The Farmington times. (Farmington, St. Francois County, Mo.) 1905-1926, 1912-03-14

zero FahrenhciO. had eVpcCtS
hurricane after hurricane. but ! Oh
served only two moderate storms and
many excellent auroras-Australias
in all directions.
The sanitary conditions were OF the
best all the winter and when the sun
returned on the Gath OF August he met
the men sound in mind and body.
ready TO set about the task that had
to be solved Already. the day be.
fore. we had brought our sledges to
the starting place for our march to.
OF September did the temperature
rise to such an extent that there was
any question OF setting out.
First Start for the Pole
On the 9Th OF September eight
men, with seven sledges. ninety dogs.
and provisions for four months, start.
| ed, The ground was perfect The
| temperature was not bad The next
/ lay 1t appeared that we had started
700 early as the temperature OF the
/
steady between minus 80 and so Gel.
sius t5s degrees and Is degrees below
/ zero Fahrenheit. Personally we did
not suffer at all from this cold Our
good furs protected us. But with our
dogs II was different matter It
would easily be seen that they shrank
from day to day. and we understood
| pretty soon that they could not stand
( the long run to our depot at so de.
grees south
We agreed on returning and 10
wait for the arrival OF spring The
provisions were cached and on we
went for the hut. With the exception
Of the loss OF few dogs and couple
Of frozen heels everything was all
right.
Only In the middle Of October
spring came In earnest. Seals and
birds appeared The temperature
was steady between 20 and 30 Gel.
sius (GS degrees and SO degrees Fab
rcnhelt). The original plan that all
OF us should go toward the South Pole
had been changed Five men had to
do this work, while the other three
were to start for the east and visit
King Edward VII. Land
This last mentioned trip was not In
cluded in our program. hut. owing TO
the fact that the English had not
reached II. at least this summer as
was their intention. we agreed that
the best thing to do was also 10 make
this trip.
On October 90 the southern party
started-fye men. four sledgcs, fifty.
two dogs, and provisions for four
months-eycrythinE in excellent or.
der.
The Journey to the Pole.
We had made mp our minds TO take
the first part of the trop as easily as
possible. In order to give ourselves
and the dogs a rational training, and
on the 23rd we made our depot In 80
degrees south. We went right ahead
In spite of the dense fog an error
OF two or three kilometcrs happened
once in while, Tut we were caught
by the flag marks and found these on
our way without difficulty
Having rested and fed our dogs on
all the seal meat they were able to
eat, We started again on the Goth.
with the temperature steadily be-
tween minus 90 and 80 Celsius a de-
grees and % degrees below zero Fab.
renheit).
From the start ii was the intention
not to drive more than so kilometers
day, but It appeared that this was
too little for our strong, willing ami.
mails At so 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
there one day. and fed the dogs on as
much pemmican as they wanted
We reached the depot at so degrees
on the 9TH Of November, where the
dogs for the last time got all they
wanted 20 eat On the Sth. south.
ward again, with n daily march OF so
kilometers. In order to tighten our
heavy sledGes, we established depots
at each degree of south latitude.
Like a Pleasure Trip.
The trip from 50 degrees to IS de-
grees became pleasure trip-excel.
lent ground, fine sledging, and an
event. Everything went like a dance
On the 9th we sighted South Veto
ria 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 number 1. On
the 18th we made the interesting dis.
covery that the Ross barrier tcrmi-
mated in blight toward the southeast
at Sc degrees south latitude and 1913
degrees west longitude, formed be.
tween the southeast mountains run.
ming from South Victoria Land and
range on the opposite side running in
a southwestern direction-probably n
continuation OF King Edward VII.
Land.