The Hartford republican. (Hartford, Ky.) 18??-1926, 1912-03-15
JOY ride TAKEN
TO SOUTH POLE
AmundSen Encountered
Few Hafdships.
sHorwegian Explorer Reached
Coveted Goal at Time He
Calculated.


in the picturesquely simply narativ,
Of Capt. Road Amundsen's discover,
of the South Pole, which was pub.
Elished here today, that part of the ac.
count which is of pre-cminent inter
est to scientists and geographers
shows the ease with which the dash
was made and the location of territory
and mountains hitherto unknown
While Norway gains high prestige
through the successful quest of one Q
her citizens, she gains in a material
way. too. for the Norwegian flags float
over hundreds of square miles of new
ly discovered ground within the Ant
arctic circle.
There is still further distinction, for
the plateau upon which the very pole
itself stands has been named King
Haakon's plateau. and the newest
mountains known to geographers have
been designated Queen Mauds range.
Capt. Amundsen's story is so convinc-
Ing that all doubt in England has
been SWEET away. and as he made no
mention of finding indications of an
earlier expedition at the pole, it is now
admitted that he is the discoverer. 1t
is also intimated that the Japanese
party may be second to the pole, for
Amundsen said that the japanese,
under Lieut.. Shirase, had arrived at
the barrier. near the Amundsen party's
winter quarters, on January 16, and
We're rapidly making their way south.
No mention is made at all of Capt.
Scott and the British party. After a
Journey over the ice fields and snow
hummoks and roundabout excursions
to avoid yawning crevices, Amundsen
and his party of four men and eight
cen dogs stood at the pole at 3 o'clock
on the afternoon of December II. 1911.
So perfect had been the reckoning of
the explorer that, while he was miles
away. he had calculated that he would
be on the goal on December IA. IT
took just forty-five days to negotiate
the distance from the winter quarters
to the pole, the distance being about
700 miles.
With a single exception of the final
dash the weather was favorable, the
thermometer ranging from % to Q de-
grees below zero. In fact, says
Amundsen. 1t was more like a pleas
ure trip than a voyage of exploration.
After delay at the start. which was
caused by a hurricane. the party final
ly got away from the winter quarters
on october 20. 1911. simultaneously
another party Of five men left for a
southern tour Of exploration and scien-
tific experimenting.
In the party led by Amundsen were
four men and fifty-two dogs. Later.
however. 1t became necessary to kill
thirty-four Of the faithful animals. 1t
is interesting to compare the hard
SHIPS which Perry and his men en-
dured with the ease with which Amund-
sen and his party Travelled.
Perry had to cross broken ice ridges
and encounter storm after storm. The
weather at the North Pole is also
much colder than that at the South
Pole. judging from a comparison of
the two narratives.
In the beginning of the dash the
Norwegian started to hike his way
southwark on February TO- 1911. BY
April II three depots were cached.
provisions had been established re-
spectively at so. 81 and So degrees
The ice plain upon which
these depots were built were SO I'M
marked that flags had to be planted to
designate the stations.
Describing the dash over the bar
rier on this trip Amundsen again lays
stress upon the favorable conditions
and the ease with which the party
got through. On the return from the
first trip Anundsen describes his joy
at learning that the Fran had been
able to work her way farther south. at
tanning the southernmost point ever
by any vessel. That gave her
the double honor of being the "farthest
south" ship as well as having reached
farthest north. The lowest temporal
turs on this first journey was As de-
gress below zero. but 1t was clear and