The Farmington times. (Farmington, St. Francois County, Mo.) 1905-1926, 1909-10-21

put to the boys in regard to this trip
from the land out and back to 1t.
These questions and answers were
as follows:
Did they cross many open leads or
much open water during this timer
Ans. None
Did they make any caches out on
the fee? Ans. No.
Did they kill any bear or seal while
out on the ice north of Cape THONGS
Hubbard? Ans. No.
Did they kill or lose any OF their
dogs while out on the ice? Ans. No.
with how many sledges did they
start? Ans, Two.
How many dogs did they have?
Ans. Did not remember cNaCtlr, but
something over twenty.
Did they have any provisions lot
on their slcdgcs when they came back
to land? Ans. Yes: the sirdEcs stlll
had about all they could carry, so
they were able to take but & few
things from the cache,
From here they then went south.
west along the northwest coast Of
Heiberg Land TO point indicated on
the map (Cape Northwest.
From here they went west across
the Ice. which was level and covered
with snow. Offering good going. TO n
low island which they had seen from
the shore OF HoiberE Land nt Cape
Northwest On this island they
camped for one sleep
The size and position Of this island.
as drawn by the first boy. was crit.
icised by the second boy as being TOO
large and too far west, the second boy
calling the attention of the first to
the fact that the position of the island
was more nearly In line with the point
where they had left Hcibcrg Land
(Cape Northwest and the channel
between Amund Ringnes Land and
Ellef Rhymes Land.
This criticism and correction was
accepted by the first boy. who started
to change the pos ton of the island.
,
had given instructions that no
changes or erasures were to be made
In the route as drawn by the Eskimos
on the chart.
From this island they could see two
lands beyond (Svcrdrup's Ellcf Ring.
mes and Amund Ringnes Lanusn From
the island they journryrd toward tho
lefthand one of these two lands
(Amund Ringnes Land. passing a
small island which they did not visit
The above portion of the statement
OF the Eskimo boys covers the period
of time in which Dr. Cook claims o
have gone to the Pole and back, and
the entire time during which he could
possibly have made any attempts TO
20 TO It.
The answers OF the Eskimo boys TO
Commander Pcary@ series of indie.
pendent questions. showing that they
killed no game. made no caches. lost
no dogs. and returned TO III" land with
loaded slcdgcs. makes their attain.
meut OF the Pol" on the trip north "
Cape Thomas Hubbard a physical and
mathematical impossibility, aa 1t
would demand the subsistence of
three men and over twenty dogs dur.
ing Journey Of ten hundred and for
ty geographical miles on less than two
sledge loads OF supplies
II it is suggested that perhaps Or.
Cook got mixed and that he reached
the Pole, or thought he did, between
the time of leaving the northwest
coast OF HcibcrG Land at Cape North.
west, and his arrival at Riugucs Land
where they killed the deer. We must
then add to the date of Dr. Cooks let.
ter Of March nth, At or near Cape
Thomas Hubbard. the subsequent four
or FIVE sleeps at that point. and the
| number of days required to march
from Cape Thomas Hubbard to Cape
Northwest "a distance of some sixty
nautical miles,. which would advance
his date of departure from the land TO
at least the 25th OF March. and be pre-.
pared to accept the claim that DR..
Cook went from Cape Northwest
tabout latitude eighty and half de.
greos north to the Pole. a distance
of five hundred and seventy geograph
ical miles. in twenty.seycn days.
After the sun returned in 1909 they
started. pushing their sledge, across
Jones Sound to Cope Tennyson;
thence along the coast 10 Clarence
Head (passing inside of two small
islands not shown on the chart, but
drawn on It by the boys). where they
killed bear thence across the broad
blight in the coast to Cadogan Fiord;
thence around Cape Isabella and up TO
Commander Pcarys old house in
Payer Harbor near Cape Sabine,
where they found seal cached for
them by Panikpah, I-took.a.shoo's
father From here they crossed Smith
Sound on the ice. arriving at Anora.
tok.
(Signed) r. L. PEARY. L. S. n.
DnnEDT nADTI J-1''r