The new era., 1909-09-23
PEARYS OWN STORY Of FINDING THE NORTH POLE

on the march in the rear. The temper
ature was 50 below zero.
The following morning. March 10. I sent
Hansen with his division north to pio-
neer trail for fivs marches. and DR..
Goodsell, according to the program, start
ed back TO Cape Columbia.
Mcmillan Turns Back.
At night Marvin and Borup came spin
ming in with their men and dogs steam
ing in the bitter air like q squadron of
battleships. Their arrival relieved me
Of all anxiety as to our oil supply.
In the morning discovered that Mac
Millan's foot was badly frost bitten. The
mishap had occurred two or three days
before, but Macmillan had said nothing
about 1t in the hope that 1t would come
out all right.
A glance at the injury showed mo that
the only thing was to send him back to
Cape Columbia at once. The arrival Of
| sumcient men and dogs to 60 back with
him.
Loss 10 Serious One.
This early loss of Macmillan was sefi-
ously disappointing to me. He had .
sledge all the way from Cape Columbia.
and with his enthusiasm and the powers
and physique of the trained athlete
| had confidence in him for at least the
86th parallel but there was no alterna-
tive.
inc peSt sleoges ana dogs were Select-
ed and the sledge loads brought up to
the standard. The sounding gave a
| depth of 325 fathoms.
We were over the continual shelf. and.
| as l had surmised, the successive leads
crossed in the NTH and sixth marches
| composed the big lead and marked the
| continual shelf.
| On leaving the camp the expedition
comprised 16 men. II sledges and 100 dogs.
The next march was satisfactory as re-
CARDS distance and the character Of the
| going. In the latter part there were
pronounced movements in the ice, both
visible and audible.
| Some leads were crossed, In one of
| which Borup and his team took a bath,
and we were finally stopped by an I'M
practicable lead opening in front Of US.
| We camped in q temperature Of 50 de-
| grees below.
| At the end of two short marches we
came upon Hansen and his party in
| camp. mending their sledges. We de-
| voted the remainder of the day to over
hauling and mending sledges and break
Ing up our damaged ones for material
Make Forced Marches.
The next morning 1 put Marvin in the
lead to pioneer the trail. with instruc-
tions to make two forced marches to
| bring up our average which had been
cut down by the last two short ones.
Marvin carried out his instructions i'm
plicitly. A considerable amount OF young
Ice assisted in this.
At the end of the tenth march. latitude
1928. Borup turned back in command of
the second supporting party. having trav-
eled distance equivalent to Nansen's
distance from this far to his farthest
north.
I was sorry to lose this young Yale
runner. with his enthusiasm and pluck
He had led his heavy sledge over the
foes in a way that commanded every
ones admiration and would have made
his fathers eyes glisten.
Changes His Plan.
From this point the expedition COM
prised 20 men. 10 sledges. and 70 dogs. It
was necessary for Marvin to take q
sledKe from here. and I put Bartlett
and his division IN advance to pioneer
the trail.
The continual daylight enabled me to
make moderation here that brought my
| advance ana main parues closer Together
| and reduced the likelihood Of their be-
| Ing separated by open leads.
After Bartlett left camp with Hender-
| son and their division. Marvin and l re-
mained with our division 20 hours long
Bartlett's camp he broke out and went
on and we turned in. By this arrange
ment the advance party was travelling
while the main party was asleep, and
vice versa. and I was in touch with my
advance party every "a hours.
Moves Expeditiousiy.
I had no reason to complain Of the
going for the next two marches. though
for less experienced party, less adapt
able sledges. or less perfect equipment 1t
would have been an impossibillty.
At our position at the end of the sec
ond march, Marvin obtained satisfac-
tory sight for latitude in clear weather.
which placed us at S5.4S. The result
agreed satisfactorily with the dead reck-
oning of Marvin. Bartlett and myself
o. hi fh., Itch nlt do <,f
the sun had made 1t not worth while to
waste time in observations.
On the next two marches the going i'm
proved, and we covered good distances
In one of these marches a lead delayed
us few hours. We finally ferried across
the ice cakes.
Makes Record Run.
The next day Bartlett let himself out
evidently. for a record. and reeled off 20
miles. Here Marvin obtained another
satisfactory sight on latitude, which gave
the position as Sc 3s (or beyond the farth-
showed that we had covered so minutee
of latitude in three marches.
In these three marches we had passed
the Norwegian record of S6.H. by Nan
sen. and the Italian record of 1854. by
Cagni.
From this point Marvin turned back in
command of the third supporting party.
My last words to him were: BE care
full of the leads my boy"
The party from this point comprised
nine men, seven sledges. and 60 dogs.
The conditions at this camp and the ap-
parently unbroken expanse of fairly level
ice In every direction reminded me of
Cagni's description of his farthest north.
Danger Is Encountered.
But 1 was not deceived by the appar-
emily favorable outlook. for available
conditions never continue for any dis
tance or any length of time in the arc
tic regions.
The next march was over good 60
ing. but for the first time since leaving
land we experienced that condition. fire.
quent over these ice fields. of hazy at
mosphere. in which the light Is equal
everywhere. All relief is destroyed and
1t is impossible to see for any distance.
We We're obliged in this march to make
n detour around an open lead. In. the
next march we encountered the heaviest