Virginia citizen. (Irvington, Va.) 1891-1921, 1909-09-24
.PEARYS CONQUEST Of THE FAR NORTH.
A Story That Is as Fas.
Cinating as if Taken From
the arabian Nights" ~

On the last day OF February Bart
lett. with his pioneer division. accom-
plished this. and his division got away
/ due north over the ice ON March l.
The remainder OF the party got away
on Bartlett's trail. and l followed an
hour later.
The party now comprised members
OF the expedition. Il Eskimos. 1873
dogs and 10 sledges. Oae Eskimo and
seven dogs had gone to pieces.
A strong easterly wind. drifting
snow and temperature In the minus
I marked our departure from the camp
| at Cape Columbia. which had chris
: tened Crane City. Rough ice i'm the
first march damaged several sledges
and smashed two beyond repair. the
teams going back To Columbia for other
sledges in reserve there
/ We camped ten miles from Crane
/ City. The easterly wind and low tenn
perature continued. In the second
march we passed the British record
! made by Markham in May, 1ST6-S2 20
and were stopped by open water.
! which had been formed by the wind
after Bartlett passed. In this march
we negotiated the lead and reached
/ Bartlett's third camp. Borup had gone
back from here. but missed his way.
owing to the faulting of the trail by
the movement OF the Ice
Marvin came back also for more fuel
and alcohol The wind continued
forming open water all about us. At
the end OF the fourth march we came
upon Bartlett, who had been stopped
by wide lake OF open water. We re-
manned here from March to March II
I At noon OF March the sun. red and
shaped like n football by excess of
reflection, just raised itself above the
horizon for a few minutes aud then
disappeared again. 1t was the first
time l had seen II since Oct. l.
: | now began to feel good deal OF
anxiety because there were no signs
OF Marvin and Borup. who should
have been there for two days. Besides.
they had the alcohol and OIL. which
were Indispensable for us. We con-
Guided that they had either lost the
/ trail or were imprisoned on an island
by open water. probably the latter
| Across Eighty fourth Parallel.
| Fortunately. on March IL the lead
/ was practicable, and. leaving u note
for Marvin and Borup to push on after
us by forced marches. we proceeded
! northward. During this march we
crossed the eighty-fourth parallel and
/, traversed succession OF just-frozen
leads from n few hundred yards TO a
mile I'm width.
On the 1+th we got free OF the leads
and came on decent going. While we
were making camp n courier from
Marvin came and Informed me he was
on the march I'm the rear The tenn
| perature was SO below.
The following morning. March Ii. |
sent Hansen with his division north
to pioneer n trail for five marches. and
Dr. Goodsell. according TO the program.
started back TO Cape Columbia. At
night Marvin and Borup came spin
ming In with their men and dogs steam
ing In the bitter air like squadron
| OF bnttleships. Their arrival relieved
me OF all anxiety as Ia our oil supply
In the morning l discovered that Ne
Millan's foot was badly frostbitten
| The mishap had occurred two or three
days before but Mcmillan had said
nothing about IL In the hope that 4,
would come out all right glance M
the injury showed me that the only
thing was To send him back to Cane
/ Columbia mt once. The arrival Of Mar.
win and Borup enabled me To spare
sufficient men and dogs to go back
| with him.
This early loss OF Mcmillan was sc.
riously disappointing to me. He had
a sledge all the way from Cape Column
! bin. and with his enthusiasm and the
powers and physique OF the trained
athlete / had confidence In him for nj
least the eighty-sixth parallel, hut
| there was no alternative.
The best sledges and dogs were Sc
lected and the sledge loads brought up
10 the standard. The sounding gave n
depth OF 325 fathoms. We were over
the continental shelf, and. as / had
surmised. the successive leads crossed
in the fifth and sixth marches COM
| posed the big lead and marked the
continental shelf
On leaving this camp the expedition
comprised l0 men, l. siedges and 100
uogs. The next march was satisfac-
tory as regards distance and character
or going. In the latter part there
were pronounced movements I'm the
Ice, both visible and audible. Some
leads were crossed, In one of which
borup and his team took bath. and
We were finally stopped by an imprac-
ficable lead opening In front of us.
We camped in temperature OF 80
below. AT the end OF two short
marches we came upon Hansen and
MS party In camp. mending their
sledges. We devoted the remainder of
the day 10 oyerhauling and mendinp
siedges and breaking up our damaged
ones for material.
Ihe next morning ! put Marvin IN
the lead TO pioneer the trail. with In.
structions to make two forced marches
10 bring up our average, which had
been cut down by the last two short
ones. Marvin carried out his in
structions implicitly. A considerable
amount OF young ice assisted I'm this.
AT the end of the tenth march, lati.
tude 1923. Borup turned back In com.
mand or the second supporting party.
having travelled distance equivalent
to Nansen's distance from this far TO
his farthest north.
From this point the expedition COM
prised l3 men. 10 sledges and 20 dogs.
IL was necessary for Marvin to take a
siedge from here, and | put Bartlett
and his division in advance to pioneer
the trail.
The continual daylight enabled me to