The Ely miner., 1912-04-05

have been working. The storm. mas
already cost us Ye ftbs DAYS. bicb LIS eeGls Mo,,s
be serious matter. otherwise, every
thing has worked as planned. We
hope to find better CONDITIONS U ms as nscsse we
sarily dependent on the weather ana
the season thus far has been very un-
Dec. ri, Latitude S5 Degrees Min.
utes South, Longitude 163 Degrees 4
Minutes East, Height About 6,SQo feet:
Four Miles South, Thirty west }t 3t
of the storm reported in my, last dis
patch, the lower. reaches of the glacier
were filed with terribly. soft snow
STEP 1t would have been quite Inn
possible to advance had we not pulled
on skis. AS it was the runner sur
They frequently sank to crossbars,, re-
quiring to be extracted with standing
pulls. For four days we. struggled In
this morass, scarcely advancing fye
miles day, although working ten to
twelve hours. 1t is difficult to pitch
camp and load sledges on. SUCH sur
grew a little harder and we were able
to push on, still pulling on skis. We
did not come abreast of Cloudbreaker
n9T'e6s snow cost un'H us a Weeks WEE ST. advance. va @ ~
Since the 10th we have been able
to make very good marches; working
ute miles per day. BY program ar
ranged to push on from the 85th par
allel with eight men and twelve units
a margin over this. AS we stand we
are only half a days food short on
program and should have good
chance of getting through The wv Weath a
to march without sight of land on
occasions. We are getting intermit..
tent fog in this most creVIced part OF
hn orIo q hest
of health and spirits.
1t has been most difficult to select
the returning party of four four who ougtf car
tutes our upper glacier depot. Com
plete depots have been established on
the homeward route. The track of the
cairns The members going forward
are Scott, Lieut.. Evans, Wilson, Bow
ers, Oats Lashley, Petty officer Evans
Jan. 8, 1912, Latitude 81 Minutes. 80
Degrees Height $500 Feet.-After
leaving the upper glacier depot, south
two days. This did not keep us clear
of pressure ridges and crevices which
occurred frequently at first and gave
titude Probably the difficult places
were more snow covered than further
eastward The advantage of this
course was mainly felt on the third
and fourth days. when; owing to Sour
altitude, we got a splendid view of
distribution of land masses fringing
the ice sheet and the arm of ice falls.
have averaged over fifteen statute
miles day. On Christmas day we
were close up to the seth parallel and
the prospect of Christmas fare gave
us an excellent march, seventeen miles,
burt the effort was not so hard the
following day. The surface. grew more
difficult as we approached the S7th
parallel. On New Years eve in lati-
tude sc degrees Sc minutes we depos-
tied there a unit procession and re-
built our sledges with new short run
ners, which remarkable piece of work
was performed by the seaman of the
party under adverse conditions. Al
the change amply repaid us. We have
been able to keep up our average and
we are now within $50 miles of the
Pole.
1 am going forward with a party
of five men, sending three back under
sieut. Evans. The names and descrip-
tifc staff. Capt. Oats, Inniskilling
dragons, in charge of the ponies and
marine e ocer OYa PetI in6ia 0f
ficer Evans r. H, in charge of sledges
and equipment.
with a months provisions and the
prospects of success good, providing
the weather holds and no unforeseen
obstacles 9bta les arise arise. 1t has been very diff,
everyone was fit and able to go for
ward. Those who return are natural
ly much disappointed. Everyone has
worked his hardest. The weather on
the plateau has been good as a whole
The sun has never deserted us, but
the temperatures are low now, about
minus 20 degrees, and the wind pretty
constant; however we are eXcellently
equipped for such conditions and the
wind undoubtedly improves the sur
face and so far has worked out very
satisfactorily. 1t is more than prob
able that no further news will be re-
ceived from us this year. Our return
must necessarily be late. ....
(Signed Robert +. Scott
Lieut.. Pennell expressed the utmost
confidence in the ultimate success OF
Capt. Scott and his party and declared
that the scientific work being per-
formed by the expedition was of an
extremely valuable character. In ad-
dition to the southern party, the Terra
Nova was compelled, owing to the bad
ice conditions, to leave behind Lieut.
sDrygalsky Barrier and thence sledged
ever, were fully prepared for this en-
ergency, says the commander of the
Terra Nova, and no alarm need be
felt for their safety. The two geolOg-
ical expeditions of the west coast have
produced good results, coal and fossils
which latter had not been discovered
before being found. The health of the
members Of the expedition is excel
lent, the only exception being Capt
Evans. who is conValescing from sour
Vey. The Terra Nova returns south In