The Hattiesburg news. (Hattiesburg, Miss.) 1908-1917, 1909-09-02
OLD GLORY IS WAVING
OVER THE NORTH POLE

Polar Sea from the southern point of
Herbert Island on March 1S. Six Es-
kimos returned from here. With four
men and As dogs moving supplies for
so days, the crossing of the Circum-
pola pack was begun. Three days
later two other Eskimos, forming the
last supporting party returned, and
the trials had now been reduced by
the survival of the fittest The two
best men and 26 dogs were picked for
the final effort.
There before us in an unknown
line Of AGO miles lay our goal. Tho
first days provided long marches, and
we made encouraging progress. A big
gap which separated the land from
the ice of the central pack was cross
ed with little delay. The low tenn
perature was persistent, and the winds
made life torture. But cooped up in
our snow houses eating dried beef
tallow and drinking hot tea, there
were some animal comforts occasion
ally to be gained. --.' ..fo 81
For several days after the sight
of known land was lost, the overcast
sky prevented an accurate description
of our position. On March 80 the ho-
rizon was partly cleared and new land
was discovered. Our observations gave
our position as latitude S4.47; longi- |
tude S6.S6.
Last Signs of Earth.
There was urgent need of rapid |
advance, our main mission did not |
permit detour for the purpose of ex-
ploring the coast. Here were seen
the last signs of solid earth; beyond |
there was nothing stable to be seen.
eve advanced steadily over the
of moving sea ice and now
found ourselves beyond the range of !
all life: neither footprints of bears
nor the blowhole of seals were detect
ed. Even the microscopic creatures Of
the deep were no longer under us.
The maddening of shifting desert of
frost became almost unendurab,e in
he daily routine. The surface Of the
pack offered less and less trouble,
and the weather improved, but there
still remained the life-sapping wind
which drove despair to it's lowest re-
cess. The extreme cold compelled
physical relaxation.
Sunburns and Frostbtes.
"Thus day after day our weary legs
pread over big distances. Incidents
mi positions were recorded, but ad-
enture was promptly forgotten in the
ext days efforts. The night of April
was made notable by the sinking of
he sun at midnight over the northern |
ce. Sunburns and frost bites were
ecorded on the same day, but the
ouble days glitter infused quite an
1centive into ones life of shivers.
Our observations on April placed
he camp in latitude S6.36; longitude
Az.
In spite of what seemed long
larches we advanced but little over
hundred miles. Much of our work
as lost in eircuitous twists around
pressure lines and high, d
regular fields of ice.
Eat Dogs For Food. U
"a very old ice drift, too, was driv-
g eastward with sufficient force TO a
We me some anxiety. Although still e
lual to about fifty miles daily, the e
ltended marches and the long houu C
r travelling with which we were ia. p
'red earlier were no longer possible.
e were now about 200 miles from W
e pole and sledge loads were reduc. W
|. One dog after another went into p
70 stomach of the hungry survivors II
ntil the teams were considerable a
minished in number, but there seem. 81
to remain a sufficient balance for X
an and brute to push along in the n
art of the mystery to which We had 81
mt ourselves. la
I'm April 21, We had reached SO II
grees, IS minutes, 46 seconds. The II
lie was in sight. We covered the re- II
aiming IA seconds and made a few
lal observations. I told Etukishook
d Ahwelsh (the accompanying Eski-
os) that we had reached the great II
ill., fiji
Flag is Hoisted. WI
Everywhere We turn our way was Ell
nth. With single step we could &C
IS from one side of the earth to the ty
her; from midday to midnight AT m
st the flag floated to the breeze at
Q pole.
1T was April 81, 1908. The tenn to
rature was minus SS centigrade, ba- be