken. but on March 80 an
observation gave our position as lati-
tude s4.41. We had covered, therefore.
more -4.t1 1870 miles in nine days. Be
You'd this point We encountered mere
ly a desert of ice. There was no life.
Tracks OF animals and blowholes Of
seals were absent. Nor wa there a
trace Of vegetation.
Day after day from then on we pro
gressed u~ao!lutonously. The surface of
the ice grew smoother and more level.
1t was still cold. and there was a bit
ter wind. / recorded daily our posi-
ton and the incidents of the march.
but one day was mach Hike another.
April !. W;ts WORTHY Of especial note
because the II at r!iIni@it appeared
over the et@r ut the northern ice. The
next day / made an observation which
placed onr position at latitude 1896.
Our speed had increased slightly. We
had traverse0 more than go miles in
seventeen Gays.
~Sunburned and Frostbitten Same Day.
eve were then a triile more than 200
miles from the pole. We were sun
burned and froslbitten on the same
day. but the light enabled US 70 ad-
vance more easily.
Beyond the eiglty-siXth parallel the
crevices became fewer and narrower.
and between the eighty-seventh and
eighty-eishth parallels / was surprised
to find indications of land ice. For
two days we Travelled over ice that
looked like q glacial surface. But
there was no perceptible elevation,
and therefore it was impossible to tell
whether we were on land or sea.
"On April II we reached latitude
1921 and were within a little bit less
than 100 miles of the pole. We no
longer had energy to make snow houses
and slept in a silk tent which we car
ried. In the days that followed we
saw mirages-inverted mountains and
queer objects that seemed to dance
about. The horizon itself seemed to
dance. but / made careful astronom-
1cal observations and always knew cur
position.
"On April 81 my observation. cor
rected, showed that we had reached
latitude 50 degrees, SO minutes and 4e
seconds and were therefore within a
stones throw almost of the ninetieth
parallel. We advanced the fourteen
seconds, approximately a quarter Of a
mile, and there | made q double round
Of observations. which confirmed our
position.
No Land In Sight.
~This was at noon Of April 81. 1908.
NJ. .l~>.-oioo. oIz.,o ALzk A. -