The Watertown weekly leader. [volume] (Watertown, Jefferson County, Wis.) 1912-1917, 1912-03-15


heit). Personally we did not suffer at
all from the cold. Our good furs pro-
.tected US. But with our dogs it was
different matter 1t could easily be
seen that they shrunk from day to
day, and we understood pretty soon
that they could not stand the long run
to our depot at 80 degrees south.
We agreed on returning and to wait
for the arrival of spring. The pro-
visions were cached and of We went
for the hut With the exception of the
loss of a few dogs and a couple Of
frozen heels everything was all right.
Only in the middle of October spring
came in earnest. Seals and birds ap-
peared. The temperature waE steady
between 20 and 80 celsius (68 de-
grees and So degrees Fahrenheit)
The original plan that all of US
should go toward the south had been
changed. Five men had to do this
work, while the other three were to
start for the east and visit King Ed
ward VII Land
This last mentioned trip was not
included in our program, but owing to
the fact that the English had not
reached it, at least this summer, as
was their intention. We agreed that
the best thing to do was also to make
this trip.
On October 20 the southern party
started-five men, four sledges, fifty
two dogs, and provisions for four
months-everything in excellent order.
The Journey to the Pole.
We had made up our minds to take
the first part OF the trip as easily as
possible, in order to give ourselves
and the dogs a rational training, and
on the 23d we made our depot in 80
degrees south We went right ahead.
In spite of the dense fog, an error
of two or three kilometers happened
once in awhile, but we were caught
by the flag marks, and found these on
our way without difficulty
Having rested and fed the dogs on
all the seal meat they were able to
eat, we started again on the 26th, with
the temperature steadily between
minus 20 and 80 celsius a degrees and
22 degrees below zero Fahrenheit.
From the start it was the intention
not to drive more than 80 kilometers
day, but it appeared that this was
too little for our strong, willing ami
mails At 80 degrees south we began
to build snow cairns of a mans height
in order to have marks on our, return
trip. On the 31st We reached the depot
at 81 degrees, and stopped one ay
and fed the dogs on as much pemmi
can as they wanted.
We reached the depot at 80 degrees
on the 9Th of November, where the
dogs for the last time got all they
wanted to eat. On the 9Th, southwark
again, with a daily march of so kilo.
meters.
In order to tighten our heavy
sledges we established depots at each
degree of south latitude.
Like a Pleasure Trip.
The trip from 50 to IS degrees, be
came pleasure trip-excellent
ground, fine sledging, and an even
temperature. Everything went like a
dance.
On the ninth We sighted South Vic.
toria land and the continuation of the
mountain range which Sir Ernest
Shackleton mentioned in his chart as
running toward the southeast from
the Beardmore glacier, and on the
same day we reached SO degrees and
established here depot No f. On the
eleventh we made the interesting dis
covery that the Ross Barrier termi
mated in a blight toward the south
east at Sc degrees south latitude and
1853 degrees west longitude, formed be-
tween the southeast mountain range
running from South Victoria land and
| a range on the opposite side running
in a southwesterly direction-probably
continuation Of King Edward VII
| land.
On the thirteenth we reached "a de
! grees where we established a depot
on the sixteenth we were at IS de
| grees, where, also, we made depot
From our winter quarters, Fran
helm" rs degrees 3S minutes south
latitude, we had been marching due
south. On the seventeenth of Novem
Der, at 50 degrees, We arrived at q
place where the land and barrier were
connected. This was done without
any great difficulty. The barrier here
rises in undulations to about 800 feet
Some few big crevices indicated the
| limited boundary
u
king provisions for sixty days OF
sledges and leaving thirty days provi
sions on the spot.
The land under which We lay, anC
which we now had to attack, looked
quite imposing. The nearest submits
along the barrier had height OF from
1000 to 10000 feet, but several others
farther south were $4,000 feet or more
The next day we began to climb
The first part of it was an easy tast
light stops and well filled mountain
sides 1t did not take a long time fol
our willing dogs worked their way up
Further up, we met with some sinai
but very steep glaciers. Here we hae
to harness 20 dogs to each sledge anc
take the four sledges in two turns Ii
| some places it was so steep that Il
was diff cult enough to use our skis
Some big crevices forced US from
time to time to make detours. The
first day we climbed 1000 feet, the
| next day mostly up some small gla
| ciers. camping at a height OF 4,50(
Maize NNnrk = Pie2sure