Norwich bulletin., 1909-09-30
THE CONQUEST OF THE POLE.
By pr. Frederick A. Cook.

By pr. Frederick A. Cook. | Copyright. 1909, by The New York 1 Herald Company. Registered in Can l ada in accordance with Copyright Act Copyright in Mexico under the laws of
 the Republic of Mexico. All rights
 reserved.)
 1 On snow shoes with spread legs | led the way. The sleds with light
 loads followed. The surface vibrated as we moved along, but the spiked
 handle of the ice axe did not easily
 pass through. For about two miles
 we walked with an easy tread and considerable anxiety, but had all been on similar ice before and knew that with ready line and careful watch fulness there was no great danger. A | cold bath, however, in that tempera- iture, forty degrees below, could have had some serious consequences. In | two crossings all our supplies were safely landed on the north shores, and 1 from there the lead had much more
 picturesque effect.
 For time this huge separation in the pack was a mystery to me. At first sight there seemed to be no good
 reason for its existence. Peary had
 found a similar break north of Robe
 son Channel. It seemed likely that
 
 same lead following at a distance the general trend of the northernmost land extension.
 This is precisely what one finds on a smaller scale wherever ice packs come together Here we have a pack of the central polar sea meeting the land ice. The movement of the land pack is intermittent and usually along the coast. The shadows, grounded ice and projecting points interfere with a steady drift The movement of the central pack is quite constant and al- most in every direction.
 The tides, the currents and the winds each give momentum to the floating mass. This lead is the break 1t widens as the pack separates, mar rows or widens with an easterly or westerly drift, according to the press ure of the central pack Early in the season when the pack is little crew assed and not elastic it is probably wide; later as the entire sea of ice becomes active it may disappear or shift to line nearer the land.
 New Ice Stops Drift.
 In low temperature new ice forms | rapidly and this offers an obstruction | to the drift of the old ice. As the | heavy central ice is pressed against |, the unyielding pack the small ice is | ground up and even heavy foes are 1 crushed. This reduced mass of small | ice is pasted and cemented along the 1 shores of the big lead, leaving a broad | band of troublesome surface as a se- rious barrier to sled travel It seems | quite likely that this lead, or con | dition similar to it, extends entirely | around the polar sea as a buffer be- | tween the land and the middle pack.
 With the big lead and it's many pos abilities for troublesome delay behind, | a course was set to reach the eighty | fifth parallel on the ninety seventh l meridian. What little movement was i noted on the ice had been easterly, and | to allow for this drift we aimed to keep line slightly west of the pole.
 Small foes, with low pressure lines | separated by narrow belts of new ice, were the rule during these days of travel The temperature rose to forty one below. The western sky cleared slightly and offered strong appear ances of land.
 The wind was not a troublesome | actor as we forged along for the first lay over this central pack. After a 'un of eleven hours the pedometer reg stered twenty-three miles, but we had aken a zigzag course and therefore 'nly placed seventeen miles to our redit.
 The night was beautiful The sun ank into purple haze and soon there three suns in prismatic col ITS and these soon settled into the rozen sea. During the night a mar ow band of orange frightened the orthern skies, while the pack sur ace glowed in magnificent shades of I iolet and lilac and pale purple blue
 Land Clouds Still Visible. Satisfactory observations at noon n March 24 gave our position as lati- ude S3 deg. S1 min, longitude 96 deg. Z [ min. The land clouds of Grant t and were still visible and a low bank f mist in the west occasionally estive of land. This we believed to ( e Crocker Land, but mist persistent 2 ' screened the horizon and did not f fer an opportunity to study the con- f our. f Until midday the time was used for bservations and a study of the land i coalitions. The dogs sniffed the air i g if scenting game, but after a dili- l V ent search one seal blow hole was 4 ound on an old bear track, but no n glae or other small life was detected ii ] the water of the crevices. At the k ig lead few aglae were gathered, 0 ut here the sea was sterile The s gns or seal and bear, however, were ncouraging for a possible food sup z ly. In returning the season would | 8 more advanced and the life might love northward, thus permitting an xtension of the time allowance of our itions r Though the heat of the sun was arely felt its rays began to piece the ye with painful effects. The bright sht, being reflected from the spot ss surface of the storm driven snows, 'uld not long be endured even by le Eskimos without some protection he amber colored goggles that we Id made at Annootok from the glass
 the. photographic supplies Znow owed a priceless discovery They /. feetually removed one of the great t torments to Arctic travel.
 The darkened or smoky glasses. blue q asses of ordinary automobile gog- l es had al been tried with indifferent (, sults. They failed for one reason or 1, lother, mostly because of an. insuf- .ient range or vision or faulty con- rucfion. making 1t impossible to pro- a, ed more than few minutes without o, moving the accumulated condensa- z. )n. q,
 Relief in Amber Glasses. tt uI