Willmar tribune., 1909-09-22

Twenty-Five miles took me well be-
yond the eighty-eighth parallel.
While was building my igloos
long lead forward by the east and
miles.
Travel Was Easy.
A few hours sleep and we were on
the trail again. AS the going was now
practically horizontal. we were un-
we pleased and sleep an little as we
wished.
The weather was fine and the going
like that of the previous day. except
at the beginning. when pickaxes were
required. This and q brief stop at an
other lead cut down our distance. But
we had made 20 miles in ten hours and
parallel.
The ice was grinding audibly in every
direction. but no motion was visible.
Evidently 1t was settling back into
Equilibrium and probably sagging due
northward with its release from the
wind pressure.
Surface Almost Level.
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 interrupted
| by tnfrequent ridges, was as level as
the glacial fringe from Hecla to Colum-
! bia. and harder.
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 az the last
| sledge left it.
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 and oc-
casionally the dogs were galloping.
We made twenty-five miles or more
the air. the sky. and the bitter wind
burning the face till it cracked. It was
like the great interior ice gap of
Greenland. Even the natives COM
planned OF the bitter air. 1t was as
keen as frozen steel.
A little longer sleep than the previ-
Gus one had to be taken here. as we
| were all in need of it, Then on again.
Up to this time, with each successive
march, our fear Of an impossible lead
had increased. At every inequality of
| the ice found myself hurrying breath
lessly forward. fearing that it marked a
lead, and when I arrived at the summit
| would catch my breath with relief-only
to find myself hurrying on in the same
! way 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
1t gave me no uneasiness.
Before l turned in I took an observa-
ton which indicated our position as SO
degrees 25 minutes
A dense. lifeless pail hung overhead.
| Inc horizon was black and the ice be-
meath was a ghastly, chalky white, with
no relief-a striking contrast to the glim-
| mering. sunlit fields Of it over which we
had been travelling for the previous four
days.
| Weather Becomes Miider.
The going was even better. and there
was scarcely any snow on the hard,
granular, last summers surface of the
old foes, dotted with the sapphire ice
OF the previous summers lakes.
A rise in temperature to Is degrees be-
low reduced the friction of the sledges
and gave the dogs the appearance of
having caught the spirits of the party.
The more sprightly ones. as they went
along with tightly curled tails frequent
~ tossed their heads. with short, sharp
barks and yelps.
In Il hours we had made 40 miles.
There was no sign OF lead in the
march.
Arrival at the Pole.
had now made my five marches, and
was In time for hasty noon observation
through temporary break in the clouds,
which indicated our position as S957 !
quote IN entry from my journal some
hours later:
The pole at last. The prize OF three
centuries. my dream and goal for e
years. mine at last. cannot bring my
self to realize it.
1t all seems so simple and common
place. As Bartlett said when turning
back, when speaking of his being in
these exclusive regions, which no mortal
has ever penetrated before: 1T is lust
like every day.
OF course I had my sensations that
made sleep impossible for hours, despite
| my utter fatigue-the sensations of q life
time; but have no room for them here.
The first 80 hours at the pole were
spent in taking observations; in going
some ten miles beyond our camp and
some eight miles to the right of it: in
taking photographs, planting my flags,
| deposittng my records, studying the hori-
| zon with my telescope for possible land,
and searching for practicable place to
make a sounding.
Plan for Return Trip.
Ten hours after our arrival the clouds
cleared before a light breeze from our
left and from that time until our depar-
ture in the afternoon of April the
weather was cloudless and hawless.
The minimum temperature during the
~ hours Was 50 below. the maximum II.
We had reached the goal. but the re-
turn was still before US. It was essential
that we reach the land before the next
| spring tide, and we must strain every
| nerve to do this.
had brief talk with my men. From
now on 1t was to- be big travel. little
sleep and hustle every minute
We would try. told them, to double
march on the return-that is, to start
and cover one of our northward
marches, make tea and eat our luncheon
In the igloos, then cover another march,
eat and sleep a. few hours. and repeat
this daily.
Speed Nearly Doubled.
As matter of fact. we nearly did
this, covering regularly on our return
| journey five outward marches in three
| return marches.
Just as long as we could hold the
trail we could double our speed. and
we need waste no time in building
new igloos every day, so that the time
we gained on the return lessened the
chances of a gale destroying the track.
Just above the efghty-seventh paral-
lei was region some fifty miles wide
which caused me considerable uneasi-
ness. Twelve hours of strong easterly,
westerly. or northerly wind would
make this region an open sea.
In the afternoon of the 7th we start
ed on our return. having double fed
the dogs. repaired the sledges for the
last time. and discarded all our spare
clothing to tighten the loads.
Tries to Sound Sea.
Five miles from the pole a narrow