Coeur d'Alene evening press. (Coeur d'Alene, Idaho) 1907-1929, 1909-10-21
IOOK REACHED
u NORTH POLE
Story Told By EskimOs to Arc
tic Explorer Rasmussen


her husband the following report
dated Julianehaab, Greenland,
September %, with special request
for publication in the New York
Times:
1T is, of course, impossible for me
to give absolute proofs that Cook,
single white man, between two
young Eskimos, has been at the pole.
1t must necessarily more or less be
a matter of belief, as authorities can
always maintain that a clever swind-
Ter, even If he has not reached the
pole, is very we'll able to construct a
series of observations which, togeth-
observations, are impossible to prove
as falsiflcations But in the same
way as it is possible to condemn
criminals on circumstantial evidence
there will always be, in such big,
complicated things as a north pole
journey, number of small points
proof, still will on the whole give a
picture of fact that leaves out all
doubt.
Polar Eskimos are, of course, not
able to say positively If Cook has on
ly been on the way to the pole or
If he has really reached the Goth de-
gree hut tIro,,1h "A, -, - 80 -
lot of details which together have
value as, for instance: "a the start
of the expedition and the route taken
over ice; CD how far the expedi-
tion has been from land; (3) If there
were any special obstacles which him
dered going farther at the point
Cook called the pole; (4) equipment
of Cook and the two men at the
start.
That Cook was away from Anora-
tok since January or February, 1908,
until the spring of 1909 is a fact.
Start of Expedition and Route.
The start from Anoratok took
place according to Eskimos exactly at
the time given by Cook. The expe-
dition. went over Ellesmere land and
| through the sound which separates
that land from Heiherg land, away
from shore out on actual polar sea
ice.
THE two men, Apilak and Ituku-
suk, after they reached polar ice and
the little party had gone directly
to the north, knew then that the goal
was the north pole. The direction
was well known to them through
Pearys many expeditions, in which
most of the men of the tribe at one
time or another had taken part
While Peary used to start from the
north point of Grant land, Cook Sc.
lected the western route. because he
on the basis of Pearys observations
expected to find better ice conditions
there, a superstition which turned on'
to be correct, so the EskimOs whC
know the conditions north of Gran
land say.
Friends of Apilak and Itukusul
assert that the expedition had gooC
ice and good weather and that tn
ice became better the farther the!
came out on the polar sea.
How Far From Shore.
The EskimOs, of course, can no
give distances in figures, but the,
tell that on the journey over the ic
field from shore the sun began q
appear high in the sky and at las
didn't disappear at all, so that
was almost summer before the.
reached land again. Furthermore
they have told that 1t was autumn
before they decided going to winte
quarters before they tried the retur
= Journey to AnoratOk. The state
o ments, therefore, amount to tn
= same as Cooks, who gives Septem
Der as the month in which he decide
to go into winter quarters at Cap
Sparbo, on the south side Of Jone
d sound. Eskimos who are aecustome
a to take their bearings on the ma
n have themselves on the map give
+ the route OF the expedition to Tn
0 pole and winter quarters at Jone
i sound district, of which they kno'
, from their bear hunts.
d "Apilak and Itukusuk have ful
k thermore told how they. on the wa
:. back. we're prevented BY deep cr'
il vases in the ice from going to He
berg land, where they had depot