The Caucasian. (Clinton, N.C.) 188?-1913, 1910-02-24
|BILKINS REACHES
THE NORTH POLE
Grit, Hard Work and Pre-
severance Win Another
Notable Victory.


AN INTERESTING DES-
CRIPTlON OF THE POLE
The Other Explorers Took too Much
for Granted and Stopped Short OF
the Pole-The Major Delivered an
Address OF Welcome" Which was
Modest, Though Not Brilliant
Strike Camp Near Base OF the Pole
and View II Leisureiy-BiIkins
Rode Bob Entirely Around Base of
Pole-Includes Address of Wei
come In Last Letter From Arctic
Regions-Some Interesting OBJ
seryations.
Correspondence of The Caucasian
Enterprise.)
At the Pole. Feb. H.. 1910.
We air here at last!
Grit, hard work an perseverance
hev won another great victory.
An this liz probably the greatest
victory ov modern times. In my last
letter I told you that l believed we
wuz in less than a hundred miles ov
the great geographical prize. Hit
wuz probably not over fifty or sixty
miles, for we made hit In less than
rive days travel after closed my last
letter to your paper. That wuz done,
too, in the face ov the fact that l
spent some time in dickerin' with the
compass after we got acrost the sea-
ice upon which we had bin travelin'
fer several weeks. We struck small
ridge soon after leavin' the ice, an
while hit wuz covered with snow an
ice. az awl the earth an sea liz in this
section, an wuz treeless. l felt sure
that we had reached the northern
coast ov the Arctic waters, probably
at or quite near the point DR.. Cook
claims to hev reached. The weather
wuz extremely cold, but I noticed
that the electric currents in the air
wuz powerfully strong. Hit wuz near
noon ov the Arctic day an the slant
ing rays ov the sun were struggling
to get up little heat fer company
hit seemed. But the Northern
Lights" were apparently asleep, were
not visible at any rate. SO could not
learn anything from that. But had
a feelin' in my heart that we wuz
nifty close to the great prize.
Leavin' the stock in care ov the
Eskimo, who wuz watchin' my move
ments like a hawk,I walked to the
highest part ov the small ridge an
set up my compass with cold nervous
hands, fer I'll admit that I wuz nifty
to settle the matter. After
considerable effort l managed to fas-
ten the staff ov the compass in the
ice. The needle at once began to act
like hit wuz wild. Hit danced aroun'
and aroun', Quivered like hit had a
chill, then danced some more. But
hit would not point to the North for
more than a second or two at time.
The Eskimo had joined me by this
time, an az he hez picked up a few
English words. he asked: Found
Pole?" l replied: mo; but hit IL
close by. We air on a powerful hot
trail," though the idea ov hot trail
in this region, ov a hot anything, wuz
an absurd word to use. Tellin' the
Eskimo to watch the camp, though
hit hardly needed much lookin' after
picked up the compass, an walked
rapidly toward the North. goin' prob.
ably half mile. set the compass
staff in the Ice again. an hit behaved
exactly az hit did before. But could
notis that hit jumped; that IL. the
needle. jumped faster than at frs
an that put me to thinkin' guide an
hard. Coin still further North, some
thin like another half mile. the com
pass repeated the antics in a still
4 1S<
hit" sez to myself, them scientificl
lads, with an appetite fer quick hon
ors, an a lecturin' contract In view
didn't wait to find the Pole hitself
North Pole finding bein' new thini
they took too much fer granted ant
jumped at a lot ov conclusions tha
mite hev passed fer the real thing II
some naborhoods. THE American
people love to be humbugged," set
the late p. T. Barnum. And hit WI
an IL true. But az q general thini
that applies only to small matters
Some people would really enjoy tn
novelty ov havin' their pockets pick
ed at a circus or fair, provided tn
pickpocket would not get over twent
or thirty cents. They'd laf about hi
afterwards an think hit guide joke
not only on themselves. but joke o.
the pickpocket az well. But IL tn
amount reach az many dollars or pos
sibly several hundred dollars. they
raze a howl rite. Just SO with thi
pole business. Hit liz big thing ar
they want thorough job done. or a
honest failure. IL the explorer fail
to sight hit. Scientifick talk won
satisfy 'em. Cook got around tn
whole business by goin' home Al
sayin' that he found the Pole. bu