Connecticut western news., 1909-09-16
PEARY'S STORY OF
 DASH 1T) THE POLE

which gave the position as SC degrees 3S minutes, or beyond the farthest north ofsNansen and Abruzzi
 "From this point Marvin turned back in command of the third support ing party. My last words to him were. Be careful of the leads, my boy
 At the end of the next march we came upon the captain camped beside wide open lead. With a dense black water sky northwest, north and north east. We built our igloos and turned in, but before I had fallen asleep was reused out by movement of the ice and found q startling condition of affairs, rapidly widening road of black water ran but a few feet from our igloos. One of my teams of dogs had escaped by only a few feet from being dragged by the movement of the ice into the water
 Il had no fault to find with the con- dltlons. My dogs were the very best the pick of 133 with which we left Columbia. Almost all were powerful males, hard as nails. in good flesh. but without d superfiuouS ounce.
 Il decided that I should strain every nerve to make five marches of fifteen miles each, crowding these marches in such way as to bring us to the end Of the firth long enough before noon to permit the immediate taking of an ob- servatiOn for latitude.
 At little after midnight of April i. after few hours of sound sleep. hit the trail, leaving the others to break up camp and follow. AS I climbed the pressure ridge back of our igloos I set another hole in my belt, the third since l started. Every man and dog of us was lean and fiat bellied as a board and as hard.
 T had now made my five marches and was in time for a nasty noon ob- servatiOn through a temporary break in the clouds. which indicated our po- sition as 80 degrees minutes. quote an entry from my journal some hours later on April 6:
 "'The pole at last! The prize of three centuries, my dream and goal for twenty years, mine at last! cannot bring myself to realize it.
 of course 1 had many sensations that made sleep impossible for hours, despite my utter fatigue-the sensa- tions of a lifetime, but I have no room for them here.
 'The first thirty 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, depositing my records, studying the horizon with my telescope for pos sible land and searching for a practical ble place to make a sounding.
 Ten hours after our arrival the clouds cleared before light breeze from our left, and from that time until our departure in the afternoon of April the weather was cloudless and flaw less. The minimum temperature dur ing the thirty hours was 33 below, the maximum 12.
 We had reached the goal, but the return 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.
 l udu Il DEIel Ialh W1Iu UlA men. From now on it was to be big travel, little sleep and a hustle every minute We would try, l told them, to double march on the return-that Is, to start and cover one of our northward marches, make tea and eat our lunch in the igloos, then cover another march, eat and sleep a few hours and repeat this daily.
 Five miles from the pole a narrow crack filled with recent ice, through which we were able to work Il hole with pickax, enabled me to make a sounding. All my wire, 1,50O fathoms, was sent down, but there was no bot tom. In pulling up the wire parted a few fathomS from the surface. and lead and wire went to the bottom.
 All the members of the expedition are returning in good health except Professor Ross G. Marvin, who unfor- tunately was drowned on April 10 for ty-five miles north of Cape Columbia while returning from SC degrees north latitude in command of d supporting party"
 In closing his account Peary praised all the members of the party, saying that without their intelligent co-opera- tion it would have been impossible for him to have succeeded. He also of fered sincere thanks to those whose contributions made the expedition pos sible.
 At different stages of the sledge journey Commander Peary sent back Captain Bartlett, Professor Marvin, George Borup and his negro servant Henson to establish camps and to act as supporting parties so that when he reached the pole he was accompanied only by one Eskimo, Eging Wah.