The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1909-09-10
on Way to Native Land
tcontinued from First Page,

cure fresh meat and augment the SUD- ply of provisions and from Peary's ac- count, these parties seem to have en- joyed much success. He seems to have had his plans already settled at that early date for the sledge work that was to take place in the following spring, and in those Fall days, while light still remained, supplies were transported to Cape Columbia and caches placed at points of vantage along the coast. The sun had disap- peared some days before that time, and only a few hours of twilight re- mained each day, for the winter was approaching fast. In addition to the sledging, the scientific men of the par ty succeeded in making some tidal ob- Seas very atin1s; Important. 7 Though his report does not indicate it, except in de- sultory way, there must have been continuous series of meteorologlcal observations for astronomical or mag netic work but I suppose this valuable feature of Arctic work was not neg lected.
 The men kept very busy through the winter, for even the moonlight per iods were used for sledge expeditions. Captain Bartlett seems to have been a hard worker during these days and throughout the whole account, 1t ap- pears that the scientific men of the party were wonderfully enthusiastic and enterprising. We hear of how Bartlett, Goodsell, Borup, McM1llan, Hansen, that wonderful negro, and the poor ill-fated Prof. Marvin, worked with the sledges, carrying provisions and how when the final declslon was was made, on Washington's Birthday, the gallant commander left the Roosevelt and followed in the wake of the oth- CTS in their thrilling dash for the Pole. With 59 Eskimos, 40 dogs and 23 sledges, it was an impressive car avan.
 As would expect, some rough ice was found near shore, but this could not have amounted to very much be- cause Bartlett, in the lead, succeeded in cutting a trail across this ice m one day.
 I understand that the start was due north over the ice to the Pole. Peary seems to have had difficulty with his Eskimos. Starting with 59. he had only IT upon leaving Cape Columbia.
 The usual minor disasters befeI the party, such as rough going around the first of March; the smashing of several sledges; the loss of a man through frostbite, which is a real dis aster, and the drowning of Prof Mar win. The party were also bothered at times by open water.
 Early in March, the party saw the sun for the first time, showing it's req face. distorted by refraction, above the glistening Polar field. Of course it was the first time the suns face had been visible since October of the previous year. When Peary crossed the s4th parallel, his sledge party comprised only 16 men, dozen of whom were Eskinos, and he had an even dozen of sledges and one hundred dogs. He had difficulty with leads and nearly lost his good man Borup when he and his dogs fell into the open water and might have been drowned. Just how pleasant this ex- ha iS fact that the temperature was around 50 degrees below zero.
 AS early as March 10, Peary had at tained the latitude 85-23. Here the commander was reinforced and Bart lett was in command of the advance party As usual, the expedition was broken up into several parties and when Peary's party touched Bartlett encamped party, for instance, Bartlett would break camp and start on a ! march and Peary's party would turn l in for a rest. By this method the ad- | vance party was advancing while the main party was asleep, and vice yer | sa. Also in this way, Peary kept in
 touch with his advance party every
 day.
 Peary described his leave taking of poor Marvin and certainly his last
 words to that gallant young professor
 were pathetic: Be careful of the
 leads, my boy"
 |
 for he frequently speaks of the un-
 broken expanse of comparatively
 smooth ice in every direction. Of
 course, he made good time. This was
 not invariable, for once he struck an
 harassing open lead necessitating a | heavy detour over a mass of danger
 ous ice and heavy snow. On another
 occasion, the party narrowly escaped death by being crushed with ice blocks or from drowning in suddenly 1c Ch1nh and desperate experiences in which men engage in that strange country.
 We learn of Peary's arrival at 87-48 a new record-beating Peary's farth-
 est north by a number of miles. We also learn that Bartlett was a req
 hero and is worthy of great honor
 But Bartlett, despite his magnificent work was not to see the Pole and il
 seems that Peary was to go alone save for the presence of Matt Han
 sen, the negro, and a few Eskimos
 Peary has an amazing story to tell | of his final discovery of the Pole. That he should have accomplished so much l in so short a time, will astonish the civilized world.
 | It is true that he was able to reach
 degree after degree of latitude against
 the heavy odds of many open leads 1 and much bad going, but still it is a certainty that he was wonderfully fla
 vored by the clements. That he was | | vance party so well, would seem to in
 dicate that the ice was not often in
 motion in spite of open leads, and the
 fact that he made such good speed | would emphasize the fact that very often he had splendid ice to travel over; in fact, he must have had good going the better part of the time: That around the Seth parallel of lat
 itude, Peary found Bartlett discour- aged after having travelled through
 some bad ice, means that they were
 merely Jagged out and temporarily
 discouraged and had been spoiled by
 the good going on the previous march | es. So the wonderful success of reach | ing the Pole was made possible by
 smoothness of ice-felds hitherto un-
 known or unprecedented.
 | Pearys management of the sledge
 column, with his supporting parties,
 follows closely the plan used by the
 Duke of Abruzzi on his record-break- ing trip from Franz Joseph Land,