The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1910-05-13
PEARY'S PROOFS Summary of His System What Must Be Done to Reach the North Pole

proofs that he reached the Pole be- gins in the forthcoming June number of Hampton's Magazine. Commander Peary opens his narrative with a des- cription of the start of the Peary par ty from Cape Columbia, the last point of land. northward across the ice of the Polar Sea. He emphasizes the fact that there is nothing but water between Cape Columbia, and the North Pole, a distance of 413 miles. The dangerous feature of Arctic travel, he says, ''is the leads Ghe whalers' term for lanes of open water), which are caused by the movement of the ice under the pressure of the wind and the tides. These are the everpresent nightmare of the traveller over the frozen surface of the Polar Ocean the nightmare on the upward journey for fear that they may prevent fur ther advance; the nightmare on the return tourney for fear that they may. cut us off from land and life leaving us to wander about and starve to death on the northern side. Their occurrence or nOn-Occurrence is thing impossible to prophecy or calculate. They open without warning immediate ly ahead of us, following no apparent rule or law Of action
 His narrative then proceeds to dem onstrate why his expedition was sue cessful. and although he does not men tion Dr. Cook by name. Peary says: ''Fortitude and endurance alone are not enough in themselves to carry man to the North Pole. Only with years of experience in travelling those regions, only with the aid of a large party also experienced in that char acter of work, only with the knowl- edge of Arctic detail and the equip ment necessary to prepare himself and his party for any and every emergency is it possible for a man to reach that long sought goal and return.
 1.-The reason of our success was a carefully planned system, mathema- ticallv demonstrated. Everything that could be controlled was controlled, and the indeterminate factors-storms, open leads and accidents to men, dogs and sledges-were taken into consid- ation in the percentage of probabili- ties and provided for as far as possi- ble. Sledges would break and dogs would fall by the way, of course, but we could generally make one sledge out of two broken ones, and the grad ual depletion of our dogs was involved in our calculations"
 The main points of the so-called "Peary system" to which the success of the expedition may be ascribed are about as follows:
 ''To drive ship through the chan mel ice to the farthest possible north ern land point from which she can be driven back again the following year.
 "To do enough hunting during the fall and winter to keep the party healthily supplied with fresh meat.
 gro have dogs enough to allow the loss of sixty per cent, of them by death or otherwise.
 s'To have just the right number of the hest kind of SledPeS. 1,
 .'To have every item of equipment of the quality best suited to the pur- pose, thoroughly tested, and of the lightest possible weight.
 gro have the confidence of a large number of Eskimos. earned by square dealing and generous gifts in the past, so that they will follow the leader to any point he may specify.
 ''To have an intelligent and willing body of civilized assistants to lead the various divisions of Eskimos-men whose authority the Eskimo will ac- cept when delegated by the leader.
 gro have the absolute confidence of every member of the party, white, black, Or brown, so that every order of the leader will be implicitly obey ed
 .'To have the right number of di- visions, or relay parties, each under the leadership of competent assist ant, to send back at appropriate and carefully calculated stages along the upward journey.
 .'To know exactly to what point each man and dog may be worked without injury.
 "To know the physical and mental capabilities of every assistant and Es- kimo.
 ''To know, by long experience, the best way to cross wide leads of open water.
 ITO transport beforehand to the point where the expedition leaves the land for the Polar dash sufficient food, fuel, clothing, stoves Coil or alcohoD and other mechanical equipment to get the main party to the Pole and back and the various divisions to their north and back.
 gro return by the same route that was followed on the upward march using the beaten trail and the already constructed igloos, provided this trail shall not have been obEterated by shifting of the ice.
 "To have the final party carry, on the last leg of the dash, enough sup plies to get it back to land by a new route in case shifting ice shall have destroyed the up-trail and the lgiooS along it's route.''
 Peary then proceeds to give the de- tails of each days journey, including scientific observations at various points. During the marches Peary and his party determined their dis tance by dead reckoning, which was simply the compass course for direc- tion Observa tions were taken often enoueh to check these and ascertain their accuracy. A part of the scien- tific work consisted of deep sea sound ings from Cape Columbia to the Pole. Commander Peary carried two sound ing apparatus and an extra lead, the wire and leads being made especially for the expedition. They were the lightest of their capacity probably ever used and weighed 103 pounds. Forty-five miles north of Cape Colum- bia a sounding was made and a depth oh foi,