Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1910-12-22


| along this region would furnish sufficient
supplies en- route, to the shores of the
/ Polar sea with men and dogs living on
fresh meat. I figured that they would
be in the best condition for dash over
the circumpolar Ice. This Journey to
lands end would also afford test OF
every article of equipment needed in the
field work and would enable me also to
choose from an entire tribe of Eskimos
| those most able to endure the rigors
| which lay before u.s."
ANSWERS INCORRECT STATEMENTS
After telling Of his start from Annoatok
| In February, 1908. with n party of ten
lIskimos. 103 dogs. and MS entering Bay
fjord, whore he encountered SO degrees
below zero, f. H., DR.. Cook takes the oc-
casion Of answering many widely quoted
! statements. as follows:
Il have been held responsible and
widely criticised for citing n tcmpera-
| ture of minus SO degrees Centlgrade,
which was the Interpretation Of a reporter
who met me on tho Hans Egede off the
Skaw. the northernmost point Of Den
mark. before my arrival at Copenhagen.
! have heen quoted. by the same report
and travcrscd 5000 square miles OF new
| land. What ] did report. and believe,
was that in my Journey / had passed
| through an area wherein It was possible
to declare 80 coo square miles-a terres-
| trial unknown OF water and ice--cleared
from the blank of our charts. l did dis
cover what I believed to be land. on the
3oth OF March. 1905 This was an irregu-
/ ln, ,,,
to the westward. extending for about
| nifty miles between the Sth and Stth par
allels close to the 1o2d meridian"
After detailing the supplies taken on
his trip. Or. Cook says: Were our sup
| plies sufficient to take Ne to the Pole"
! Much criticism has been expressed con-
| corning tho mcngerness OF food. can
| say only that in the final analysis. this
supply barely allowed us to keep alive
| | doubt If any men over suffered from
| hunger so intensely as we did and lived.
Death was. on our Journey northward
and southwark. a grim, persistent COM
! panion. and only the love Of life most
! deep-scatcd of human instincts. kept us
| from succumbing to utter despair Yet
this privation and despair had Its men
| tai reaction.-a reaction which was for
tunate for 1t was the belief in my
achievement that kept me alive in hours
Of direst physical trial"
| FEW SCIENTIFIC OBSERVATIONS.
DR. Cook says that his proposed jour
ncy was not one of scientific conquest
but one for which he expected only the
return due a pathfinder In this part of
his story occurs this remarkable state
| mont:
My conviction that I reached the
Pole never was based solely upon OBJ
servations figures. or mathematical cal
culations. | did take these. of course.
Sometimes I took them hastily, again
working them out with most painstaking
accuracy. Sometimes my mind was clear
as crystal. again ] was dazed with hun
ger. thrs. and cold. These figures did
not serve to convince me of my achieve
| ment. They only corroborated my inner
conviction OF progress. They were i'm
portant in working plan of action over
a trackless waste; but as a proof OF the
conquest they must always he INSULT
, Client.
Was my inner conviction that l at
! tanned the Pole insane? This has been
asked, and suggested Perhaps. Which
raises the whole problem Of the border
lines OF sanity. ! was. feel, no more
insane than any man who frantcally
pursues an ideal-an ideal which may
seem hairhrained to the practcal-and
who finally to himself, If to no other, Is
satisfied that he has accomplished his
desire. My conviction may be beyond the
bounds OF reason. Sometimes now ! feel
that 1t Is. Again | do not | do not
| know"
That his mind may have been affected
by hardships and that, III n state of bod
lily fatigue and mental hcwilderment he
convinced himself that he reached tho
Pole. DR.. cool; admits. THAT did tray
| el upward " twenty-five hundred miles
| In some direction, even my enemies cred
| 1t. Some have described my journey a.
being in semicircle others admit my
going pretty far north. Whether I went
| directly north, or was diverted at times
does not. cannot, change the facts OF my
experience We were compelled on our
Journey to go in various directions tt
lind a way. We made wide detours, AZ
, other times had TO retreat and find
new passages Perhaps, In so doing,
did become confused and over-estimate Cd
my progress II that Is so, it is a fac,
neither nor anyone can settle now
Wherever ! went, however, | maintain
1t was northward. and | did reach q
spot which | believed to be the Pole"
One OF the most extraordinary features
In DIR. Cooks confession is his admission
that his conviction of attaining the NORTH
| Pole was based largely upon his obser-
walton OF his shadow. This theory he
| presents with great detail.