Dewey County advocate. [volume] (Timber Lake, S.D.) 1910-1913, 1911-09-01
Saved Lives of Scientists
In the Arctic
Thrilling Experiences Of Museum
Agents in the Country Where
Even the Polar Bears Have
ChiIIs aid Where Letters Writ
ten in March Lie in the Mail
Bag Until July Before They Are
Started Toward Civilization.

- N the authority Of DR.. Ru-
kAA dolph N. Anderson, whose
N1N word is as good as first
kEtH mortgage bond In the
W. world Of science, the
three-year-old carcass of a
bowhead, while slightly acrid and a
bit mussy, Is certainly filling. The
doctor knows because he ate a few
double portion slices. It was bow
head or nothing. AS the doctor had
had plenty Of the latter he welcomed
the bowhead.
1t was in that forlorn country, where
even the polar bears have chills, 1000
miles to the west and more than 1000
north, and then some, that he made
the choice, relates the New York
World. He and v. Stefansson, as rep
resentatives of the American Museum
Ut National History, were up there
staring death in the face looking for
specimens. They are now returning,
after two years absence. Stories Of
their hardships have got here first.
Catching the mails is no joke up there
To get letter in the letter box at
MACPHERSON in time for the July de-.
livery Mr.. Stefasson wrote on March
49, If letter is carried around in
ones pocket over night the folks at
home have to wait another six months
for news.
Mr.. Stefansson and DIR. Anderson
left New York on April g. 1908 They
made their way by railroad to Edmon-
ton, Canada, the furtherest point to
which human ingenuity and daring
had been able to push the steel rails,
the advance agents Of progress. From
Edmonton the two explorers made
their way to Athabasca, at the head
waters Of the Mackenzie, where, the
river being free from ice, they would
find sturdy little steamers ready to
carry them one step further into the
wilderness of ice and snow. The mo-
ment they left the deck of the little
boat that had served their purpose to
the best of Its ability the two adven-
turers plunged into the terrible fast
nessess Of the great silent north.
For almost two years the great
sweeps of snow and ice hid the two
men from the rest of the world almost
as completely as the walls of a tomb
Once an Eskimo, travelling far from
his home down into the haunts of
sturdy white folks who were fighting
for existence on the very edge of
the arctic circle, brought with him
a story of two white men up above the
circle. Only one other time did word
come from the men. Then, by long
and tedious sled journeys, did an Es-
kimo attached to their party carry a
letter to the daring skipper of a fish
Ing smack that had literally forced it's
way through the ice into the far
north.
Now the men are making their way
slowly back, bringing with them de-
tails OF a story the mere hints of
which have outdone the dreams of
writer's Of fiction who love to tell of
imaginary adventures in the frozen
north. And the men who faced perils
and hardships that would have tried
the courage and strength of the hard
est; who set out on long and painful
Journeys when the mercury froze in
the thermometer; who were forced to
camp on mountain ridges and peaks
at the height of blizzards-they have
sent plain. impassioned report of
their journeys without giving a hint
that they encountered aught but what
they expected when they left New
York.
Hardships Of the Trip.
1t would require far more space
than the limits of this article permit
to give more than a mere skeleton of
the story of the two years trip, as it
is now in the possession of DR.. H. C.
Bumpus, director of the Museum of
Natural History, who authorized the
expedition. When the men themselves
arrive they will fill in with detail the
story or periods of ten days and more
that often elasped without a morseI of
sustaining food passing their lips, and
which they dismissed with a single
sentence in their preliminary report
In many respects the trip of Mr..
Stefansson and DR.. Anderson SIR
passes any other expedition ever made
into the north by white men. The diff
flculties with which they had to con-
tend, because of the very nature of
their journey, exceeded even those
which confronted Commander Pearv
on his dash to the north pole. His
was hurried trip across several hun
dred miles Of ice to the pole and
back. Carefully constructed sleds
drawn by the finest Eskimo dogs in