The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1909-09-14
PERRY'S TALE Of
DASH To POLE
CONTINUED From Page Eleven.)

Wn6n DICK axes "S1S II AAiA
and a brief stop at another lead cut
down our distance. But we had made
20 miles in ten hours, and were hair
way to the eig%hty-ninth parallel.
The ice was grinding audibly in
every direction. but no motion was
visible. Evidently it was settling
back into equilibrium, and probably
sagging due northward with its re-
lease from the wind pressure.
Again there was a few hours sleep,
and we hit the trail before midnight.
The weather and going were even bet
ter. The surface, except as interrupt
ed by nfrequent ridges, was as Level
as the glacial fringe from Hecla to
Columbia, and harder.
Lead Buckled as Sledges Left 1t.
We marched something over ten
hours. the dogs being often on the
trot. and made 20 miles. Near the
end of the march we rushed across a
lead 100 yards wide. which buckled
under our sledgeS. and finally broke
as the last sledge left 1t.
We stopped in sight Of the eighty
ninth parallel. in a temperature Of 40
degrees below. Again a sCant sleep,
and we were On our way once more
and across the eighty-ninth parallel.
This march duplicated the previous
one as to weather and going. The
last few hours it was on young ice,
Anu OCCASIONALLY Tic uOSS WcAS BAL
looping.
Twenty-Five Miles in One March
We made 25 miles or more, the air.
the sky, and the bitter wind burning
the face till it cracked. 1t was like
the great interior ice cap Of Green
land.
Even the natives complained OF the
bitter air. 1t was as keen as frozen
steel.
A little longer sleep than the pre-
vious ones had to be taken here, as
We were all in need Of it. Then on
again.
Up to this time, with each success
sive march, our fear Of an Impossible
lead increased. At every ineQ,;al-
ity of the ice l found myself hurry
ing breathlessly forward, fearing that
1t marked a lead, and, when | arrived
at the summit. would catch my breath
with relief-only to find myself hur-
rying on in the same a at the next
one.
But on this march, by some strange
shift of feeling. this fear fell from
me completely. The weather was
thick. but it gave me no uneasiness.
Conditions at Latitude 1925.
Before / turned in / took an Oh
servation. which indicated our posi-
ton as 1925. A dense, lifeless pail
hung over head The horizon was
b1dCk, ana lnc ICE UenSdtn was d
CHASTITY, chalky white with no relief
a striking contrast to the glimmering,
sunlit fields of it over which we had
been travelling for the previous four
days.
The going was even better, and
there was scarcely any snow on the
hard, granular. last nme sur
face of the old floes, dotted with the
sapphire ice Of the previous suru-
mer's lakes.
A rise in temperature to Is below
reduced the friction Of the sledges
and gave the dogs the appearance Of
having caught the spirit of the party.
The more sprightly ones as they Went
along with tightly curled tails, fire.
quently tossed their heads, with short,
sharp banks and ye1ps.
In twelve hours we made 40 miles.
There was no sign of a lead in the
march.
The Pole at Last.
I a now made my five marches.
and was in time for a hasty moon OBJ
~servation through a temporary break
in the clouds. which indicated our
position as 1857. 1 quote an entry
from my journal some hours later:
THE pole at last. The prize Of three
centuries, my dream and goal for
twenty years, mine at last! I cannot
bring myself to realize it.
ut all seems so simple and COM
monplace. AS Bartlett said when
turning back, when speaking OF his
being in these exclusive regions which
no mortal has ever penetrated be-
fore:
cit is just like every day!'"
OF course, I had my sensations that
made sleep impossible for hours, des-
pite my utter fatigue-the sensations
of a lifetine-but l have no room for
them here.
Comparatively Warm There,
The first 80 hours at the pole were
spent in taking observations, in going
some 10 miles beyond our camp and
some s miles to the right Of it. in
taking photographs, planting ny