Gilpin observer., 1909-09-16


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-
tions 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
S523 Borup turned back in command of
eed distance equivalent to Nansen's
distance from this far to his farthest
north.
/ was sorry to lose this young Yale
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. 1t
was necessary for Marvin to take a
sledge from here, and l put Bartlett
and his division in advance to pioneer
the trail.
The continual daylight enabled me to
make 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 l re-
mained with our division 20 hours long
er and then followed. When we reached
q
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 ExPEDlTIoUSLY.
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 impossibility.
AT our position at the end of the sec
ond march. Marvin obtained a satisfac-
tory sight for latitude in clear weather.
which placed at S.4S. 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 1t 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
a few hours. We finally ferried across
the ice cakes
MAKES RECORD RUN.
The next day Bartlett let himself out,
evidently, for a record, and reeled of %
miles. Here Marvin obtained another
satisfactory sight on latitude which gave
the position as S6.3S Tor beyond the farth-
est north of Nansen and AbruzzD and
showed that we had covered so minutes
Of latitude in three marches.
In these three marches We had passed
the Norwegian record OF S6l4. by Nan
sen. and the Italian record Of S634. 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 sledges, and co dogs
The conditions at this camp and the ap-
parently unbroken eNpanse of fairly level
ice In every direction reminded me of
Caghi's description of his farthest north.
DANGER Is ENCOUNTERED.
But / was not deceived by the appar-
entity favorable outlook. for available
conditions never continue for any dis
lance or any length of time in the arc
tic regions.
The next march was over good 60
ing. but for the first time since leaving
land we experienced that condition, FREE
quent over these ice fields. of a hazy at
everywhere. All relief Is destroyed, and
It is impossible to see for any distance
We were Obliged in this march to make
detour around an open lead. In the
next march we encountered the heaviest
and deepest snow OF the journey. through
a thick, smothering mantle lying in the
depressions of heavy rubble ice.
Temporarily Discouraged.
] came upon Bartlett and his party,
fasged out and temporarily discouraged
by the heartracking work Of making
road.
l knew what was the matter with
them. They were simply spoiled by the
good going on the previous marches /
rallied them bit. lightened their sledges
and sent them on encouraged again.
During the next march We Travelled
through 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 wide
open lead with n dense black water sky
northwest. north and northeast
The next march was also a long one.
1t was Bartletts last hit. He let him
self out over n series of large old foes
steadily increasing in diameter and
covered with hard snow.
WIND HELPS OUT.
During the last few miles I walked
beside him or in advance. He was SOL
emn and anxious TO go further. but the
program was for him to go back from
here in command OF the fourth sup
porting party. and there were no sup
plies for an Increase in the main party.
In this march we encountered a high
wind for the first time since the three
days after we left Cape Columbia, 1t
was dead In our faces. bitter and In
sistent. but l had no reason to COM
plain. II was better than an easterly
or southerly wind, either of which
would have set us adrift in open wa
ter. while this was closing up every
lead behind
This furnished another advantage of
my supporting parties. True. by so
doing II was pressing to the south tbe
Ice over which we Travelled, and so rob
bling us of hundred miles of advan-
tage.
EI0HTY-FouR IS PASSED.
We concluded we were on or nenr
the eIghtY- -eiEhth nnrnllel nnInaa L.,