Putnam patriot., 1912-04-12
 OH for the South Pole.

Ns
 Hut Point on the eve of Nov ?. having
 decided to march by night and rest during the day to give the ponies the
 benefit of warmer day temperatures.
 We reached Corner Camp this morn,
 ing. Travelling south for sixty miles,
 we followed the tracks of the motors, then we found the machines abandon
 ed The party had proceeded onward as directed, were delayed by a bliz-
 gard on the eighth. but reached One
 Ton Camp on the morning os the six teenth The dog teams had caught ms
 up some days earlier, and the whole
 party proceeded iE company, days
 rest was given the animals at One Ton Camp, which we left on seventeenth Having regard to the weight Of
 the leads. the heavy surfaces and limited number of animals, l decided
 to march fifteen miles only every
 night. This distance has been main
 tained eight nights. and, so far as we
 can foresee, it should be continued. Overheated Motors Abandoned. We found the motor party waiting at latitude so l-2. Two of their mum,
 Der now leave us. The sole cause of | the abandonment of the motors was the overheating of the air-cooled en- zines. Time did not permit of the de- fects being taken in hand. The sys- tenn of propulsion of the motors prov ed entirely satisfactory, The machines dragged heavy loads over the worst part of the barrier service and cross l ed several crevasses. Considering in | adequate trial. their success has been remarkable, With the experience now gained reliable tractor could be con structed which could travel anywhere I in this region and save the sacrifice of | animals.
 We are building snow cairns at in. | tervals of four miles to guide the ! homeward parties and leaving a weeks provision at every degree of | latitude to the barrier. The surface
 was extremely bad and trying to the 1 nonies up to One Ton Camp, but has oeen comparatively good since. The greater number of the ponies have | been dragging over $50 pounds.
 Progress Through Violent Storms. Dec 10, latitude sS degrees h min | utes--After the return. of the motor | party from latitude S1 degrees 15 min utes We pushed steadily south, hope | ful for better weather conditions \
 second pony was destroyed at latitude 1 S2 degrees 10 minutes a third at lati- tude S2 degrees 45 minutes, and two more near the eightythird parallel. | None of these animals were exhaust | cd, but were sacrificed on account of | Tightening loads and as food for dogs Hard Work In the Deep Snow. l On the ninth, after the storm, eigh- l teen inches of wet snow covered the | originally soft surface. We could not l have advanced at all had not the lead 1 ing pony worn snow shoes. The men hauled on skis. It took fourteen hours | without a meal to do eight miles At the first halt the ponies were destroy 1 ed, as we had no more forage for 1 them. To-day we have come through | the pass and descended on Beardmors l Glacier but only with infinite dif!icnl- l ty and after twelve hours work. . ho
 soft snow brought by the storm con | tinued over the pass Men on foot
 sank To their knees and sledges sank
 10 their crossbars continually. The
 dcas have given some help, but could
 only be slightly laden on such sur | face
 send this note by returning teams
 The party is very fit but cannot keep .t..l. hs..a an
 working. The storm has already cost
 us five days. It's effects may yet delay
 us further, which would be serious l matter. Otherwise everything has
 worked as planned. We hope to find l better conditions as we advance up
 the glacier. We are necessarily de
 pendent on the weather, and the sea
 son thus far has been very unpromis-
 ing,
 Struggle to Achieve Five Miles Day.
 Dec. 21, latitude S5 degrees I min
 utes south, longitude 163 degrees 4
 minutes east. height about $500 feet,
 four miles south, thirty west of Mount
 Darwin. Largely as result of the
 storm reported in my last dispatch, i the lower reaches of the glacier were
 filled with terribly soft snow. Men on
 foot sank to the knee at each step. 1t l would have been quite impossible to ad
 vance. had we not pulled on skis. Az it was the runner surface of sledges
 proved inadequate. They frequently l sank to the crossbars, requiring to be 1 extracted with standing pulls. For 1 four days we struggled in this morass, 1 scarcely advancing i've miles day,
 although working ten to eleven hours. l Ii is difficult to pitch camp and load
 siedges on such surface. On the
 fifth day the surface grew little hard
 CT, and we were able to push on, still
 palline on skis We did not get abreast l of CiCudbreaker Mountain uHsi the
 seventeenth, so that the snow cost us
 a weeks advance.
 Since the sixteenth we have been
 able to make very good marches, work
 ing up from thirteen 10 twenty-three statute miles per day By programnls
 arranged to push on from the eighty fifth parellel with eight men and ! twelve units of provisions, but hoped
 to reserYe-a margin over this As We stand we are only half days food i short on programme and should have a good chance Of getting through. The
 weather continues unsatisfactory. We I had to march without sight oi and on i occasions. We are getting intermit- ! ten fog in> this most crevassed part ' of the glacier. Everybody is in the
 best of health and spirits