The Lamar register. [volume] (Lamar, Colo.) 1889-1952, 1909-09-15

| Ou8ly disappointing 10 me. ne ndu
| sledge all the way from Cape Columbia
/ and with his enthusiasm and the power,
| and physique of the trained athlete
| had confidence In him for at least the
Seth parallel. but there was no alterna.
| tive.
| The best sledges and dogs were select
| ed and the sledge loads brought up tc
| the standard. The sounding gave q
| depth of 325 fathoms.
We were over the continual shelf. and
as / had surmised. the successive leads
crossed in the fifth and sixth marches
| composed the big lead and marked the
continual shelf.
On leaving the camp the expedition
comprised I6 men. u sledges and 100 dogs.
The next march was satisfactory 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 bath.
and we were finally stopped by an i'm
practicable lead opening in front of US.
We camped In temperature of 80 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-
tons 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
s5.23. Borup turned back In command Of
the second supporting party. having trav-
eled a distance equivalent to Nansen's
distance from this far to his farthest
north.
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 a
sledge from here. and I put Bartlett
and his division In advance to pioneer
the trail.
The continual daylight enabled me to
make n moderation here that brought my
advance and main parties 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 1 re-
manned with our division 20 hours long
er and then followed. When we reached
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 was In touch with my
advance party every "a hours.
Moves Expeditiousiy.
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 It
would have been an impossibllity.
Al our position at the end OF the sec
ond march. Marvin obtained a satisfac-
tory sight for latitude In clear weather.
which placed us at S.+s. The result
agreed satisfactorily with the dead reck-
oning of Marvin. Bartlett and myself
Up to this time. the slight altitude OF
the sun had made It 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 n few hours. We finally ferried across
the Ice cakes.
Makes Record Run.
The next day Bartlett let himself out,
evidently. for n record. and reeled on 20
miles. Here Marvin obtained another
satisfactory sight on latitude. which gave
the position as ss.3s Cor beyond the farth-
showed that we had covered 50 minutes
of latitude In three marches.
In these three marches we had passed
the Norwegian record of ss.N. by Nam
sen. and the Italian record of ssN. 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 siedges. and co 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 10 Encountered.
But I was not deceived by the appar-
entity favorable outlook. for available
conditions never continue for any dis
lance any length of time In the arc
tic regions.
The next march was over good GO
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
II Is impossible to see for any distance.
We were obliged In this march to make
a detour around an open lead. In the
next march we encountered the heaviest
and deepest snow of the journey. through
thick. smothering mantle lying In the
depressions of heavy rubble ice.
Temporarily Discouraged.
came upon Bartlett and his party
tagged out and temporarily discouraged
by the heartracking work of making
road.
/ knew what was the matter with
them. They were simply spoiled by the
good going on the previous marches. /
rallied them a bit. lightened their sIedges
and sent them on encouraged again.
During the next march we Travelled
through n thick haze drifting over the
Ice before biting air from the north
east At the end of the march we came
upon the captain camped beside u wide
open lead with dense black water sky
northwest. north and northeast.
Has Marrow Escape.
We built our igioos and turned In, but
before l had fallen asleep was reused
out by a movement of the ice and found
startling condition of affairs-a rapid
ly-widening road of black water ran
only few feet from our igloos
One of the teams of dogs had escaped
by only few feet from being dragged
by the MONUMENT Of the ice. into the wa
ter.
Another team had an equally narrow
escape from being crushed by the ice
blocks piled over them. The ice on the
north side of the lead was moving around
eastward. The small floor on which
were the captains Nigloos was drifting
eastward In the open water. and the side
of our igloos threatened to follow suit
Saved by Quick Dash.
Kicking out the door of the igIoos
Y lr.l .. atx.#.