The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1909-09-17

| tAoh VI our advance.
| The observations completed and two
copies made one for him and the other
for me, Bartlett started on the back
| trail In command of my fourth sup
! porting party, with two Eskimos, one
sledge and Is dogs.
BARTLETT Did Good Work.
When he left 1 felt for a moment
pangs of regret as he disappeared in
the distance. but it was only momen-
tary. My work was still ahead, not in
| the rear.
| Bartlett had done good work and had
| been great help to me. Circumstances
had thrust the brunt of the pioneering
! upon him instead of dividing it among
several, as l had planned.
| He had reason to take pride in the
| fact that he had bettered the Italian
| record by a degree and a quarter and
| had covered a distance equal to the
| entire distance of the Italian expedi-
ton from Franz Josefs land to Cagnis
| farthest north.
1 had given Bartlett this position and
| post of honor in command of my
| fourth and last supporting party and
| for two reasons: first, because of his
magnificent handling of the Roosevelt;
second, because he had cheerfully stood
| between me and many trifling annoy
ances on the expeditions.
|
seemed to me appropriate in view of
| the magnificent British record of arc
| tic work, covering three centuries, that
it should be British subject who
| could boast that, next to an American
he had been nearest the pole.
Ready for Final Effort.
With the disappearance of Bartlett l
| turned to the problem before me- This
| was that for which 1 had worked for 80
years, for which I had lived the simple
| life: for which I had conserved all my
energy on the upward trip; for which
| 1 had trained myself as for q race, crush
ing down every worry about success.
In spite of my years, I felt in trim
| fit for the demands Of the coming days
| and eager to be on the trail.
AS for my party, my equipment, and
| my supplies, / was in shape beyond my
| most sanguine dreams of earliest years.
My party might be regarded as an
| ideal, which had now come to realization
AS loyal and responsive to my will as
the fingers of my right hand.
Men All Tried and True.
| Four of them possess the technique of
dogs. sledges. ice, and cold as their heri-
| tage. Two of them, Hansen and Ootam,
were my companions to the farthest point
| three years before. Two others, Eginwuk
| and Sigloo, were in Clark's division,
| which had such a narrow escape at that
| time, and now were willing to go any
where with my immediate party, and
| willing to risk themselves again in any
| supporting party.
The fifth was young man who had
| never served before in any expedition,
| but who was, if possible, even more
| willing and eager than the others for
the princely gifts-a boat, rifle, shot
| gun, ammunition, knives, ETC., which I
| had promised to each of them who
| reached the pole with me; for he knew
| that these riches would enable him to
wrest from a stubborn father the girl
whose image filled his hot young heart.
All Followed Him BIindIy.
All had blind confidence so long as
I was with them, and gave no thought
| for the morrow, sure that whatever hap
| pened I should somehow get them back
| to land. But I dealt with the party
equally. I recognized that all it's i'm
| petus centered in me, and that whatever
pace I set 1t would make good. If any
| one played out, I would stop for short
| time.
had no fault to find with the condi-
| tons. My dogs were the best, the pick
| of 122 with which we left Columbia. AL
most all were powerful males, hard as
| nails, in good f1esh but without a super
| f1uous ounce, and, what was better yet,
| they were all in good spirits.
My sledges, now that the repairs were
| completed, were in good condition. My
| supplies were ample for 40 days, and.
| with the reserve represented by the dogs
| themselves. could be made to last so.
| At a little after midnight of April 1,
| after few hours of sound sleep, I hit
| the trail. leaving the others to break
up camp and follow.
AS I climbed the pressure ridge back
| of our igloos set another hole in my
| belt, the third since I started. Every
| man and dog of us was lean and fiat
bellied as board and as hard.
Fine Morning for Start.
It was a fine morning. The wind of
| the last two days had subsidized, and the
| going was the best and most equable
| of any I had had yet. The foes were
| large and old, and clear, and were sur
| rounded by pressure ridges, some of
| which were almost stupendous.
The biggest of them however, were
| easily negotiated, either through some
| crevice or UP some huge brink. I set
good pace for about ten hours.
| Twenty-Five miles took me well be-
| yond the eighty eighth parallel.
While I was building my igloos
| long lead forward by the east and
| southwest of US at a distance of a few
| miles.
Few Handicaps Are Faced.
| A few hours sleep and we were on
| the trail again. AS the going was now
| practically horizontal, we were un-
hampered and could travel as long as
we pleased and sleep as little as we
| wished
| The weather was fine and the going
like that of the previous day, except
| at the beginning when pickaxeS were